Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Timmy, So You Think VZ Was Playing? -Senator Ups Ante In 800 MHz Debate

From: NEXTEL-1
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 15:15:47 -0400

Timmy So You Think VZ Was Playing?

Senator Ups Ante In 800 MHz Debate
By Mark Rockwell
June 30, 2004
news@2 direct

WASHINGTON -- A senator fired another salvo referencing possible
criminal violations by FCC commissioners in the 800 MHz proceeding,
asking a federal watchdog agency to investigate the commission's plan.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., sent a letter to the General Accounting
Office (GAO) late yesterday asking the agency to investigate the FCC
plan on 800 MHz and render a decision by July 2.

The letter is the latest round in an increasingly ugly fight over the
800 MHz spectrum that has erupted primarily between Verizon Wireless
and Nextel Communications. FCC officials lamented the degeneration of
debate over the issue. "It distresses me that the city as a whole is
closer to the 'take no prisoners' mentality," said FCC Commissioner
Michael Copps during a press breakfast this morning. "It saddens me
that it descends to this level." Copps added, however, that the
commission "needs to get this done. We've got to figure out how to
serve the public interest."

Other FCC officials yesterday said proposals on the 800 MHz spectrum
had been vetted by commission legal staff and the threat of criminal
prosecution was seen as yet another tool in a bitter battle over the
spectrum and not a serious threat. Some long-time Washington telecom
lawyers were struck by the aggressive tenor in the 800 MHz spectrum
battle, saying they'd never seen anything like it before.

Verizon Wireless general counsel William Barr initially raised the
issue in a letter to FCC Chairman Michael Powell on Monday telling him
that a proposal ceding 1.9 GHz spectrum to Nextel without offering it
up for auction could run afoul of federal statutes, as well as the
Communications Act of 1934.

Today, Lautenberg upped the ante, asking the GAO to decide whether the
FCC's apparent plan to give 1.9 GHz spectrum to Nextel violates
criminal law. Lautenberg's letter to the federal watchdog agency
raised the same concerns and cites the same statutes as Verizon had at
the FCC.

"I write to express serious concern about a proposal currently being
considered by the Federal Communications Commission under which Nextel
Communications Inc. would receive a uniquely valuable swath of
spectrum in the 1.9 GHz band in exchange for paying the costs of
relocating incumbent licensees in the 800 MHz band, outside the normal
auction process," Lautenberg's letter stated. "I believe this may run
afoul" of federal criminal laws, including the Anti-Deficiency Act and
Miscellaneous Receipts Act, as well as the federal criminal code, he
added.

http://www.wirelessweek.com/index.asp?layout=document&doc_id=134272&verticalID=34&vertical=Business+and+Finance&industry=

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