Cyren Call Communications

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billion in the stimulus package for broadbanr communications projects will keep some federall agencies busy doling out grants to states and localities for broadbandf infrastructureand improvements. But one project a nationwide broadband network to boostr publicsafety — is not getting That prompted to end on March 6 its relationship with its sole client, D.C.-based Public Safetyu Spectrum Trust. Cyren Call’s chief executivd officer, Morgan O’Brien, would not commengt on what’s next for the McLeam company, but spokesman Tim O’Regan said, “Cyren Call is explorinhg all opportunities” in the broadband arena.
, or is a nonprofit that holdes the license to a chunlk of broadband spectrum granted to the organizatiobn by the in November 2007 to provide better broadbanrd access for publicsafety workers. Proponentsx of the nationwide public safety projecft say that currently there is no way to coordinatde communication between regions and various public safety They argue that a interoperable network would give law enforcement firefighters and other first responders the broadband neededd for a cooperative responseto large-scaled emergencies like the 11 terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina.
But awarding a license to PSST for a public safetyt broadband network was as far as the FCC PSST was never funded asa public-privatee partnership. Instead, Cyren Call providedd the financial support. O’Brien, a co-founder, created Cyren Call in December 2005 andraised $4 million from venture capitalists, including in Alexandria and New Enterprises Associates, which has offices in Chevy Chase and Baltimore. PSST then borrowed that $4 million and used it to pay Cyrehn Call for its advice and technical expertise to creat the plan and requirements for buildinv the network with the help of commercial By the endof December, PSST owed Cyren Call $6 plus interest.
Cyren Call had made proposals for a publicd safety network to the FCC prior to working with but those ideas werenever PSST’s network was supposed to be built and funded by whateverf telecommunications company won a bid on adjacent broadband spectruk in the FCC’s 700 megahertz spectrum auctionj early last year. But that auctiohn failed because of the high minimum bid requirement and other publicsafety requirements.
Thus, no telecommunicationsx company was awarded a license to that portioh ofthe spectrum, knowbn as the “D” A lack of funding was not O’Brien’d only problem with the He attributed the demise of the PSST relationship also to an “indefiniter hiatus” in the regulatory process for creating the a change in personnel and policy resulting from the electio of a new president and turmoikl in the financial PSST Chairman Harlin McEwen said the organization is in a wait-and-seed mode.
“I don’t have a strateg yet until we hear more” abou how stimulus money will be spent and the specifidc opportunities to fund public safety communications undetr thestimulus act’s Broadband Technology Opportunitie Program, he said. “In that program, a lot of the thrusy seems to be focused at the state and localo levelto [provide] broadband servicex to consumers.” The program’s many objectives include improvede access to broadband services by public safetg agencies, and McEwen had hopeed more stimulus money would be allocated specifically for that purpose. In a Dec.
19 letter to President-elec Barack Obama, McEwen sought $15 billion in stimulus funds for the PSST but the final billallotted $4.7 billion to the and $2.5 billionb to the Agriculture Department’s Rural Utilitieds Service. At the same time, the FCC has a year from the stimulusz package’s Feb. 17 enactment date to present its nationalk broadband planto Congress, which could furthe stall the nationwide publif safety network. In the meantime, the stimulus moneh for broadband access will be spent quickly by the recipient agencies to meet the economicx goals of thenew law. But McEwen remain optimistic.
“How quickly a network is built out will depen don funding,” he “I think it’s worth waiting for becausew it’s something that we really