FCC Details Broadband Plan For Public Safety

The Federal Communications Commission is promoting how its National Broadband Plan could enhance public-safety activities with a new Web page on the agency's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau site.

The Web page is meant to be a comprehensive source of information for the FCC's plan to provide broadband to everyone in the U.S. and what new capabilities that will bring to the public-safety sector.

The agency launched the page this week, as the FCC convened a panel to create a nationwide interoperable public safety wireless broadband network, a plan that many believe will take years to come to fruition.

A national broadband service is particularly important to public safety, as it can "provide enhanced situational awareness from first responders in emergency situations," according to the FCC.

By using broadband, public safety agencies could having difficulty getting agencies to comply with its recommendations, mainly because they have no authority to force them to do so.

Events like the attacks of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina -- in which emergency responders were not able to adequately communicate and delegate tasks, hampering rescue efforts -- particularly brought to light the need for better public-safety communication networks.

In addition to providing general information about the National Broadband Plan and its relation to the public-safety sector, the Web page also includes press releases, public notices, field hearings and presentations.