NEW YORK-Nextel is a “rag dog” company that has fought against the odds of regulators, antitrust lawyers and Wall Street to win, said Morgan E. O’Brien, vice chairman of Nextel Communications Inc.
O’Brien made his remarks during a keynote speech at the 90th Annual Radio Club of America dinner Nov. 19 in New York. During his speech, he said Nextel has been a “veritable poster child for the [Federal Communications Commission’s] policies to inject vigorous competition into wireless.” This, he said, is at the same time Nextel is awaiting a decision from Judge Thomas Hogan on whether he will allow a consent decree to be modified that will allow Nextel to obtain specialized mobile radio licenses held by bankrupt Geotek Communications Inc.
Geotek is the latest of many licenses that Nextel has obtained. In fact, O’Brien said the company has completed 5,000 transactions.
“By my estimate we have completed over 5,000 transactions and we have bought over 150,000 frequencies in transactions ranging in size from huge-thousands of channels-to very tiny-a single channel or even a sliver of a channel. We are not proud,” O’Brien said.
In addition to extolling the virtues of Nextel, O’Brien gave his view of what the future will look like.
The 21st century wireless world will allow people to know where you are and where you are not, O’Brien said. He went on to explain that FCC rules requiring wireless enhanced 911 technologies will allow “for endless possibilities … the wireless system knows where you are; combine that with a technology trained to know your individual likes and dislikes.”
In addition to O’Brien’s keynote speech, eight awards were presented at the dinner.
The awards, winners and short biographies are as follows:
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The Special Services Award: For her devotion to the welfare of Radio Club members, June Poppele.
The President’s Award: In recognition of superior service on behalf of the Fellows program and her many contributions to the club, Vivian A. Carr, a retired engineer and former employee of Bell Telephone Laboratories Inc.
The Fred M. Link Award: For his substantial contributions to the advancement and development of land mobile radio and communications, Roger R. Block, technical adviser, co-founder and past president for PolyPhaser Corp.
The Frank A. Gunther Award: For his major contributions to the advancement of military electronic communications systems, Thomas H. Traynor, engineering manager for Lockheed Martin Fairchild Systems.
The Sarnoff Citation: For his major regulatory and business contributions to the wireless industry, Sidney Topol, former chairman, president and CEO of Scientific-Atlanta.
The Ralph Batcher Award: For his diligence in preserving the history of motion picture technical progress, Maurice H. Zouary, former executive vice president of Movietronics Corp.
The Allen B. Dumont Citation: For his major contributions to the TV industry, including the rapid development and construction of the lunar landing color TV camera system, William E. Endres, president and CEO of Tele-Measurements Inc.
The Lee De Forest Award: For his significant contributions to the advancement of radio communications, Joe Franklin, a radio/TV personality in New York City.