WASHINGTON-The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association’s board of directors could vote this week on a new 800 MHz public-safety interference plan strongly supported by mobile-phone carriers but at odds with business interests of the trade group’s outgoing chairman, Nextel Communications Inc. President and CEO Tim Donahue.
Nextel is outnumbered on the 800 MHz issue in CTIA. Worse yet, Nextel may be losing at the Federal Communications Commission as regulators shift their focus to new proposals emphasizing technical solutions over wholesale frequency-band realignment. The FCC is expected to issue a ruling later this year.
“There are options on the table that are technically viable,” Edmond Thomas, chief of the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology, told RCR Wireless News last Friday. OET and the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau are both working to resolve 800 MHz public-safety interference.
Last Thursday afternoon, after being briefed earlier in the day on a new plan backed by mobile-phone firms and utilities and that tracks Motorola Inc.’s view that a technical fix is possible, Thomas held a meeting with 800 MHz stakeholders on technical options for eliminating interference to police, firefighters and medics.
Sources, including some who attended the meeting, said the two-and-a-half-hour meeting-which began with a Motorola Inc. presentation and was at times intense-tended to put Nextel on the defensive.
CTIA and Nextel declined to comment on the meeting or the 800 MHz vote by the trade group’s board on Wednesday.
Despite the fireworks caused by Motorola, Thomas downplayed a momentum shift in the debate. “At the end of the day, it [the Motorola technical proposal] is an option.”
CTIA members, utilities, local governments and others last week urged the FCC to take a balanced approach to resolving interference to 800 MHz public-safety communications by relying on best practices and technical remedies rather than overhauling the crowded frequency band as Nextel and others have suggested.
“The proposal is believed to be much less expensive, less burdensome and far more in alignment with the commission’s spectrum policies than the Private Wireless Coalition plan now before the commission,” mobile-phone carriers and utilities stated.
Nextel, responsible for significant disruption to 800 MHz public radio transmissions, and others want the FCC to devote part of the 800 MHz band to cellular-like networks and another part to traditional, single-antenna wireless systems.
The Nextel plan would require many licensees-including Nextel-to move to other frequencies. In return, Nextel would donate $850 million to the relocation process (mostly to public safety) and receive 10 megahertz of spectrum in the 1.9 MHz band.
Mobile-phone carriers do not fancy the idea of Nextel-a formidable competitor-getting a valuable chunk of the public airwaves.
The coalition to which Nextel belongs is broad-based, including vast numbers of private wireless and public-safety licensees. The group tends to believe more drastic measures are necessary if the public safety band is to be free from interference, but held back from directly criticizing the new proposal.
“The Balanced Approach proposal should be reviewed by the commission to determine if it provides non-cellularized entities in the 800 MHz band proactive relief from harmful interference in a cost-effective manner,” stated the Industrial Telecommunications Association.
PCIA, a trade group representing wireless infrastructure firms, is equally dubious about the new approach championed by mobile-phone carriers and utilities.
“PCIA and the Private Wireless Coalition have presented the FCC with a plan for 800 MHz re-banding that we believe best addresses the majority of the interference problems experienced by public safety and private system wireless users. PCIA encourages new ideas for and discussion of re-banding approaches, and we will continue to collaborate with all stakeholders to arrive at solutions to this important problem,” stated the association.
Robert Gurss, an attorney representing the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials, said he needed to review the new 800 MHz proposal before commenting.
Alan Shark, president of the American Mobile Telecommunications Association, said the trade group continues to support the Private Wireless Coalition and does not have a position on the new plan offered by mobile-phone carriers, utilities and others.
“We’re trying to figure out how public safety’s concerns are best addressed and how our members are protected,” said Shark. AMTA represents dispatch radio operators.
