PUBLIC SAFETY GROUPS ASK FOR WHITE HOUSE PUSH ON 800 MHZ

“Two years is too long, Mr. President, for the nation’s emergency responders to wait for governmental leadership in eliminating this problem,” said a letter to Bush from the Assn. of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO), the International Assn. of Chiefs of Police, the International Assn. of Fire Chiefs and the National Sheriffs’ Assn. APCO Pres. Vincent Stile said the groups wanted to bring the issue “to a head” by focusing White House attention on it. McEwen said Nextel’s competitors had raised concerns about the unfair competitive edge they said the consensus plan would give it. “We know that part of the reason this thing is stalled at the FCC is because they are worried about all these other extraneous issues,” he said at a news conference: “We have to solve this problem… The worst thing that could happen is for this to get fouled up into a corporate battle that we have no control over.”

As part of the rising attention the issue has received in recent weeks, America’s Most Wanted host John Walsh has spearheaded a letter-writing campaign for viewers to back the “consensus plan” supported by APCO, Nextel and others. “The consensus plan was presented to the FCC in August 2002, but FCC commissioners have not acted on it yet,” Walsh said in a letter on his Web site, which contains a form letter to send to Congress members and the FCC to support the consensus plan. “Interference from cellphones operating -- completely legally -- on adjacent space in the communications spectrum results in dropped calls and garbled communications,” he said.

The letter to Bush from APCO and the 3 law enforcement groups also stressed the time the FCC had held the proposed solutions. “Nearly 2 years have gone by and the FCC has not acted to safeguard our nation’s first responders,” the letter said: “As interference grows more frequent, the FCC appears paralyzed by opponents whose parochial self-interests unnecessarily place our nation’s first responders and those they serve at risk. The opponents are attempting to shift the Commission’s focus away from the interference problem towards a spurious debate over spectrum valuation and competition among commercial service providers.” CTIA, the United Telecom Council and others have backed a competing plan that wouldn’t rely on a spectrum swap, which they have criticized as representing a “give-away” of 1.9 GHz spectrum to Nextel. Under the consensus plan, Nextel would give up spectrum as part of the proposed reconfiguration in return for capacity at 1.9 GHz and elsewhere.

FCC Wireless Bureau Chief John Muleta told reporters this month the agency still was aiming for an 800 MHz decision in the first quarter. He said last fall the bureau’s attention had turned to the question of a potential windfall for Nextel under the rebanding scenarios. In Nov., Nextel filed 2 studies at the FCC that defended the consensus plan, estimating the proposal would produce benefits that would outweigh potential costs to the govt. in spectrum auction proceeds it would give up. The plan’s backers have proposed a swap in which parts of 700, 800 and 900 MHz would be reconfigured, with Nextel giving up some spectrum in return for bands elsewhere, including 10 MHz at 1.9 GHz. Nextel pledged $850 million to pay for relocation costs for private wireless and public safety incumbents that would be moved under the plan. Verizon Wireless has estimated the incremental value of the spectrum swap for Nextel at $6.5 billion.

McEwen said the groups had held discussions with White House staff on the plan but declined to say with whom. He and other public safety officials at the news conference portrayed the debate over 800 MHz interference as veering into a battle among corporate interests. Of the consensus plan, he said: “Primarily the opponents are the competitors of Nextel and the cellular industry -- these would be the other cellular companies.” Competitors of Nextel view the consensus plan as a way for the carrier “to have some unfair competitive advantage.” He dismissed the possibility that an FCC decision along the lines of the consensus plan would spark a lawsuit from competitors that could tie up the relocation plans. McEwen called that a “favorite tactic” of such opponents, saying it would put public safety lives at risk.

The backers of the alternative to the consensus plan, which would focus on best practices rather than large-scale spectrum reconfiguration, issued a statement criticizing the 3-1/2 years it would take to pull off the spectrum swap. “When a car’s headlight goes out, it’s time to replace that headlight. But the ‘consensus plan’ sees a broken headlight and wants to replace the whole car -- with a more expensive model that won’t be delivered for over 3 years and won’t run properly when it gets here,” UTC Gen. Counsel Jill Lyon said.

“It’s disappointing that they are portraying this as purely a battle of corporate interests,” an FCC spokeswoman said Thurs.: “It is much more complex than that.”

As the FCC headed closer toward a set of options that would begin circulating on the 8th floor, many industry observers have expected Nextel will get at least some spectrum it’s seeking, even if not the entire 10 MHz at 1.9 GHz in the consensus plan. Legg Mason said in a recent research note that FCC staff appeared to be heading toward letting Nextel win the spectrum it has sought in the rebanding proposal, but it said the price tag could be higher than the company had anticipated. A reportedly sticky issue at the FCC continues to be how spectrum in the swap would be valued.