Further cementing the public interest served in granting M2Z Networks' long pending Federal Communications Commission license application, The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials, the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the International Association of Fire Chiefs added to the chorus of support for M2Z by submitting a joint letter to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin providing their views on the M2Z proposal. In addition to providing a free and family-friendly broadband service for consumers, M2Z will provide public safety organizations the use of its nationwide broadband IP network free of charge.

    The support of these leading public safety organizations is a welcome addition to the support of the National Troopers Coalition as well as that of many individual police and fire chiefs throughout the country who have already endorsed M2Z's application. M2Z's application calls for leasing fallow spectrum in the 2155 to 2175 MHz band to offer free broadband access nationwide to all registered public safety officers throughout the United States. Additionally, M2Z has committed to work with public safety organizations to enable prioritized access and preemptive use of its network in crisis situations and national emergencies.

    The organizations stated, "We do believe the proposal could provide a secondary broadband IP network to the public safety community and do so without using any public funds and at a very low cost." They added that M2Z's network "could supplement the primary 700 MHz public safety broadband network that the Commission recently addressed in another proceeding."

    M2Z's broadband IP network will provide America's first responders with another public/private partnership that will create an interoperable "network-of-networks" for public safety that can endure in the face of manmade and natural disasters. M2Z Networks currently has an application before the FCC to lease 20MHz of fallow spectrum to build a nationwide network to offer fast, free and family friendly broadband to 95 percent of the U.S. population within ten years. The service will be supported by locally targeted search results and will include a network-level filter to shield children using the service from indecent content.

    "After repeatedly learning lesson about the lack of interoperability at Columbine, the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Hurricane Katrina, all of us have to work to make sure first responders can access to interoperable networks at all times," said Milo Medin, co-founder, Chairman and CTO of M2Z Networks. "M2Z will help meet that challenge using private sector capital and Silicon Valley ingenuity."

    In an earlier letter sent to the FCC, Police Chief Jason Crotwell urged the Commission to take action to ensure that the challenges facing public safety communications are addressed in order to "avoid the miscommunications closely associated with disasters such as Katrina and 9/11." Chief Crotwell also explained in his letter that: "The bottom line is that something needs to be done to improve how our public safety system communicates."

    The general public also believes that a network like M2Z's is in the public interest. A bipartisan poll conducted by Voter/Consumer Research and Lake Research Partners found that 83% of respondents support a wireless backup system for public safety officers and first responders in emergencies such as Hurricane Katrina and the catastrophes of September 11, 2001.