Subject: [NEXTEL-1] 800 MHz Decision Nears At FCC

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 08 Apr 2004 14:33:25 -0400

800 MHz Decision Nears At FCC
BY MARK ROCKWELL
APRIL 8, 2004

WASHINGTON -- Despite press reports that three FCC commissioners have
voted to swap commercial 800 MHz spectrum with spectrum for emergency
responders, sources say the commission hasn't officially decided on the
issue, but a significant shift in support for it may have occurred.

Rumors concerning how the FCC will handle the issue swirled today, as
press reports said three of the five FCC commissioners had voted to
require Nextel to pay almost $2 billion -- twice the $850 million it had
originally proposed -- to reorganize the 800 MHz spectrum. Details about
how much the company would pay and how it would make the payments to the
agency weren't disclosed. Nextel Communications officials declined to
comment on the reports.

The number of commissioners who back the proposal is significant, say
some seasoned FCC watchers. For the last several months, Commissioner
Michael Copps has been a holdout on using Nextel's proposal for a
"spectrum swap" as the base for its plan. FCC Chairman Michael Powell
and Commissioner Kevin Martin have been more amendable to it, however.
If Copps has shifted his view on the plan, Kathleen Abernathy and
Jonathan Adelstein will probably follow, say FCC observers. In the last
few months, Abernathy and Adelstein have been actively looking for an
alternative to the plans offered up by Nextel and Nextel's opponents.
Upping the amount Nextel would have to pay to swap the spectrum could be
a way to get Copps to shift, says one analyst.

All the intrigue is bound up in the FCC's procedures. Industry officials
said the reports on "voting" by FCC commissioners on the issue were
probably commissioners firming up a final proposal being put together
today to be voted on during the commission's April 15 meeting. The
commission has to issue a public statement on the cases and proposals it
plans to address at each of its formal meetings. The "sunshine" agendas,
as they're called, can be issued as late as a week before the official
FCC meeting. The items that are placed on the agenda can be removed at
will, and sometimes are. However, if an item makes it onto the
commission's agenda through to the actual meeting, it rarely is voted
down.

http://www.wirelessweek.com/index.asp?layout=newsat2direct&starting=1&pubdate=04/08/04

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