FCC Assigns Emergency Response Interoperability Center
The Federal Communications Commission's national broadband strategy submitted to Congress in March 2010 called for creating ERIC. Now, the center is being placed within FCC's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau and given similar duties.
The Federal Communications Commission published a final rule Thursday explaining the role to be performed by the new Emergency Response Interoperability Center (ERIC), which is called for in the national broadband strategy FCC delivered to Congress on March 16, 2010. The center's task is to ensure the 700 MHz public safety broadband wireless network will be fully operable and interoperable nationwide, both day to day and during emergencies.
ERIC will be placed within FCC's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, and the commission is delegating authority to the bureau's chief to set up advisory bodies and select appropriate representatives from federal agencies, the public safety community, and industry to advise ERIC.
The rule's effective date is June 21.