Subject: [NEXTEL-1] DJ On Nextel Pushes Rebanding Plan As FCC Nears April Decision

From: Marcelrf <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 06:29:24 -0500

=DJ   Nextel Pushes Rebanding Plan As FCC Nears April Decision 
(2004/03/23 8:58AM) 
 
   By Ellen Sheng 
   Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES 
 
ATLANTA (Dow Jones)--As the Federal Communications Commission nears 
a decision on how to eliminate interference in public safety radio 
systems, Nextel Communications Inc. (NXTL) continues to back its 
controversial Consensus Plan. 

An FCC official said Monday at the Cellular Telecommunications & 
Internet Association convention in Atlanta that the commission would 
issue a decision at its upcoming agenda meeting in mid-April. 

The issue of rebanding at 800 MHz has been hotly contested for the 
past two years. 

Nextel remains adamant that its Consensus Plan is the best option 
available and is optimistic the FCC will adopt guidelines following 
it. In an interview with Dow Jones Newswires, Bob Foolsner, Nextel's 
senior vice president and chief regulatory officer, emphasized that 
the Consensus Plan is the only one that has been approved by all 
seven public safety organizations, including police and fire safety. 

Under the plan, public safety agencies would be moved from currently 
overcrowded parts of the 800 MHz band to other frequencies to solve 
interference issues. In addition, Nextel would be consolidated in 
the upper portion of the band and gain 10 MHz of additional spectrum 
in in the 1900 MHz, or 1.9 gigahertz, range. 

"The consensus plan is fixing a problem we didn't cause," said 
Foosaner, blaming the FCC's allocation scheme, which didn't 
anticipate that the bandwidth would get so much use. He also pointed 
out that it does not require any federal or state funding. 

Other wireless carriers have bitterly contested the plan, arguing 
that it awards Nextel a windfall in additional spectrum which should 
be auctioned. Opponents such as Cingular, a joint venture between 
SBC Communications Inc. (SBC) and BellSouth Corp. (BLS), and Verizon 
Communications Inc.'s (VZ) Verizon Wireless joint venture with 
Vodafone Group PLC (VOD), have valued the replacement spectrum at 
much higher prices: $5.7 billion and $5.3 billion. But Nextel 
contests the companies' valuation methods. 

Nextel has agreed to pay $850 million to cover the costs of 
rebanding for public safety agencies. The company also estimates it 
would need to invest $400 million to adjust its equipment to the 1.9 
gigahertz range. 

In all, the company estimates it would be contributing $5.4 billion 
towards solving the interference problem and receiving about $3.4 
billion worth of replacement spectrum.

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