NEXTEL'S DONAHUE: NO QUICK REBANDING DECISION
The FCC has yet to reach a decision on whether Nextel will get the spectrum at 1.9 GHz it covets, or at 2.1 GHz, as part of a 800 MHz rebanding plan with debate continuing within the Commission, Nextel Pres. Timothy Donahue told shareholders Thurs. Donahue repeated, as he had at a Lehman Bros. investment conference earlier this week, that Nextel wouldn’t accept anything but 1.9 GHz spectrum.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
“This is in the trenches warfare. This is hand-to-hand combat that’s going on right now,” Donahue said during the meeting in Nextel’s home base of Reston, Va. “It has yet to be decided. There are some alternate plans that are in front of the FCC that we will not agree to and we'll see where it goes. I am still very optimistic that it will go our way.” Donahue said a decision could take another month.
Sources said Chmn. Powell and Donahue are essentially each in a “box” at this point. Both want an agreement. Powell wants a rebanding plan, but doesn’t want to be seen as giving Nextel all it has demanded. Donahue needs spectrum, but has boxed himself in by refusing 2.1 GHz. Future discussions are likely to focus on Nextel’s getting 1.9 MHz spectrum but at a higher price. While an order could take another month, Powell could signal his final policy call on 2.1 GHz in a matter of days.
Donahue said Thurs. Nextel remains convinced the “consensus plan” for rebanding is the only workable alternative before the Commission. “To our knowledge there is no plan that is on the table that effectively eliminates the interference that is currently being caused in the 800 band other than the consensus plan,” he said. “I think the FCC has come to the conclusion that rebanding must happen and Nextel really is the only one that has put a reasonable plan on the desk of the FCC for action.”
Meanwhile, Verizon Wireless opened up a new front against Nextel late Thurs., charging in a filing at the FCC Nextel has not been forthcoming about its plans for the replacement spectrum it would obtain. Verizon quoted from remarks by Barry West, Nextel CTO, at the Lehman conference. West said of the replacement spectrum: “We're not looking at this for our voice services, we're looking at it for the next generation of technology -- for broadband,” Verizon said.
“Clearly, this statement contradicts the ‘value for value’ arguments that Nextel has previously made and thus further undermines any basis for granting Nextel spectrum at 1.9 GHz,” Verizon said. “Nextel’s interleaved spectrum at 800 MHz cannot now or in the future be used for next generation or broadband technology. Its ‘replacement’ spectrum, however, can be deployed easily and readily for such services, as noted by Nextel’s own CTO. This statement also eviscerates Nextel’s previous arguments that its continued use of iDEN technology lessens the value of contiguous spectrum for its services.”
A Nextel spokesman responded: “Once again in this proceeding, Verizon Wireless is offering nothing for the public safety community to solve the problem of radio interference for our nation’s first responders. Verizon Wireless is only interested in their competitive advantage.”
Nextel regards Verizon Wireless as the company’s primary competitor, Donahue said during the presentation Thurs. Donahue also said Nextel stands by early valuations of the replacement spectrum. He called the Bell companies that own wireless carriers Verizon Wireless and Cingular “litigious bullies.”