WASHINGTON-The 800 MHz Transition Administrator late last week gave non-Nextel economic area licensees until May 13 to decide whether they want to move as part of the 800 MHz rebanding effort to solve public-safety interference.
EA licensees in the Southeast United States must decide whether they wish to remain in or move to the ESMR band (813.5-24 MHz/858.5-869 MHz). Unlike other non-Nextel EA licensees, the southeast licensees do not have the option of moving to the guard band, because there is no guard band.
“Licensees relocating to the guard band or ESMR band will be entitled only to limited interference protection. Costs of licensees with constructed systems electing to move to the guard band will be funded by Nextel Communications Inc. if the licensees otherwise are required to be relocated,” said the Transition Administrator.
As part of its plan to solve public-safety interference in the 800 MHz band, the Federal Communications Commission selected a Transition Administrator to act as an independent third party. Consulting firm BearingPoint, law firm Squire-Sanders-Dempsey L.L.P. and Baseline Telecom Inc. comprise the team.
The FCC in July adopted a plan to solve the interference problem by swapping some spectrum with Nextel and having Nextel pay to move other companies off the spectrum band Nextel would receive. The FCC released the text of the plan in early August and made modifications to it in December. Nextel is now obligated to fix an interference problem public safety was experiencing because Nextel’s systems were interleaved with public safety. In return for $4.8 billion in retuning costs and a payment to the U.S. Treasury, Nextel will get 10 megahertz of spectrum in the 1.9 GHz band, also known as the G block. In December, Nextel agreed to merge with Sprint Corp. While Sprint was not a signatory to an acceptance of the plan Nextel gave the FCC in February, Robert Foosaner, Nextel chief regulatory officer and senior vice president, said at that time, “the new company will meet all of the obligations.”
