Subject: [NEXTEL-1] ITA on The "Plan Scam"- The Usaual Suspects

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 00:58:19 -0500

ITA on The "Plan Scam"- The Usual Suspects

DECEMBER 2002/ JANUARY By J. Sharpe Smith
Editor

Private wireless and public safety licensees will both benefit if the FCC imple-ments
the Consensus Plan, according to a panel session, held in the General Session
on the second day of the Private Wireless Summit. The panel consisted of Alan Tilles,
Esq., representing the Private Wireless Coalition; Robert S. Foosaner, Nextel
Communications, Inc.; and Robert M. Gurss, Esq., representing the public safety
organizations. The session was moderated by Robert Pettit, Esq., of Wiley, Rein and
Fielding.

Foosaner said that Nextel recognizes the legitimacy of Private Wireless.
“Ultimately, in my mind, Private Wireless systems are essential for America. We envi-sion
being partners with you and supplementing your communications. A lot of
thought went into this process to make the end result much better for Private Wireless
licensees,” said Foosaner.

Tilles agreed, “There is a huge benefit to this plan for private wireless licensees.”
For example, he noted, 70 percent of the licensees will remain on their current spec-trum;

the other 30 percent will receive funding for relocation; Nextel will move up the
800 MHz band; and private wireless licensees will receive additional spectrum.
If the Consensus Plan is not adopted, and adopted soon, Gurss expressed grave
concern. “The interference is only going to get worse and it is only a matter of time
before someone gets hurt in the field” because of commu-nications
interference problems.

The Consensus Plan, which was supported by 16 pri-vate
wireless and public safety organizations (including
Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials-International,
the International Association of Fire Chiefs
and the National Sheriff ’s Association) and Nextel, would
split the 800 MHz band into two contiguous blocks of
spectrum: a non-cellularized block and a cellularized block.
Public Safety, Business/Industrial Transportation (B/ILT)
and traditional SMR licensees would remain in a 20-mega-hertz
non-cellularized block, and Nextel would relocate to a
16-megahertz cellularized block. The non-cellularized block
would include a 2 by 2 megahertz guard band at 814-
816/859-861 MHz for low-power campus-type systems
and other B/ILT licensees.

Additional Spectrum for Private Wireless
Private Wireless will receive an additional 4-megahertz
spectrum allocation in the 900 MHz band from spectrum
held by Nextel. Plus, more spectrum will be awarded to
licensees in the 800 MHz band that choose to relocate to
900 MHz; thus, offering more spectrum at 800 MHz to
public safety licensees.
“The 900 MHz plan would give growth opportunities
to the Business and Industrial Land Transportation com-munity
that doesn’t exist today,” Foosaner said.
The Move

The original Nextel plan required 100 percent of the
800 MHz private wireless licensees to move outside of the
band at their own cost, causing quite a stir within the indus-try
and at ITA, as well. However, the Consensus Plan pro-poses
that only 30 percent of the licensees would move and
that move would be within the band.
“This plan impacts incumbents the least of any pro-posal,”
Tilles said.

Nextel Would Land at 1.9 GHz

According to the Consensus Plan, Nextel will return its
700 MHz and 900 MHz allocations to the Commission,
while also contributing spectrum at 800 MHz for realign-ing
non-cellularized systems. Nextel’s 700 MHz Guard
Band holdings will be re-designated for public safety use,
and its 900 MHz SMR channels will be re-designated for
B/ILT and traditional SMR use.

In all, Nextel would lose approximately 10.5 megahertz
of spectrum. To compensate for this, Nextel would receive
an alternative spectrum allocation of 10 megahertz at 1910-
1915/1990-1995 MHz which is used by unlicensed
Personal Communications Service and broadcast auxiliary
services.

There has been criticism from cellular carriers, suggest-ing
that the Consensus Plan would “give Nextel spectrum.”
Tilles disputed this claim. “In our plan, public safety gets
additional spectrum, private wireless gets additional spec-trum
and for that Nextel is moving to 1.9 GHz and paying
for its moving costs and for our moving costs,” Tilles.
“Nextel is trading one piece of spectrum for another.”

Is the Plan a Consensus?

Many in the industry took space in the filings to ques-tion
the name of the Consensus Plan. Was it really a con-sensus
if there was not unanimous support? The panel said
they believe that they have a consensus considering that
groups supporting the Consensus Plan represent every type
of licensee operating on 80 percent of the 800 MHz band.
“If you win an election with 80 percent of the vote, they call
it a landslide,” Foosaner noted. “Senator Warner just won in
Virginia with 84 percent with no opposition.”

No Bad Actors

Perhaps one of the major sticking points concerning
general support of the Consensus Plan is the fact that non-interfering
B/ILT and small SMR licensees have to move
because of interference that is being caused by another enti-ty,
Nextel. Traditionally, the interferer is responsible for
making the technical changes needed to mitigate the spuri-ous
emissions. What may not be understood is that all of
the licensees in this situation are operating in compliance
within the FCC’s rules and regulations.
The interference has grown out of the fact that Public
Safety, cellular and Nextel’s systems are operating essential-ly
incompatible wireless system designs (low-power/low-site
versus high-power/high-site) on adjacent, interleaved and
mixed 800 MHz channels. The result is interference to pub-lic
safety communications in the vicinity of cellular and or
Nextel base stations and it is occurring on a nationwide
basis.

“Initially, Public Safety and Nextel dealt with the inter-ference
on a case-by-case basis, but the interference problem
is too pervasive,” said Gurss. “Considering the safety of the
lives that are at risk, fixing the interference after it occurs is
really not acceptable.”
Foosaner described the situation as an allocation prob-lem
and that the FCC did not anticipate the interference
when it allowed the low-power/low-site technology and
high-site/high-power technology to be located next to each
other. “There is no bad actor,” he added.

Fighting Stagnation

The industry is currently battling stagnation and delays
in the proceeding known as “Improving Public Safety
Communications in the 800 MHz band (WT 02-55),” but
there is hope that Consensus Plan supporters will consoli-date
support within the FCC. Tilles urged the FCC to deal
with the problem quickly so that the industry can gain cer-tainty
to make long-term plans.
The Consensus Plan has received abundant opposition
in the cellular industry. Tilles expressed concern that
Nextel’s competitors would continue to fight the Consensus
plan at different levels of the process, therefore dragging out
the proceeding.
“There will always be people that want to make it as
costly for Nextel as possible,” Tilles said. “I think the
Commission will be able to look beyond that and at the end
of the day, the Consensus will be something it can adopt.”

Conclusion

The Consensus Plan mitigates interference to Public
Safety, provides additional spectrum for Private Wireless
and Public Safety licensees, while limiting the number of
entities that need to retune, and proponents continue to
work to improve this landmark solution. The Private
Wireless Coalition, Public Safety and Nextel are working
diligently to address issues that have been raised during the
proceeding, developing monetary projections for the reloca-tion
of the licensees and a band plan for the border regions.
The re-banding plan is also being enhanced to include
technical standards for defining and curing, as well as pre-venting
interference that occurs in the future in the 800
MHz band from any licensee. What Consensus Plan sup-porters
hope to achieve is a strategy that provides solutions
not only to current problems but a method to avoid inter-ference
in the future

http://www.ita-relay.com/magazine/dec02_jan03/consensus12-02.pdf

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