Daytona Beach, Fla. — APCO International will present its first Broadband Summit and Expo on May 16-18^th at the Renaissance Dupont Circle in Washington, DC. This summit will engage both policymakers and practitioners in discussions on public safety broadband issues and industry demonstrations of LTE technology.

The Broadband Summit and Expo will convene while Congress, the FCC and the Obama Administration are locked in a high stakes political battle around the D-Block. The D-Block is a 10-MHz piece of spectrum in the upper 700-MHz spectral band. It sits adjacent to the spectrum currently licensed to public safety. The groups are debating whether to auction the D-Block for commercial use as current law requires, or pass legislation to allocate the spectrum to public safety for its use for national security and public safety.

APCO International led the adoption of Long Term Evolution (LTE) as the public safety standard in the U.S. in June 2009, which the FCC formally adopted this January. LTE is a wireless broadband technology designed to support roaming Internet access via cell phones and handheld devices. Since then, the Obama Administration, as well as many in Congress, the industry and FCC have endorsed and/or approved the standard.

Recently, President Obama and his Administration provided full support for the allocation of the D block to public safety, and included approximately $20 billion to help fund the build out, research and development and sustainment of the market in its early stages. This is in addition to the $307 million Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) provided for public safety as part of the overall commitment of $7 billion dedicated to broadband in the Stimulus Package.

System build outs are already underway. Twenty one current waiver jurisdictions are building out early deployment networks after receiving approval from the FCC last spring. Additionally, another two dozen jurisdictions have filed for waivers. Some of these systems are expected to be operational this year giving public safety systems in the field capable of testing and piloting devices and applications.

“APCO will bring operational and technology experts together in Washington, DC to discuss, debate and continue to ignite this exciting new capability for public safety,” said Bill Schrier, CTO of the City of Seattle, one of the waiver jurisdictions and Chairman of APCO International’s Broadband Committee. “They will be joined by policymakers, regulators and industry leaders at a critical time in the national policy development of the public safety broadband network.”

The event will occur alongside two other important APCO events the week of May 16^th; the 7^th Annual Public Safety Communications Leadership in Policy Awards Dinner and APCO Technology Roundtable. To learn more about the Broadband Summit and Expo, visit http://broadbandsummit.apcointl.org.

About APCO International
APCO International is the world’s largest organization of public safety communications professionals. It serves the needs of public safety communications practitioners worldwide—and the welfare of the general public as a whole—by providing complete expertise, professional development, technical assistance, advocacy and outreach.  http://www.apcointl.org/