WASHINGTON-The battle for the heart of the Federal Communications Commission continued last week as internal debate raged on regarding the best solution for solving public-safety interference in the 800 MHz band.
Verizon Wireless late Thursday let the FCC know it would be “arbitrary and capricious” if it chooses spectrum in the 1.9 GHz band as replacement spectrum, and it used Nextel Communications Inc.’s own words for the indictment. An appeals court can overturn agency decisions if the judges find the agency made an arbitrary and capricious decision.
During a question-and-answer session at the Lehman Brothers May 24 conference in New York, Barry West, Nextel executive vice president and chief technology officer, said Nextel would use the 10 megahertz of 1.9 GHz band spectrum it is has requested to supplement the broadband offerings it plans for spectrum it owns in the 2.5 GHz band.
“We are not looking at this for our voice services. We are looking at it for our next-generation services,” said West, noting the plan is to use the spectrum in “supporting our broadband case where we don’t have 2.5 GHz” spectrum.
Verizon Wireless pounced.
“Nextel’s confirmation that it intends to use nationwide and contiguous spectrum it receives to introduce wireless broadband service also would render arbitrary and capricious any FCC conclusion that the Nextel plan involves a true ‘value for value’ exchange. Throughout this proceeding, Nextel has argued that contiguous spectrum is no more valuable to it than interleaved spectrum, since its iDEN technology is capable of operating efficiently in narrow channels. We have noted that spectrum’s value must be based on its potential, not actual, use. In any event, it would be arbitrary and capricious for the commission to accept Nextel’s artificially low valuation of the spectrum, because the record now contains evidence that Nextel intends to use the spectrum to offer wireless broadband and thus contradicts Nextel’s own defense of its low valuation,” said John T. Scott III, Verizon Wireless vice president and deputy general counsel for regulatory law.
The reaction from Nextel shows that the stakes in the ground have not changed.
“Verizon continues to show clearly that it is not interested in assisting public safety in resolving interference. Verizon’s paramount concern is its own competitive positioning and fighting to ensure that other wireless carriers are not able to compete in the wireless marketplace,” said Nextel spokeswoman Leigh Horner.
The FCC is considering spectrum in either the 1.9 GHz or 2.1 GHz band as replacement spectrum for spectrum Nextel would give up as part of a retuning plan for the 800 MHz band. Nextel prefers 1.9 GHz spectrum, while Verizon Wireless advocates spectrum in the 2.1 GHz band.
