800 MHz Rebanding Order Near Decision at the FCC
A “sua sponte” order, addressing changes to the FCC’s 800 MHz rebanding order sought by Nextel, has started to circulate, we've learned. Sources said the order, initiated by the Commission, addresses the key “decisional” issues raised by Nextel in its objections to the order and will likely result in Nextel having to pay hundreds of millions of dollars less than originally projected.
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One likely decision is that the amount Nextel would have to pay for spectrum would be reduced by $452 million, based on revisions in its favor on the count of MHz POPs it’s giving up through the spectrum it will return under the complicated rebanding formula.
Meanwhile, Chmn. Powell said Wed. he had been assured by Nextel officials the 800 MHz rebanding plan approved by the FCC in July would be part of a merger agreement with Sprint. “I have had the opportunity to talk to the companies in advance and that was foremost on my mind,” he told reporters. “It is my understanding that they have specifically incorporated in the merger agreement that all the 800 MHz obligations and process will be transferred over to whatever the new entity is.”
Powell said that agreement gave him “great comfort… We're going to be very vigilant about making sure that’s the case.” But Powell said he wasn’t assured by top Nextel officials their company would accept the plan. The carrier has until Feb. 7 to decide: “The game doesn’t change just because players might change.”
Powell promised a thorough merger review by the FCC. “Whenever we sort of consolidate the market one fewer we're going to take a very, very hard and rigorous look at that.” But, Powell said, he was “generally interested” that the merger will create a strong, non-Bell affiliated wireless competitor. “Some of the issues that have given us some of the greatest intellectual difficulty and concern are when you begin to blur wireline and wireless,” he said.
Nextel has gotten past most of the early opposition to the 800 MHz plan, under which it will get 10 MHz nationally of 1.9 GHz spectrum. Cingular Dec. 7 withdrew comments it had filed days earlier criticizing Nextel’s request to reduce the amount it will ultimately pay for the spectrum. Nextel previously worked out an agreement with archrival Verizon Wireless, after which Verizon withdrew its criticisms.