WASHINGTON-Press reports circulated today that FCC Chairman Michael Powell had pulled away from supporting Nextel Communications Inc. getting spectrum in the 1.9 GHz band as part of a solution to public-safety interference in the 800 MHz band.
Last week, RCR Wireless News reported that Powell was certainly still considering 2.1 GHz spectrum under any plan. On May 13, Powell hinted that negotiations with Nextel regarding the 2.1 GHz band-the band favored by Nextel’s opponents-were continuing despite Nextel President Tim Donahue’s May 11 assertion that Nextel would not accept the 2.1 GHz band.
“People say whatever they want to say in their letters, but it doesn’t mean it is the end of the story, and I am not really able to share with you all of the details of where we are. I can only say that we are still pretty confident that we are making progress, and we are going to get there pretty soon,” said Powell last week.
While it is generally believed that the chairman supports staff proposals-such as the one given to the commissioners March 9 that contemplated replacement spectrum in the 1.9 GHz band-that proposal was delivered prior to the CTIA Compromise Plan submitted April 29.
Powell’s May 13 comments indicate he was clearly thinking about 2.1 GHz at that time.
Determining where each commissioner stands on either 1.9 GHz or 2.1 GHz has been the subject of much speculation ever since the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association proposed giving Nextel spectrum in the 2.1 GHz band as replacement spectrum, which significantly changed the rules of the game.
FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein Thursday said he found Nextel’s complaints about the 2.1 GHz band “unusual” because the carrier did not raise relocation concerns when it presented its first proposal, which included 2.1 GHz replacement spectrum, to solve public-safety interference in the 800 MHz band in 2001.
Nextel May 14 charged that the CTIA Compromise Plan to solve public-safety interference in the 800 MHz band favors the association’s cellular members because they hold the licenses that would have to be relocated for Nextel to make use of the 2.1 GHz band.
