WASHINGTON-Two licensees-one site-based and one economic area-told a federal appeals court they got the short straw when the Federal Communications Commission decided to reconfigure the 800 MHz band in an attempt to reduce interference to public safety.
Site-based licensee Mobile Relay Associates, and EA licensee Skitronics L.L.C., have been unhappy ever since the FCC issued its 800 MHz rebanding order in 2004.
The commission in 2004 said it wanted to reconfigure the 800 MHz band, changing it from slices of various types of licenses-public safety, enhanced specialized mobile radio and private wireless-to a band with three distinct sections: public safety, cellular and non-cellular. Non-public-safety licensees that had not converted to cellular prior to Nov. 22, 2004, were required to move to the non-cellular band.
“The FCC gave lip service to keep us in a comparable position while they didn’t keep us in the same position,” said David Kaufman, outside counsel for MRA and Skitronics.
The FCC disagrees, saying that sorting out the band better protects public safety from interference. The companies also can ask for waivers if they want changes.
“The FCC is allowed to do this when, like here, it is trying to do one of the most fundamental objectives of the Communications Act, which is to protect police and fire communications,” Joel Marcus of the FCC’s Office of General Counsel told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. “The FCC drew a line for a valid rational basis. If a licensee is put on one side of a line, that should be a case for a waiver.”
The fact that only two of the thousands of licensees in the 800 MHz band are appealing the rebanding was not lost on Christopher Wright, former FCC general counsel now representing Sprint Nextel Corp. and public safety.
Wright told the court that the rebanding process was well under way, noting that MRA was the only Colorado licensee to not reach a rebanding agreement with Sprint Nextel.
Sprint Nextel is paying to retune public-safety and private-wireless licensees in the 800 MHz band. As part of the deal, Sprint Nextel is giving up 700 MHz and some 800 MHz channels in return for 10 megahertz of spectrum at 1.9 GHz.
But Sprint Nextel doesn’t always get its way when it comes to 800 MHz issues. Last week, the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau refused the carrier’s request to delay the 800 MHz rebanding.
Sprint Nextel had requested a new timeline because it said the rules kept changing. The new start date under Sprint Nextel’s request would have been Feb. 27 with the rebanding completed by Feb. 27, 2009. As it stands today, the rebanding is scheduled to be completed by June 27, 2008.
Meanwhile, the 800 MHz Transition Administrator-the outside team designated by the FCC to manage the rebanding-is taking a more proactive role in the negotiations between Sprint Nextel and public-safety licensees for planning funding. Public-safety licensees say it is very difficult for them to enter negotiations unless they know they will be paid for them. This issue has been bubbling under the surface as different licensees enter different stages of the negotiations. When the first wave of licensees entered the mandated alternative dispute resolution process late last year, funding was one of the first issues addressed. The second wave is already well into the negotiation process.
On the business side, Motorola Inc. said it has developed software that eases the transition to new spectrum for public-safety communications systems.
