Page 158 - BWM Dec 2012

158 | Business World Magazine | December 2012
other national public safety organizations
to ensure that Congress allocates a portion
of the public broadband spectrum to public
safety. Lane referred to Hurricane Katrina
as an example where a lack of broadband fre-
quency hindered communications between
state emergency managers, EMS, the fire ser-
vice and law enforcement. “Consideration
had been given to selling this section of the
broadband spectrum to the private sector to
expand commercial broadband networks,
but we were successful in having it allocated
to public safety,” she says. “With the passage
of that legislation, a new national board has
been established to implement a national
public safety communications network.”