WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission received some unsolicited advice from 23 members of Congress on Thursday about how not to solve the public-safety interference problem in the 800 MHz band.
“We are troubled by reports that the FCC may address interference problems in a manner that results in an economic windfall to one company and that would violate the competitive bidding requirements of the Communications Act,” wrote members of the House Commerce Committee. “The commission must address interference to public-safety systems in the 800 MHz band as quickly as possible. The FCC should reband, but should keep all existing 800 MHz licensees within the band rather than give one or more entities spectrum outside of the 800 MHz band without conducting an auction.”
The signatories represent a cross-section of the country and the House Commerce Committee, but the letter was not signed by any of the House Commerce Committee leadership and still represents less than half of the opinion of the members of the committee from both parties.
Meanwhile, Verizon Wireless, which has been very vocal in its displeasure of giving Nextel any spectrum at 1.9 GHz, said the FCC should reband at 800 MHz and make Nextel pay for the process without giving Nextel any more spectrum.
“The FCC may require Nextel to bear the costs of relocating incumbent public-safety licensees, since Nextel would displace them from their spectrum and occupy for its own use. The commission has ordered similar measures a number of times in the past, and this policy has been sustained by the D.C. Circuit. The FCC’s authority to order Nextel to pay these relocation costs is enhanced by the agency’s special statutory duties to protect the needs of public-safety licensees. Finally, the FCC lawfully may require that Nextel assume the relocation costs of business and industrial users, since they would be moved as a direct result of Nextel’s relocation of the public-safety licensees,” reads a law justification prepared for Verizon Wireless.
The argument for rebanding the 800 MHz band without including the 1.9 GHz band is not new, said Verizon Wireless, reminding the FCC that several parties had suggested “In-Band Realignment” as a contrast to the Consensus Plan in 2002.
“The Consensus Plan and In-Band Realignment would both provide the same benefit to public-safety. The Consensus Plan, however, also grants a huge, unlawful windfall to a single private entity. In-Band Realignment, by contrast, would make the government and the American public winners instead of losers,” said Verizon Wireless.
Nextel was quick to respond to all of the shots from Verizon.
“Contrary to Verizon Wireless’ specious and unfounded claims, the Consensus Plan is a carefully considered proposal that has been developed by and represents the needs of the public-safety licensees that operate in the 800 MHz band, including police, fire, emergency services and others,” said Nextel. “For more than two years, CTIA including its Bell-monopoly affiliated wireless members, have indulged in bullying tactics and spent millions of dollars lobbying to derail the Consensus Plan. They have pursued this agenda while offering no alternative to solve public safety radio interference and steadfastly working to divert attention from their own well-documented contributions to the problems of public-safety interference. The failure to address this issue puts lives in danger every single day.”
The Consensus Plan would shuffle the 800 MHz band to eliminate the current situation. Nextel has said that it would pay $850 million for the necessary retuning of public-safety and private-wireless radios. Nextel said it would deposit $100 million in an escrow account and secure irrevocable lines of credit for the remaining $750 million.
In exchange for giving up spectrum in the 700, 800 and 900 MHz bands and for paying to retune public safety and private wireless, Nextel has asked for 10 megahertz in the 1.9 GHz band.
RCR Wireless News first reported Oct. 27 that FCC staff is contemplating a proposal that would give Nextel no more than 6 megahertz of spectrum in the 1.9 GHz band.
The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association and the United Telecom Council favor the Balanced Approach Plan, which calls for timely resolution of current interference at the expense of the interferor, coupled with technical rules, notification and coordination procedures to prevent new interference.
The congressional letter could delay the FCC’s decision-making process. “Please respond to our questions no later than March 15. We expect the commission to take no action on this proceeding until the FCC has responded to our questions and we have had the opportunity to evaluate the responses,” according to the letter.
The FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau is drafting a solution to be presented to the commissioners in the coming weeks with a decision expected in April, said WTB Chief John Muleta Feb. 23.
