Subject: [NEXTEL-1] FCC Looks at Cell Phones and Emergency Systems

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2003 16:25:01 -0400

FCC Looks at Cell Phones and Emergency Systems
By Yuki Noguchi
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 22, 2003; Page E05

The head of engineering and technology for the Federal Communications Commission
said yesterday that he is briefing commissioners on several ways to solve the
interference issues between wireless public safety systems and private cellular
phone companies without a massive overhaul of the system.

"The commission now has options that didn't exist before," said Edmond J. Thomas,
chief of the FCC's office of engineering and technology. "There is a collection of technical solutions . . . to mitigate
the interference problems. Now there are several horses in the race."

Resolving cellular interference is "an extremely high priority," Thomas said.
Under the current system, many police and emergency response systems around the country -- including in the Washington area
-- experience disruptions caused by radio interference with cell-phone signals, and the commission is likely to try to
resolve it by the end of the year, he said.

Alternative solutions could complicate plans for Nextel Communications Inc.
Nextel, a Reston-based wireless firm, uses the 800-megahertz spectrum, which is
also used by police, fire and emergency personnel around the country.

In a plan filed with the FCC last August, Nextel offered to pay $850 million to
reassign all of the users in that range to eliminate interference. That plan was backed by the public safety community but opposed by
the rest of the cellular phone industry because it granted Nextel new spectrum essentially for free, instead of bidding
for licenses, which can cost billions of dollars.

That plan, which is widely considered beneficial to Nextel, was the only plan
under consideration until this spring, when Motorola Inc. filed an alternative
plan with the FCC.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29362-2003Aug21.html

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