Subject: [NEXTEL-1] 800 MHz Lands On FCC Agenda

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 02 Jul 2004 15:14:47 -0400

800 MHz Lands On FCC Agenda
BY MARK ROCKWELL
JULY 2, 2004

WASHINGTON -- As the FCC prepares to issue its decision concerning how
to clear public safety radio interference in the 800 MHz band, an
investigation and bitter feelings among the participants loom.

The commission is set to issue its decision at its meeting next
Thursday. The agency yesterday put the item on its official July 8
agenda. Its appearance there indicates a firm decision has been made on
the issue among commissioners, although it could be pulled off the
agenda up until the last minute if complications ensue. The commission
is widely expected to back Nextel's so-called Consensus Plan awarding
spectrum to the company at 1.9 GHz in exchange for moving out of the 800
MHz band.
In spite of the item's scheduling for the meeting next week, rumors
circulating here this morning on Capitol Hill say an announcement on the
issue will come as soon as late this afternoon as that the nation's
thoughts turn to the long holiday weekend.

In the meantime, Sen. Frank Lautenberg's, D-N.J., staff has said the
General Accounting Office (GAO) will act on the senator's request for an
investigation into possible criminal action by the FCC if it decides to
go with a plan that would cede 1.9 GHz spectrum to Nextel
Communications. In the last several days, the senator and Nextel nemesis
Verizon Wireless have said that such a decision could violate several
federal and criminal codes precluding public officials from giving
public property to private entities.

In a letter from former U.S. attorney general William Barr, now Verizon
Communications' executive vice president and general counsel, the
company warned the FCC about the possible violations on Monday. The day
after in a letter to the GAO, citing press reports of Verizon's
concerns, Lautenberg requested the agency investigate the issue by
today.

Last night, Nextel ponied up its own former high-powered Justice
Department official to argue any assignment of 1.9 GHz spectrum to
Nextel wouldn't violate the statutes cited by Verizon. Former U.S.
attorney general Richard Thornburg, now working for Washington law firm
Kirkpatrick & Lockhart and hired by Nextel, said the 800 MHz "consensus
plan will not obligate the Federal Communications Commission to spend
money that has not been appropriated by Congress. Nor will the FCC
'receive' money by a third party to spend as it sees fit."

Verizon's "arguments are diversions intended to provide cover to the
weaknesses in Verizon's challenge to the commission's authority to adopt
the Consensus Plan," Thornburg said.

http://www.wirelessweek.com/index.asp?layout=newsat2direct&starting=2&pubdate=07/02/04

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