*Pages 1--1 from Microsoft Word - 27442.doc* SEPARATE STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN MICHAEL K. POWELL Re: The 4.9 GHz Band Transferred from Federal Government Use, Memorandum Opinion and Order and Third Report and Order, WT Docket No. 00- 32 The service rules we adopt today provide an important broadband opportunity for public safety and homeland security. The Order makes available for licensing 50 MHz of spectrum that may be used for a variety of innovative applications, including the delivery of real time video from inside burning buildings, floor plans to police officers entering a hostile environment, and even videos from robots entering a collapsed mineshaft. Moreover, consistent with our continuing efforts to increase licensee flexibility, the rules we adopt afford state and local government licensees with the freedom to design flexible and innovative partnerships between the public and private sectors to facilitate deployment. In these difficult economic times for our first responders, this flexibility may be essential to building the infrastructure and developing the necessary equipment to deliver these new broadband applications. I urge state and local governments to work with one another and the critical infrastructure community to utilize fully this new spectrum opportunity to make all Americans safer. 1