Company cites firefighter deaths in recent filing…urges action
NextNav NN 0.00%↑ this week urged the Federal Communications Commission to advance toward issuing a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on its petition for 5G-based positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) services in the lower 900 MHz band, submitting a public safety-focused ex parte filing that highlights indoor GPS vulnerabilities and endorsements from 16 first responder agencies.
The filing, submitted Nov. 25, draws from insights at a First Responder Indoor Tracking Summit hosted by the Fairfax County, Va., Fire and Rescue Department earlier in the month. NextNav argued that “the presence of safety-related unlicensed systems in the lower 900 MHz band is not a reason to freeze spectrum policy or foreclose new uses, particularly new uses that will provide a significant benefit to public safety.” Instead, the company called for an NPRM to resolve technical questions through “full technical analysis, timely comment, and reasoned resolution.” The full FCC filing is available at https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/112540015972/1.
A stark example cited in the filing recounts a 2007 warehouse fire in Charleston, South Carolina, where nine firefighters perished due to disorientation in smoke-filled conditions. Kevin Roche, retired from the Phoenix Fire Department, told summit attendees: “If we had x and y for this fire, we wouldn’t be talking about it today. It would have come out much differently.” Roche described how victims, running low on air, wandered mere feet from exits or hit dead ends, emphasizing that “they might as well have been on the moon” without precise location data. NextNav’s submission stresses that such tragedies persist because current GPS fails indoors, especially in multi-story structures, creating a “single point of failure” for first responders nationwide.
Support for NextNav’s terrestrial PNT complement to GPS has grown, with endorsements from agencies including the Arlington County Fire Department, Arizona Department of Public Safety, California Fire Chiefs Association, City of Springfield Ohio Fire Rescue Division, Fire Chiefs’ Association of Massachusetts, Nevada Division of Emergency Management, San Bernardino County Fire Protection District and Texas 9-1-1 Alliance. These groups back the need for reliable indoor and vertical location tracking in public safety networks, dismissing rival proposals as outdoor-limited, infrastructure-heavy or unproven. The filing notes that no other solution integrates as seamlessly into existing LTE and 5G systems for rapid nationwide deployment.
Warning of interference with unlicensed life-safety devices the International Association of Fire Chiefs, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, APCO International and the National Sheriffs’ Association asked the FCC to reject NextNav’s petition in a letter filed Nov. 13.
In addition, not everyone wants the FCC to quickly make a decision. Tern AI wants a slower approach so that the Department of Transportation (DOT) can continue to test its AI-driven system, which requires no additional spectrum. Tern AI believes the government should wait for the results of testing five PNT technologies.
NextNav contends Tern AI’s stance runs counter to bipartisan concern from Senators Ted Cruz and Ed Markey, who warned in an October 17 letter that “the need for a GPS alternative remains as pressing as ever,” and criticized the DOT for doing “little to improve GPS resilience or implement the [National Timing Resilience and Security Act of 2018] in the intervening years.”
 services in the lower 900 MHz band, submitting a public safety-focused ex parte filing that highlights indoor GPS vulnerabilities and endorsements from 16 first responder agencies.){kind=link}