WASHINGTON-The 800 MHz Transition Administrator released information Wednesday on how Sprint Nextel Corp. should reimburse labor and other costs as part of the Federal Communications Commission’s plan to solve public-safety interference in the 800 MHz band.
The TA gave examples of hard vs. transactional costs and said that licensees that want to be reimbursed for transactional costs that are more than 2 percent of the hard costs will have to supply specific data.
The FCC instructed the TA to carefully review any request for reimbursement of transactional costs that exceeds the 2 percent threshold. But unlike previous realignments, the FCC did not cap the amount of transactional costs. The FCC did not cap the costs because it believes there is a possibility that transactional costs for public-safety licensees could exceed the 2 percent limit.
The TA also said it would consider the licensee’s location, noting that larger areas could require higher hard costs and thus a higher amount in transactional costs.
“The TA recognizes that the 2 percent transaction cost threshold may be difficult to meet for certain small reconfigurations where basic transactional costs will be proportionally greater than in larger configurations,” said the TA.
In addition, the TA gave guidance on the reimbursement of labor costs. The TA said that work done as part of the rebanding is reimbursable but “normal system maintenance and administration are not reimbursable.”
As part of its plan to solve public-safety interference in the 800 MHz band, the FCC selected an administrator to act as an independent third party. The law firm of Squire, Sanders, & Dempsey, consulting firm BearingPoint and Baseline Telecom Inc. comprise the team.
In 2005, the FCC adopted a plan to solve the 800 HMz interference problem: swap some spectrum with Nextel Communications Inc., now owned by Sprint Nextel Corp., and have Nextel pay to move other companies off the spectrum band Nextel would receive.
