Pacific Bell Mobile Services survived what it called “a political hit” when the San Diego City Council approved 12 PCS antenna permits previously suspended due to health complaints from a James Valentine-supported opposition group.
Pac Bell Mobile now is free to build the personal communications services network it intends to demonstrate in August when San Diego hosts the Republican National Convention. The system will use Global System for Mobile communications technology.
Opposition to antenna permits isn’t a new hurdle for wireless operators, and a three-month fight isn’t considered protracted in the cellular experience. However, this particular dilemma attracted attention because opposition didn’t come strictly from homeowners or members of the San Diego community. Pac Bell Mobile believes the attack was orchestrated by paid political action leaders, working on behalf of a competing technology, intent on delaying the launch of Pac Bell’s GSM service.
Opposition to Pac Bell was led by John Kern of the Valley Center, Calif., area. Kern runs political campaigns for a living and said he was hired by the Wireless Communications Council of Washington, D.C., to bring GSM problems to the attention of local authorities.
“Yes, I was paid to do this, but so were the two political firms hired by Pac Bell in San Diego,” Kern said. “This notion of the benevolent Pac Bell and the evil political California Communications Council is absurd.
The Wireless Communications Council was created by James Valentine, supporter and investor in Code Division Multiple Access technology. CDMA and GSM currently are in a battle for market share in the fledgling PCS market.
Kern said, “Valentine told me that the whole industry will be tainted if something bad happens [with GSM]. Forget about motives, doesn’t anyone care that what he is saying is true?”
Valentine has launched numerous campaigns against GSM, saying the service causes interference in hearing aids and other electronic devices. That’s the tack Kern’s California Communications Council took as well, zeroing in on 12 conditional-use PCS antenna permits for Pac Bell that the San Diego planning commission had approved in December. Kern asked that the decision be appealed.
The antenna permits were sent to the city council for approval Feb. 13 and the result was a four-hour, impassioned meeting. The council, perturbed by the opposition and confused by technology-related arguments, postponed a decision until March 19.
City staff said routine council meetings usually are sparsely attended, but the March 19 meeting to consider Pac Bell’s permits attracted hundreds of people.
Earlier this month, San Diego Mayor Susan Golding wrote a probing letter to Reed Hundt, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, asking whether the city had the authority to regulate PCS if it interfered with other consumer devices. Golding also queried Hundt as to what studies on interference were underway, and asked what the FCC had done to address “perceptions that PCS technologies may have negative impacts” to consumer devices.
A six-page response from Hundt listed, by number, the federal laws that regulate wireless emissions and type-accepted equipment.
Several industry groups voiced support for Pac Bell Mobile, including Self Help for Hard of Hearing People Inc.
Pac Bell Mobile said it intends to loan 260 GSM phones to the Republican National Committee this summer to demonstrate the system, but commercial service in San Diego isn’t expected to begin until January.
