FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski plans to allocate between $12 billion and $16 billion over the next 10 years to fund the deployment of an interoperable, nationwide public safety wireless broadband network.

"This is important. We have gone too long with little progress to show for it," said Genachowski in a speech held Thursday in Washington, D.C. "The private sector simply is not going to build a nationwide, state-of-the-art, interoperable broadband network for public safety on its own dime. "

The money would help fund a $6 billion federal grant program aimed at construction and operation of the network. Recommendations for the public safety network funding are slated to be part of the FCC's National Broadband Plan, which is to be released March 17.

Genachowski also recommended that the FCC move forward with an auction of the D Block spectrum in the 700 MHz band. An auction of the D Block held in 2008 failed after no qualifying bids were filed. Qualcomm offered $472 million for the spectrum but its bid was dismissed since the minimum qualifying amount was $1.3 billion.

The Broadband Plan also calls for public safety to have access to as much as 80 MHz throughout the entire 700 MHz band through roaming and priority access arrangements with carriers. Verizon Wireless and AT&T plan to use their spectrum holdings in the 700 MHz band to deploy their respective LTE networks.

Genachowski acknowledged that public safety officials and first responders may need additional spectrum over time and said he was "committed" to identifying additional spectrum resources for public safety broadband in the future.