WASHINGTON-FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein said he found Nextel Communications Inc.’s complaints about the 2.1 GHz band unusual because the carrier did not raise relocation concerns when it presented its first proposal to solve public-safety interference in the 800 MHz band in 2001.
“I would note that 2.1 (GHz) was not Verizon Wireless’ initial idea, but Nextel’s, and it is unusual in light that it was Nextel’s original idea three years ago that they did not raise these concerns at that time,” Adelstein told reporters at a regularly scheduled press breakfast. He added that the Federal Communications Commission has relocation rules in place to prevent “spectrum squatting.”
Nextel May 14 charged that the CTIA Compromise Plan to solve public-safety interference in the 800 MHz band favors the association’s cellular members because they hold the licenses that would have to be relocated for Nextel to make use of the 2.1 GHz band.
Adelstein’s view of the situation echoes a letter the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association sent late Wednesday to the FCC.
The 2.1 GHz band is “subject to rigid relocation requirements originally adopted by the FCC in 1993. This same framework was used to relocate fixed microwave incumbents from the PCS band without any substantial disagreements,” said CTIA. “The rules require incumbent licensees to negotiate in good faith with the new entrant or be subject to commission review. If at the end of the two-year mandatory negotiation period there is no agreement between the parties, Nextel would be able to involuntary relocate any incumbent.”
And so it goes. Determining where each commissioner stands on either 1.9 GHz or 2.1 GHz is the subject of much speculation.
Adelstein said the FCC was “moving smartly along” on the issue but would not comment on whether the FCC would consider it at its June 10 meeting.
Meanwhile, press reports circulated late last week that FCC Chairman Michael Powell had pulled away from supporting Nextel getting spectrum in the 1.9 GHz band.
Earlier this month, RCR Wireless News reported that Powell was certainly still considering 2.1 GHz spectrum under any plan. On May 13, Powell hinted that negotiations with Nextel regarding the 2.1 GHz band-the band favored by Nextel’s opponents-were continuing despite Nextel President and Chief Executive Officer Tim Donahue’s May 11 assertion that Nextel would not accept the 2.1 GHz band.
“People say whatever they want to say in their letters, but it doesn’t mean it is the end of the story, and I am not really able to share with you all of the details of where we are. I can only say that we are still pretty confident that we are making progress, and we are going to get there pretty soon,” said Powell last week.
While it is generally believed that the chairman supports staff proposals-such as the one given to the commissioners March 9 that contemplated replacement spectrum in the 1.9 GHz band-that proposal was delivered prior to the CTIA Compromise Plan submitted April 29.
Powell’s May 13 comments indicate he was clearly thinking about 2.1 GHz at that time.
