NEXTEL READY TO KILL REBANDING AGREEMENT
Nextel late Tues. warned the FCC it would reject any rebanding plan that gives it spectrum at 2.1 GHz instead of the 1.9 GHz in the “consensus” proposal on file at the Commission. Meanwhile, law enforcement officials told us they're increasingly concerned a deal could fall apart unless Nextel gets the 1.9 MHz in the agreement.
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“My responsibility to Nextel’s shareholders requires that Nextel obtain comparable value in any retuning transaction: 2.1 GHz does not meet that test,” Nextel Pres. Timothy Donahue wrote FCC Chmn. Powell. “Nextel cannot and will not accept that result.” Donahue accused proponents of the 2.1 GHz plan, led by CTIA, of trying to gain a competitive advantage at Nextel’s expense: “The sole goal of the 2.1 GHz advocates is to decrease competition and inflict damage on Nextel by manipulating the proceeding to force Nextel to accept -- at great cost -- inferior replacement spectrum.”
Donahue also called the consensus proposal a “substantial undertaking” that “exceeds every goal” established for the proceeding by the Commission. “Nextel’s commitment does not apply, however, if the Commission substitutes 2.1 GHz for the 1.9 GHz G block replacement spectrum,” Donahue said: “This letter is the first time I have written you concerning this proceeding and I do not do so lightly. My direct correspondence with you is warranted, however, by the importance to all Americans of solving the 800 MHz public safety interference problem.”
Law enforcement groups backing the consensus rebanding plan are privately expressing strong concerns about the 2.1 GHz proposal, which appears to be gaining steam at the Commission (CD May 11 p1). The public safety groups haven’t formally expressed their concerns to the FCC, but law enforcement sources said they had previously been warned by Nextel it was ready to pull the plug on the agreement if the FCC backed the alternate plan.
“We have no dog in this fight between 1.9 and 2.1. That’s not our business,” one law enforcement source said Tues. “What is important to us is that Nextel is the only player who has offered anyway to resolve this issue. If they reject the plan, it hurts us.” The FCC is aware of law enforcement’s position, the public safety source said: “We don’t care. We're not going to use the 1.9. Nextel is. The only issue for us is that with Nextel leaving there is no solution.” A second public safety official agreed: “Nextel has been very clear it has to be 1.9. We're wondering where that leaves us.”
The law enforcement groups last weighed in officially on April 22, when the Assn. of Public-Safety Communications Officials, the International Assn. of Chiefs of Police, the International Assn. of Fire Chiefs and the National Sheriffs’ Assn. sent Powell a letter saying they were anxious a decision be made. “The record is complete, the item is ready for action, and the time is ripe to move forward with a solution so that public safety can address the interference problem in a comprehensive fashion,” the groups wrote.