WASHINGTON-Nextel Communications Inc. would deposit at least $3 billion in a trust fund and receive spectrum in the 2.1 GHz band instead of the 1.9 GHz band in a plan to solve public-safety interference at 800 MHz proposed late Thursday by the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association.
“This compromise puts public safety first, and that’s the most important thing. Public safety has been swinging in the wind for too long. This proposal ends public-safety radio interference in a prescribed period of time and makes sure the costs of rebanding are completely covered. The plan is also legally sustainable, doesn’t put any one company at an advantage and gives Nextel the spectrum it had originally asked for,” said CTIA President Steve Largent.
Nextel disagrees strongly with the word “compromise.”
“A compromise is one in which all of the parties come together, and we were not involved,” said Lawrence Krevor, Nextel vice president of government affairs.
CTIA long ago broke with Nextel on a solution to solve public-safety interference in the 800 MHz band. It has consistently called for a plan that would not involve rebanding the 800 MHz band. Known as the Balanced Approach Plan, CTIA’s original proposal calls for timely resolution of interference at the expense of the interferer, coupled with technical rules, notification and coordination procedures to prevent new interference.
Nextel said it was given less than 24 hours’ notice of a conference call to vote on the new proposal and was not offered a draft. It chose not to participate in the call. CTIA said: “Nextel was treated no differently than our other members in preparation for the Executive Committee call, and was in fact, the first company CTIA contacted when the call was organized.”
In addition to setting up the $3 billion public-safety trust fund, Nextel would receive permission to use spectrum in the 2.1 GHz band as the proposal moves forward rather than in one nationwide 10-megahertz license.
“Nextel and public safety would complete rebanding on a market-by-market basis; upon certification of completion of rebanding in each market, Nextel would receive a portion of the 2.1 GHz spectrum in that market; upon completion of rebanding nationally and meeting its obligation to provide $3 billion in funding, Nextel would receive the remaining 2.1 GHz spectrum for each market,” said CTIA. CTIA said this sequence ensures that all of public-safety-not just large urban areas or markets currently experiencing and reporting interference-will be retuned.
“This approach would help address the concern that rebanding might occur first and only in the largest cities, but leave smaller communities who also will incur significant rebanding costs without a solution,” said CTIA.
Nextel said the sequence in the Consensus Plan protects public safety, or it would have not agreed to it.
“It is astonishing that CTIA thinks it knows how to protect public safety better than public safety, and they have no confidence in the FCC to set out rules,” said Krevor. “Public safety would never accept a half-done plan.”
CTIA’s proposal comes amid continued wrangling at the Federal Communications Commission regarding how to solve public-safety interference at 800 MHz.
Nextel started this ball rolling in November 2001 when it submitted a white paper detailing how the problem could be solved. That plan called for moving private wireless out at the expense of private wireless, rebanding the 800 MHz band and giving Nextel 10 megahertz of spectrum in the 2.1 GHz band.
Krevor says, “The world has changed a lot in three years.”
Following an FCC notice of proposed rulemaking, which suggested the 1.9 GHz band, Nextel joined with private wireless and some public-safety advocates to fashion the Consensus Plan, which would shuffle the 800 MHz band to eliminate the current situation where public safety, private wireless, Nextel, other SMRs and cellular carriers are intermingled. In exchange for giving up spectrum in the 700 MHz, 800 MHz 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.
The Consensus Plan has always been a “take it or leave it” arrangement, and Krevor told RCR Wireless News the same thing Friday in explaining why the 1.9 GHz band is better than the 2.1 GHz band.
“Nextel has said from day one, that we would make these commitments-which requires at least $3.5 billion if and only if we got a fair exchange. We need a fair exchange that leaves our shareholders convinced it is a fair exchange. 1.9 (GHz) appears to be a fair exchange, 2.1 (GHz) is not a fair exchange. So if it is not a fair exchange, I don’t know how any public company, including this one, deals with that,” said Krevor.
Nextel said April 22 that giving it spectrum in the 2.1 GHz band instead of the 1.9 GHz band to solve the 800 MHz public-safety interference issue would take too long and would not survive a legal challenge.
The FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau March 9 delivered its plan to the commissioners. The staff proposal closely tracks with the Consensus Plan, but requires Nextel to pay perhaps billions more than the $850 million it said it would pay as part of the rebanding agreement. Nextel would pay all of the relocation costs plus the difference between that amount and “fair-market value” of 10 megahertz of spectrum it seeks in the 1.9 GHz band. The staff proposal reportedly does not require Nextel to relinquish its 700 MHz and 900 MHz spectrum.
On Thursday, FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein said the FCC is seriously considering the 2.1 GHz band as a way to minimize litigation risk to any plan to solve public-safety interference in the 800 MHz band.
Adelstein said any carrier, presumably referring to Nextel, should be happy to get 10 megahertz of nationwide spectrum in either the 2.1 GHz or 1.9 GHz bands. Adelstein said he believes that any plan the FCC adopts will be taken to court, however, it is best to take a few extra weeks to explore alternatives to reduce litigation risk.
“Ten megahertz of nationally unimpeded spectrum is an attractive thing no matter where it is. Whether it is here or there, it should be something that any carrier considers to be incredibly attractive to them so we are hoping to work with them,” said Adelstein. “There is nobody interested in delay, but if we go down a path that results in us getting reversed, that will be a much bigger delay than taking a couple of weeks now to get it right.”
In the best of all worlds, a deal would be fashioned that could be championed by Nextel, private wireless, all of public safety and the wireless industry. The FCC has been encouraging such a result by urging the industry to forge a compromise with Nextel, but at this point, the FCC’s encouragement does not appear to be working.
