Subject: [NEXTEL-1] 800 MHz Static Amps Up

From: Marcelrf <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2004 00:19:41 -0500

800 MHz Static Amps Up

As decision nears, consensus plan supporters and opponents put more
volume behind their arguments.

BY MARK ROCKWELL
MARCH 15, 2004
WIRELESS WEEK

WASHINGTON—The latest rhetorical twists and turns in the battle between
Nextel
Communications and other carriers over how 800 MHz spectrum should be
re-allocated, or re-arranged, to help emergency services providers could

influence the FCC's decision in the coming weeks, some FCC insiders say.

The battle between the consensus plan advocates and its opponents has
become more strident in the last few weeks – providing background noise
for regulators who are hammering out a decision.

All of the commotion and heated disagreements could have some intangible
effects on what the FCC decides as commissioners feel the conviction of
each participant's arguments as well as the depths they might sink to in
trying to squash each other's plans. The commission has proceeded
cautiously and deliberately in its approach to fixing the 800 MHz
interference problem. In fact, it has taken about two years to consider
the issue.

FCC officials say a firm proposal on the issue should be circulating
among commissioners' offices by mid-March. The proposal is usually the
final step in the commission's deliberations, with a decision following
within weeks.

The most recent flare-up seems to be in response to Nextel's success in
getting high-profile backing for the plan from fire, police and
emergency service organizations. The iDEN service provider has even
attracted TV celebrities to its cause. John Walsh, host of Fox
Entertainment's "America's Most Wanted," backed the consensus plan on an
episode of the show earlier this year.

Verizon Wireless upped the rhetorical ante, telling the FCC that an
immediate auction of the 1.9 GHz replacement spectrum in Nextel's plan
would be "lucrative" for the commission. The company and other opponents
of the plan also spurred a bi-partisan letter from Congress to the FCC
signed by a dozen or so representatives voicing their concern over the
plan.

There's a lot at stake. Nextel wants the FCC to reband spectrum at 700,
800 and 900 MHz in trade for giving up some of its spectrum at 10 MHz
and 1.9 GHz.  Verizon contends such a spectrum reallocation and swap
would give Nextel a "windfall" of at least $6 billion.

Nextel contends the "windfall" estimate is inaccurate and the swap and
separation of emergency services and carrier spectrum would best serve
the emergency services community by minimizing interference. The carrier
went so far as to issue a statement blasting Verizon Wireless and
Cingular Wireless specifically and accusing the wireless industry of
putting its own commercial interests "above the critical needs of public
safety's first responders and the Americans they serve."

Before that, the two sides traded shots in New York during a hearing on
800 MHz rebanding before the New York City Council Technology in
Government committee. Verizon Wireless' director of spectrum policy,
Donald Brittingham, called Nextel's plan "offensive" because of what he
called the company's billion-dollar spectrum windfall. He added that
Nextel's commercial systems cause the "vast majority" of interference
experienced by first responders.

A Nextel representative countered in his testimony that his company's
plan would eliminate interference, not minimize it, as Verizon's best
practices plan would.  "The really great news about the consensus
spectrum realignment is that it eliminates the interference to public
safety radios before it occurs, not after it prevents a firefighter from
calling for help in an emergency," said Lawrence Krevor, Nextel vice
president of government affairs.

With public safety agencies backing it, Nextel's plan carries a lot of
clout. But opposition from other major wireless carriers, including the
No. 1 Verizon Wireless, could influence commissioners.

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