'First responder' high-speed wireless network: $10.7 billion (US)

Donna Cusano

In the upcoming Federal budget, President Obama is advocating the spend of $10.7 billion on a high-speed, wireless public-safety network for first responders and healthcare professionals. Called the ‘Wireless Innovation and Infrastructure Initiative’ (WIII…get it?), it will transmit data, images and video during emergency situations as part of an $18 billion plan to bring wireless broadband access to 98% percent of America over the next five years [TA 3 Feb–see Ed. Donna’s comment on the FCC ‘money pit’]. $3 billion will go to ‘strategies’ for health, education and energy-related applications–so call that $7.7 billion for the network. Funding it would be an auction of spectrum currently used by TV stations and government agencies, expected to fetch nearly $28 billion. Now if ‘health reform’ funding had gone this way not that…knowing that somehow this funding will come up short, because it always does…and the national debt hadn’t exploded by $3.4 trillion in the past two years…Ed. Donna is not heartened. Neil Versel lays it out for you over at Mobihealthnews.