ARLINGTON, Va.-It will probably take the Federal Communications Commission until the end of the year to decide what to do about public-safety interference in the 800 MHz band, said Jill Lyon, general counsel for the United Telecom Council.
If Lyon’s prediction is correct, it will mean that FCC will have wrestled with the thorny 800 MHz issue for more than two years, even after saying that it was on a fast track. Lyon made her comments during a regulatory issues panel at the annual conference of the National Spectrum Managers Association on Tuesday.
The latest wrinkle is that Motorola Inc. recently said interference problems can be solved by technical modifications. This is an approach favored by Lyon’s group of utilities and most mobile-phone carriers.
Nextel Communications Inc. and public-safety groups have expressed concern regarding the Motorola proposal.
