Subject: [NEXTEL-1] LARGENT URGES HILL OPPOSITION TO 800 MHz REBANDING PROPOSAL

From: Marcelrf <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2004 21:33:39 -0500

****************************************************
LEGISLATION
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3/11/04

LARGENT URGES HILL OPPOSITION TO 800 MHz REBANDING  PROPOSAL

Highlights of the report:

The FCC's draft proposal doesn't call for Nextel to swap
any spectrum in the 700 MHz and 900 MHz bands as it
had offered to as  part of a  "consensus" plan that is also
backed by major public safety organizations and private
wireless licensees.

A draft order in the FCC's 800 MHz band proceeding that began
circulating Tuesday calls for Nextel to receive 10 MHz of spectrum
in the 1.9 gigahertz band as part of a realignment of the 800 MHz
band to address commercial interference to public safety systems,
sources said.

Nextel would be responsible for picking up all of the costs
for retuning public safety and private wireless licensees in
the 800 MHz band and would have to pay the difference
between those costs and the value of  the 1.9 GHz band
spectrum, sources said.

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Steve Largent, president and chief executive officer of the Cellular
Telecommunications & Internet Association, said today he hopes more
members of Congress will call on the FCC to reject any plan to realign
the 800 megahertz band that grants Nextel Communications, Inc.,
spectrum in the 1.9 gigahertz band.

"Now is the time for them to speak up," Mr. Largent, a former
Republican congressman from Oklahoma, told reporters after
addressing a Washington breakfast sponsored by the Federal
Communications Bar Association.  "A lot of our friends in Congress
have said, `You know, we've got more time.  We don't need to do
anything now.'"  Mr. Largent said, "There still is a window [to make
points known to the FCC], but I think the window of opportunity is
closing."  FCC officials say they hope Commissioners will vote on the
item at their April 15 meeting.

A draft order in the FCC's 800 MHz band proceeding that began
circulating Tuesday calls for Nextel to receive 10 MHz of spectrum in
the 1.9 gigahertz band as part of a realignment of the 800 MHz band to
address commercial interference to public safety systems, sources said.
Nextel would be responsible for picking up all of the costs for
retuning  public safety and private wireless licensees in the 800 MHz
band and
would have to pay the difference between those costs and the value of
the 1.9 GHz band spectrum, sources said.

The proposal doesn't call for Nextel to swap any spectrum in the 700
MHz and 900 MHz bands as it had offered to as part of a "consensus"
plan that is also backed by major public safety organizations and
private wireless licensees.

CTIA has been part of a coalition that has pushed a "balanced
approach" that relies on the use of "best practices" and technical rule
changes rather than rebanding.  However, in the past couple of weeks,
coalition members Verizon Wireless, Cingular Wireless LLC, and
AT&T Wireless Services, Inc., have said that if the Commission
decides to reband, it should do so without involving the 1.9 GHz band
and should force Nextel to pick up the 800 MHz band retuning costs.
The carriers have urged the Commission to auction the 1.9 GHz band
frequencies.

"While there appear to be differences between the Nextel-backed plan
and what the FCC staff has recommended, the underlying approach is
too time-consuming, too costly, and too disruptive to users," said Jill
Lyon, vice president and general counsel of the United Telecom
Council, a major proponent of the balanced approach and opponent of
any rebanding.  "Interference to emergency responder communications
is a serious and potentially life-threatening problem that deserves a
serious and prompt solution, not one driven by corporate welfare."

A release issued by balanced approach proponents today noted that
separate letters from Congress have been sent to the FCC recently
expressing concern about granting Nextel the 1.9 GHz band spectrum
without an auction.  One letter was sent by 23 House members, while
the other was sent March 3 by Rep. Jim Nussle (R., Iowa), chairman of
the House Budget Committee.  Rep. Nussle said he has "serious
reservations about any solution that does not involve the established
auction process."  Citizens Against Government Waste and the
National Taxpayers Union also have written letters opposing the
consensus plan, complaining that it would run counter to the statutory
requirement to auction spectrum.

Proponents of the consensus plan argue that it is the only proposal
that  will eliminate interference to public safety systems and offers a
way
to  pay for the realignment of the 800 MHz band.  Nextel also argues
that
the financial and spectral contribution it proposed is worth more than
$2 billion more than the value of the 1.9 GHz band frequencies it
seeks.- Paul Kirby, [email-masked]

http://www.tr.com/online/trd/2004/td031104/index.htm

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