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In April 2015, the FCC's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB) approved six of the 700 MHz reserve channels for deployable trunked systems as previously recommended by NPSTC and the National Regional Planning Council (NRPC). Allowing the use of these channels is a benefit to public safety that will help enable emergency response communications and interoperability at major incidents or large planned events. The Regional Planning Committees (RPCs) may now incorporate these channels into their plans for deployable trunked systems outside of T-Band areas. Any public safety T-Band incumbent seeking to relocate from the T-Band must be given priority access to these channels.

NPSTC and the NRPC have developed a report detailing recommended technical and logistical solutions necessary to implement the new deployable trunked systems: 700 MHz Nationwide Deployable Trunked Solutions: A Report by NPSTC and NRPC. The report also includes some recommended best practices to enable improved interoperability among public safety entities that implement deployable trunked systems. Technical solutions were developed with assistance from the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), which provided necessary information on the technical aspects of trunked radio systems, including issues surrounding System IDs that needed to be resolved for deployable systems to enable interoperability.

As part of the decision, the FCC also set a deadline by which RPCs must modify their 700 MHz regional plans and determine if they are going to incorporate these six 12.5 kHz deployable trunked system channel pairs into their respective plans. As of the drafting of this report, that deadline was set at October 30, 2015.

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Support provided by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate, Office for Interoperability and Compatibility, and the National Program and Protection Directorate, Office of Emergency Communications. Points of view or opinions expressed are those of the originators and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

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