Subject: [NEXTEL-1] The real ITA story behind the UTC presser

From: "Todd Ellis" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 4 Feb 2003 20:19:43 -0500

Wow.this is incredible.  Imagine this posting by UTC being real!  Then
again, this is all just imagination.but it's what showed up in my
mailbox this afternoon.  Time to set the issue straight - here goes.

I have personally read the ITA request to be allowed to coordinate in
the three exclusive coordination services being requested.  The
statement below by UTC is flat out wrong.

Specifically, "It no doubt seeks this authority to be able to load its
primarily business and commercial members onto your frequencies".
Purely an opinion - or scare tactic?  I think a better way to say it
would have been that "perhaps ITA seeks this authority.", where the term
"no doubt" casts a disparaging light on the filing, aside from indeed
casting lots of doubt.  

Well, no doubt, this is NOT what ITA stated in their pleading, nor is it
what they are asking to do.  We predict that ITA will be successful in
this endeavor, and with the support of a number of utilities.
Competition may be a very good thing in this case; all of the
coordination work ITA has done for our clients has been accurate,
complete, timely, and priced economically.  

Something else for thought - how many power utilities have licenses on
VHF-Hi PW frequencies with allowed ERPs higher than 2,500 Watts?  Yes,
that's two thousand, five hundred Watts.

We are wondering why our friends at UTC would make these comments in
such a public arena, but when I know first-hand what the truth is, the
Eagle Scout in me compels me to say something.  The link on ECFS should
be posted shortly, unless Laura or Jeremy post the Acrobat copy of the
filing to the lists.

Todd R. Ellis

Operations Manager, Telecommunications Division

A Utility Services Associates Company

1011 Schaub Drive

Raleigh, North Carolina 27606

Telephone: (919) 851-8770

Fax: (919) 859-5918

Cell: (919) 418-3358

Pager: (877) 205-9320

Pager Mail: [email-masked]

http://www.booth-assoc.com

Telecommunications, Substations and Relaying,

Transmission and Distribution, Financial Services,

System Planning, GIS/Mapping and Field Services

ITA Seeks Access to Your Frequencies 

  _____  

The Industrial Telecommunications Association (ITA) this week filed a
petition with the FCC seeking authority to coordinate former Power,
Railroad and Auto Emergency frequencies. These frequencies currently
require coordination or consent by the former exclusive service
coordinator -- UTC, AAR or AAA. 

ITA claims to represent all of these industries, a highly questionable
statement. It no doubt seeks this authority to be able to load its
primarily business and commercial members onto your frequencies. Action
by the FCC in favor of the petition would remove UTC's limited ability
to keep utilities and other, incompatible licensees separated as much as
possible through careful coordination, and to protect mission-critical
systems to the full extent permitted under the FCC's Rules. 

The petition has just been filed -- the FCC has not yet requested
comment. However, UTC suggests that its members act quickly to defeat
consideration of the petition through submitting letters detailing your
concerns to John Muleta, Chief of the Wireless Telecommunications
Bureau. 

The FCC,in consolidating several former radio services into the
Industrial/Business Pool, wisely exempted critical infrastructure
industries from the completely competitive I/B environment by requiring
that all applications for the former Power, Petroleum, Railroad and Auto
Emergency pool channels be submitted through, or with the concurrence
of, the former service coordinator (ITA already contracts with API to
coordinate Petroleum frequencies, and apparently already gets whatever
consents it needs). With growing congestion on these frequencies, the
need for careful coordination, by coordinators with a thorough knowledge
of their industries, is more important than ever to protect vital
systems necessary to provide basic services to the public.