Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Consensus Or Balance: The Lobbying Continues

From: Marcelrf <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 12 Mar 2004 18:36:25 -0500

Consensus Or Balance: The Lobbying Continues
March 11, 2004 5:42pm
Wireless Data News

Vol. 12 No. 5

Two years ago, Nextel [NXTL] submitted what has come to be known as 
the "consensus plan" to the FCC as a method of alleviating the 
congestion experienced in major metro areas by public-safety 
personnel. In return for 10 megahertz of spectrum in the 1.9 GHz 
band, Nextel said it would relinquish its spectrum in the 700 MHz, 
800 MHz and 900 MHz bands along with paying for any public-safety 
and private-wireless retuning. 

At the same time, Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City 
who has been credited with keeping the city together in the 
aftermath of 9/11, formed his own consulting firm, with Nextel as 
one of its first customers. Giuliani took the consensus issue in 
hand, saying, "Public safety agencies in many areas of the country 
are increasingly facing problems with communications disruptions and 
interference. This interference can disrupt critical safety 
communications among police officers, firefighters, rescue teams and 
other emergency response personnel, putting both them and the public 
they serve at risk." In addition, John Walsh of "America's Most 
Wanted" TV show has come out for public safety both on his weekly 
show and on his Web site. 

The FCC now is in the final stages of considering the merits of both 
Nextel's plan (the consensus plan) and the "balanced-approach plan" 
forwarded by opponents of Nextel's plan, which include Verizon 
Wireless and the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association. 
That plan says, in part, that the FCC should reband at 800 MHz and 
make Nextel pay for the process without giving Nextel more channels. 
It also advocates a "best practices" methodology for diagnosing and 
solving interference problems. 

In a Feb. 26 ex parte letter to FCC Secretary Marlene Dortch, John 
T. Scott III, Verizon Wireless' vice president and deputy general 
counsel, wrote, "Nextel's Consensus Plan relies on realigning the 
800 MHz band to eliminate 'interleaved' commercial and public safety 
operations. It would address interference from Nextel's operations 
to public safety by separating Nextel's and public safety's 
spectrum, and giving Nextel and public safety contiguous spectrum 
blocks. While Nextel and public safety believe this realignment is 
the right technical solution to interference, the 'Consensus' Plan 
goes far beyond in-band realignment. It also would have the 
commission grant Nextel, for free, a 10 MHz block of nationwide, 
contiguous spectrum at 1.9 GHz." 

As anyone knows, numbers can be manipulated and consulting companies 
can make dollar amounts match what the client wants to see. To back 
its claims, Verizon Wireless hired Kane Reece Associates to appraise 
the consensus plan. If Nextel were to get the spectrum it wants, 
Kane Reece found "the value of Nextel's spectrum holdings would 
increase by $7.2 billion." Verizon Wireless adds nearly $5.3 billion 
of this boost represents the appraised value of the 10 MHz block of 
nationwide 1.9 GHz spectrum that the FCC would give Nextel. "The 
remainder of the windfall represents the significantly increased 
value that Nextel would reap from receiving contiguous spectrum in 
the 800 MHz band in return for the current encumbered, non-
contiguous spectrum it holds in that band," it says. 

Of course, Nextel believes it is getting nothing for free. Wireless 
Data News obtained a document citing a cost breakdown created by Dr. 
Kostas Liopiros of the Sun Fire Group and filed at the FCC that says 
the consensus plan will cost Nextel $4.6 billion due to the 
following factors: 

By pledging upfront cash and irrevocable letters of credit, Nextel 
has guaranteed to cover all costs associated with retuning public-
safety spectrum so that it can operate free from interference. The 
carrier also says it will cover all other costs associated with 
retuning and clearing spectrum. 

Nextel is contributing 10.5 megahertz of spectrum acquired since its 
founding. All its spectrum was purchased, Nextel says, unlike much 
of the wireless spectrum now in use by wireless carriers associated 
with incumbent LECs. 

Nextel is contributing 2.5 megahertz of spectrum at 800 MHz (where 
public-safety entities currently operate and where they most need 
additional spectrum) and adjacent to 700 MHz-band spectrum that has 
been promised by Congress to public safety once broadcast relocates. 
The industry has been waiting for the 700 MHz transition for nearly 
20 years, and the cutover date has been changed many times due to 
the powerful broadcast lobby. 

Nextel is contributing an additional 8 megahertz of spectrum, 4 
megahertz each in the 700 MHz and 900 MHz bands. 

As such, the Sun Fire Group estimates Nextel will receive spectrum 
worth $3.5 billion in return for paying out $4.6 billion. While 
Verizon Wireless has argued that the 10 megahertz of spectrum Nextel 
wants in the 1.9 GHz band could fetch more than $7 billion if it 
were auctioned, "the highest bid ever for 10 megahertz of spectrum 
at 1.9 GHz was $3.3 billion in 1999, which was never paid. The 
highest amount ever received by the FCC for 10 megahertz of spectrum 
at 1.9 GHz was, in fact, $1B." 

While the sniping back and forth continues, so does serious 
interference to public-safety operations. One example of this is the 
City of Denver. Local officials, consultant Pericle Communications, 
AT&T Wireless [AWE] and Nextel have been focusing on mitigating 
commercial radio/public-safety interference on Denver's channels in 
the vicinity of four specific intersections covered by Nextel and 
AT&T Wireless base stations. These four locations are the last of 
some 24 Denver locations initially pinpointed by city public-safety 
officials as interference zones and the last four to be fixed. 

Nextel admitted being part of the problem, and it determined that 
intermod from Nextel's channels could be created in the front ends 
of Denver's public-safety radio units, and that this was the primary 
cause of the radios being unable to communicate in the immediate 
vicinity of Nextel base stations. Nextel also found that wideband 
noise generated in the immediate vicinity of its base stations was a 
contributing interference factor. Such interference mechanisms also 
were the culprits with problems caused by AT&T Wireless' base 
stations. 

For the past two years, AT&T Wireless has been trying to solve its 
dilemma in cooperation with Nextel and Denver. Consulting group 
Pericle conducted drive tests and specific transmitter on/off 
testing, concluding that interference was being generated by 
intermod mixes between AT&T Wireless and Nextel frequencies. In 
December 2003, a site walk that included Denver officials, Pericle, 
Nextel and AT&T Wireless determined Denver's public-safety radios 
continue to be unusable at three of the remaining four locations. 

Although Denver was not able to reproduce the interference at the 
final location, officials believe interference from AT&T Wireless 
transmitters will continue, especially during rush hour. The 'best 
practices" approach taken by AT&T Wireless apparently didn't work in 
this instance. 

According to Nextel, all the interference it generated in the past 
has been mitigated, as long as it maintains severe channel-use 
restrictions and operating limitations. However, Nextel is sure that 
changes in customer demand and customer growth will make these 
restrictions impossible to maintain sometime in the future. AT&T 
Wireless acknowledges it already is having problems that only a 
tower shutdown can solve. Denver says spectral separation between 
Denver's system, Nextel and AT&T Wireless, as proposed in the 
consensus plan, is needed not only to ward off interference with 
Denver's five control channels but for its voice channels as well. 
What The Cops Say 

Backers of the consensus plan include those who believe they would 
benefit from it the most: the actual cops and firefighters on the 
street, as referenced in a recent letter to Sen. John McCain (R-
Ariz.), chairman of the Committee on Commerce, Science and 
Transportation signed by the current presidents of the Association 
of Public-Safety Communications Officials- International (APCO), the 
International Association of Chiefs of Police, the International 
Association of Fire Chiefs and the National Sheriffs Association. 
The group also sent the same message to the White House. 

The public-safety arena apparently doesn't agree with the "balanced 
approach" proposed method of rebanding or anything else, for that 
matter. "The consensus plan was jointly developed by public-safety 
organizations, private wireless organizations and Nextel to 
comprehensively and permanently solve the problem and do what is 
best for public safety," the execs wrote. "The plan has been 
subjected to extensive analysis by police chiefs, sheriffs, fire 
chiefs and public-safety communications experts from across the 
country." 

They continued, "Those who oppose the consensus plan advocate an 
alternative referred to as the "Balanced Approach." However, that 
approach does little more than place band-aids on a problem that 
keeps hemorrhaging. This is simply unacceptable when the safety and 
survival of our nation's first responders and the public in general 
are at stake. In this age of increased homeland security, we cannot 
accept interference as a way of life and deal with it reactively. 
That is ineffective and downright dangerous. We need to solve this 
once and for all. Only a comprehensive solution, as set forth in the 
Consensus Plan, will make this possible. The FCC has been examining 
the problem for nearly two years. The time for them to act is now." 

To wrap, they pointed out why the consensus plan will help solve 
their problems coast to coast, saying it "is the only comprehensive 
way to prevent interference from occurring before it disrupts 
critical emergency communications;" it is "the only way to provide 
public safety with additional 800 MHz spectrum that will help 
facilitate interoperability and alleviate dangerous congestion;" and 
it is the "only plan that is privately and fully funded. Adoption of 
the plan will be without cost to local, state or the federal 
government." 

The lobbying continues at the FCC, where commissioners reportedly 
are mulling a draft of their proposed public-safety order. One group 
continues to use the "no free spectrum" argument in favor of the 
balancing plan while the other is forwarding a much more visceral 
approach: "How do you factor in the life of an officer?" No 
pressure. 

>>John T. Scott III, 

http://www.telecomweb.com

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