Future of Public Safety Communications and Why 4.9 GHz is Essential | PSBTA

Why the 4.9 GHz Band is Essential to Public Safety Communications

Meta Description: Explore why the 4.9 GHz spectrum is vital to the future of public safety communications and what it means for emergency response technology.

Looking into the future, the police, fire, and EMS agencies of tomorrow will rely on broadband radio to carry their voice, video, and data communications reliably. This is why the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reserved Band 14 for their exclusive use under the management of FirstNet, the public safety communications network. It is also why the FCC has allocated 50 MHz of spectrum in the 4940-4990 MHz band (4.9 GHz band) for public safety usage, with FirstNet being made responsible for managing it nationally on public safety’s behalf.

The 4.9 GHz Band Explained

The 4.9 GHz band assigned to public safety communications is a 50 MHz slice of the United States’ total radio spectrum — the invisible medium that carries AM/FM radio, over-the-air television, Wi-Fi, and cellular telephone traffic. 

Twenty years ago, the FCC allocated this section of the 4.9 GHz band to public safety, However, beyond licensing certain police, fire, and EMS agencies to use it, the FCC has pretty much left the band alone. As a result, public safety’s actual use of this valuable spectrum has been intermittent and inconsistent across the country. “It’s been used for some deployable transmitters as needed, plus some point-to-point microwave links, but that’s about it,” said

Fire Chief Dan Munsey of the San Bernardino County (California) Fire Protection District. (At 21,000 square miles in size, the SBCFPD is the largest fire protection district in the United States.)

Here’s the problem: Radio spectrum is worth billions of dollars to the U.S. government because it can auction off the rights to use it to commercial cellular companies. If the FCC ever sold them the 4.9 GHz band, public safety would lose access to this vital spectrum at a time when new broadband applications and technologies like 5G are coming into being. This is why the Public Safety Broadband Technology Association (PSBTA) that represents first responders worked so hard to convince the FCC to appoint FirstNet to manage the 4.9 GHz band.

“The 4.9 GHz mid-band spectrum is public safety’s 5G digital highway,” said Chief (Retired) Jeff Johnson, Chief Emeritus with the Western Fire Chiefs Association. “It is essential to our technological future that we retain this band for police, fire, and EMS as we continue to evolve FirstNet and keep public safety at the forefront.”

Why 4.9 GHz Matters for Public Safety

Why are the PSBTA and FirstNet so concerned with keeping the 4.9 GHZ band for public safety? The answer: This uncluttered radio spectrum is ideal for supporting low-latency (aka undelayed) public safety communications.

“A great example of what we can do over 4.9 GHz is tracking firefighter locations in real-time so that we know where they are,” Chief Munsey said. “Another is biometrics: With today’s technology and wireless broadband, we can track the physical health of a firefighter when they’re in an environment that is immediately dangerous to life and health.”

Challenges to Nationwide Adoption

At this point in time, the 4.9 GHz band is still being underutilized by public safety agencies. This will change as 5G and new broadband applications roll out — but it will only happen if this spectrum is kept out of the commercial carriers’ hands.

At the same time, expecting individual public safety agencies to manage this band nationally is unrealistic. This is why the FCC turned the job over to FirstNet, which has unmatched national coverage and over 7 million users nationwide.

FirstNet’s Role in the 4.9 GHz Space

Using money that it has saved from its members’ monthly subscriber fees, FirstNet is currently investing $8 billion to add 5G and other improvements to its 4G/LTE network capabilities over the next ten years. This investment will include deployments within the 4.9 GHz band to offer better service for U.S. first responders.

According to Chief Munsey, FirstNet is the natural choice for the job. “FirstNet is the only broadband network created by Congress to provide this service to first responders,” he said. “There’s competition from other carriers to provide a version of this service, but they lack FirstNet’s dedicated service to public safety users, its sole access to Band 14, and federal authorization. Other carriers are in this for the money. FirstNet is in this to connect police, fire, and EMS above all else.”

The Road Ahead: Innovation and National Priorities

With the 4.9 GHz band now under FirstNet’s management, the future of public safety communications is looking brighter in America. 

The reason: Alone among all the carriers offering broadband wireless services to public safety agencies, FirstNet has the know-how, facilities, and long-term funding to ensure a path forward attuned to innovation and national priorities — like keeping our citizens safe.