Subject: [NEXTEL-1] US FCC To Vote On Nextel Spectrum Swap Next Week

From: NEXTEL-1
Date: Fri, 02 Jul 2004 12:51:41 -0400

US FCC To Vote On Nextel Spectrum Swap Next Week
July 1, 2004 8:36pm
Dow Jones Business News

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WASHINGTON (AP)--Federal regulators say they will vote next week on a
proposal aimed at resolving problems with cell phone interference in
police and fire communications systems.

The Federal Communications Commission vote will come at the agency's
monthly meeting, according to an agenda released late Thursday. The
meeting is to be held next Thursday.

The nation's sixth-largest cellular phone company, Nextel Communications
(NXTL), is largely blamed for causing the interference. Radios used by
police, firefighters and other first responders broadcast on the same
800 megahertz spectrum as Nextel phones. So, if a radio dispatch is made
at 850 MHz near a cell tower broadcasting at 851 MHz, the radio signal
can be drowned out.

The commission is expected to approve a Nextel-backed plan in which the
company would abandon some of its airwaves in exchange for more
lucrative spectrum in a band that won't disrupt the radio communications
of emergency officials.
Nextel would be relocated to more valuable spectrum in the 1.9 gigahertz
frequency range, where most other cellular companies operate. The move
is staunchly opposed by Nextel's rivals, Verizon (VZ) and Cingular
Wireless (CIW.XX).
Nextel, based in Reston, Va., says it expects to pay out $5.4 billion
for the spectrum swap. That figure covers what the company considers the
dollar value of the spectrum it would return to the FCC for use by
public safety carriers, as well as the cost of relocating emergency
officials and clearing the new spectrum that Nextel would eventually
occupy.

Verizon and Cingular have argued the swap is a giveaway to Nextel and
that the company should be offered less valuable spectrum at a higher
frequency. The airwaves, they add, should be offered at public auction.
A court challenge is likely.
Both sides have engaged in a furious and expensive lobbying campaign,
and each enlisted the help of a former U.S. attorney general this week.
In dueling letters to the FCC, Verizon General Counsel William Barr
wrote that the spectrum swap would violate the law. Representing Nextel,
Richard Thornburgh told the commission there's nothing at all illegal
about the plan.
Police and firefighters first started complaining about the interference
five years ago and turned to the FCC for help. The Association of
Public-Safety Communications Officials, based in Daytona Beach, Fla.,
says that hundreds of public safety agencies nationwide have had their
radio calls dropped or disrupted because of cell phones.

On the Net:
Federal Communications Commission: http://www.fcc.gov

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