WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission is seeking comment on clarifications sought by Nextel Communications Inc. regarding the FCC’s plan to solve public-safety interference in the 800 MHz band, in essence turning down Nextel’s request to deal with those issues privately.
Now that the FCC has decided to let the public comment on the 800 MHz rebanding plan, it is likely the 256-page document spelling out the rules of the plan will be published soon. The wireless industry has been waiting since August to see the FCC’s 800 MHz plan published in the Federal Register.
An FCC official said getting the public notice published should be easier than the thorny process surrounding getting the actual rules published. “It will not be as complicated to get this published in the Federal Register as it is to get the longer and more complex rules published in the Federal Register,” said an FCC official.
Comments on the public notice are due 10 days after the public notice appears in the Federal Register.
The FCC said commenters should “focus their comments on the issues that Nextel has raised.”
Nextel is seeking clarifications to a controversial government proposal to solve public-safety interference in the 800 MHz band that would require Nextel to swap some spectrum with public-safety and have Nextel pay to move other companies off the spectrum band Nextel would receive.
Some of the issues Nextel has raised include how much the spectrum it is relinquishing at 800 MHz is worth and how interference issues should be handled.
Nextel asked the FCC to deal with these clarifications through a process called erratums, rather than by issuing a supplemental document. If the commission dealt with the issues by erratums, other companies, including critics to the proposal, would not be allowed to weigh in with their opinions. Erratums can be handled by the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, while a reconsideration motion would require a vote of the full commission. Generally, erratums are reserved for clerical mistakes in a document.
In addition, the FCC extended some of the deadlines in the as-yet-unpublished rules. “There was a determination that there was a need for breathing room in the deadlines,” said the FCC official.
Meanwhile, Timothy Donahue, Nextel’s chief executive, said his company is “enthused by the clarifications we have been able to receive from the FCC” regarding the commission’s plan.
It is unclear what clarifications Donahue was referring to because up to now the FCC has issued two changes to the rules, but neither were issues raised by Nextel.
Nextel tried to downplay Donahue’s comments, made during Nextel’s third-quarter conference call. “He is not saying anything new,” said Leigh Horner, Nextel director of policy communications. “He was talking about the process.”
The FCC suggested Donahue’s comments might be referring to the two erratums already issued by the agency.
“Lots of issues have been raised in ex-parte meetings, and Nextel has asked us for a number of clarifications. Except for the two erratums, no decisions have been made,” said Lauren Patrich, special counsel for media relations for the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau.
Nextel’s Donahue said he expects the 800 MHz rules will be final in 60 days, which would imply that publication in the Federal Register is still a month off because rules become final 30 days after publication.
The FCC can reconsider its own rules within 30 days of publication in the Federal Register. If that happened, the 30-day clock for Nextel to accept or reject the plan would start over.
What is less clear is whether the FCC will decide to handle some or all of Nextel’s clarifications by themselves or whether they will require Nextel to file a petition for reconsideration.
