Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Nextel sweetens support for spectrum-swap plan

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 26 Dec 2002 10:53:02 -0500

Reuters
Nextel sweetens support for spectrum-swap plan
Tuesday December 24, 2:57 pm ET
By Jim Christie

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Wireless carrier Nextel Communications Inc.
(NasdaqNM:NXTL - News) on Tuesday sweetened its offer for a wireless spectrum
swap, saying it would pay $850 million to upgrade public safety communications in
exchange for bandwidth it would use to improve services.

Reston, Virgina-based Nextel told
federal regulators it will raise its
backing from $500 million to retune
equipment of public safety agencies
and others on the busy 800 MHz
band so they could communicate
without interference.

The 800 MHz band currently carries
traffic from public safety operators,
private wireless operators such as
utilities and corporations and cellular
operators, including Nextel, AT&T
Wireless Services Inc. (NYSE:AWE -
News) and Verizon Communications.
(NYSE:VZ - News)

Tuesday's proposal is the latest bid
by the No. 5 U.S. wireless carrier to secure approval from the Federal Communications
Commission to realign certain increasingly crowded airwaves.

Nextel has since November 2001 sought approval from the FCC to create blocks of
contiguous spectrum for itself and for public safety agencies on the 800 MHz band to
avoid interference, such as wireless calls crossing police and fire department airwaves.

"At the end of the day, it would not only mitigate interference but would also leave
public safety with cleaner blocks of spectrum," Nextel spokesman Christopher Doherty
told Reuters. "Interference has become more of an issue over the past two years
because of the growth of private cellular use on the commercial side."

"The Federal Communications Commission when they allocated this spectrum 20 years
ago did not anticipate what the make-up of the use of the 800 MHz band would be
today," Doherty said. "Nobody thought there would be more than 130 million wireless
users in the country today."

CLEANING UP THE AIRWAVES

Analysts have said that Nextel's goal of securing contiguous spectrum would lower its
capital spending over the long-term and increase its attractiveness to other carriers.
Additionally, contiguous spectrum would allow Nextel to provide service free of
annoying interference.

Nextel on Tuesday proposed along with its increased financial backing that a
realignment of the 800 MHz band take place over a 42-month period upon FCC
approval of the company's prior proposals.

Nextel in August proposed to the FCC that the 800 MHz band be split into two blocks
with public safety agencies, businesses and mobile radio licensees remaining on a
noncellular 20-megahertz block on the 800 MHz band, while Nextel relocates its
commercial service to a cellular 16-megahertz block on the band.

Nextel also offered to return 4 megahertz of its 700 MHz band license and 4 MHz of its
900 MHz spectrum license to the FCC in exchange for a 10 megahertz block on the 1.9
GHz band.

The 700 MHz band would be used by public safety agencies, which also would use the
800 MHz band, and the 900 MHz band would be used by businesses.

Nextel said its proposal to its boost funding in its proposed spectrum swap is contingent
on the FCC licensing it a 10 MHz block of contiguous spectrum at 1.9 GHz.

"We're giving up a lot spectrum and we don't want to lose any spectrum on the deal,"
Doherty said.

http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/021224/telecoms_nextel_1.html

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