Subject: [NEXTEL-1] No Hard Feelings Over 800 MHz Battle

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 01 Aug 2004 05:09:44 -0400

No Hard Feelings Over 800 MHz Battle

Even after the FCC's ruling, the issue is far from resolved

By Mark Rockwell
Wireless Week

August 1, 2004

WASHINGTON

The smash-mouth lobbying tactics wielded by Verizon Wireless
and Nextel Communications in the run up to the FCC's decision
on 800 MHz interference in July left bruises, but no permanent
scarring among the combatants.

The brawl also has left emergency service providers hoping the
FCC will back up its decision with concrete, manageable details
in the yet-to-be-released text of the ruling. Everyone involved in
the interference issue expects another round of legal brawling to
commence once the commission issues that language.

The 800 MHz debate produced some of the most pointed rhetoric
ever seen in telecommunications, according to long-time Washington
lobbyists and analysts.

Yet for all the thunder, long-time grudges among the participants
probably won't develop. Perhaps the high water mark in the fight
was Verizon Wireless' warning to FCC commissioners that they
could be held criminally liable if they gave 800 MHz spectrum to
Nextel without a public auction. The warning's significance wasn't
lost on FCC commissioners. FCC Chairman Michael Powell and
Commissioner Michael Copps both noted that the battle had turned
pretty ugly in the days before and hours after the decision to give
Nextel spectrum at 1.9 GHz. The FCC voted unanimously for the
new rules.

Verizon Wireless and Nextel officials say even though the fight
turned acrimonious at times, they need each other for future battles
on other issues. "Nextel has always stepped up on state issues and
is a strong partner," a Verizon Wireless official says. Nextel knows
how to use its clout, he adds, and that can help other wireless carriers
on other issues. Nextel officials say similar things of Verizon and say
the bitter battle over 800 MHz won't affect efforts on other regulatory
issues.

Even with Verizon's warning of possible criminal liability thrown at
the FCC, the agency isn't too upset. "We can't be that fragile," a
high-ranking FCC official says.

Washington analysts say the red-hot words spewed in the 800 MHz
debate were simple tactics and don't mean Nextel, Verizon Wireless
and the FCC will harbor grudges. "Washington operates with no
permanent friends or enemies," says Blair Levin, managing director,
telecommunications and media analyst at Legg Mason in Washington.
"Verizon plays hardball. Nextel is no slouch either."

Although the battle has ended, things are far from settled. Public
safety providers have their fingers crossed the volatile situation
doesn't blow up. Several outstanding factors make the current
situation unstable, they say. "There is no final wording" from the
FCC, says Charles Werner, deputy fire chief of the Charlottesville,
Va., fire department. As the Virginia Fire Chiefs' technology chair
and Virginia's first responder interoperability working group chair,
Werner has closely followed the 800 MHz interference issue,
advising some in the U.S. Congress on the issue. Werner and
other public safety provider officials are concerned with the details
of the FCC's decision and how they will be implemented.

A top concern is how the FCC will allocate the money to relocate
emergency service providers, say Werner and other officials from
Washington-based emergency service organizations. "What would
the money pay for?" wonders Werner. "How would the funding be
accessed?" asks another official from a Washington public safety
organization involved in lobbying on the issue. "We're concerned
about the reimbursement scheme in the plan," he says. "Local
governments have varying degrees of ability to manage that money.

"We're waiting to hear the next shot" in the battle, he says.

© 2004, Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All
Rights Reserved.
http://www.wirelessweek.com/article/CA440743?spacedesc=Departments&stt=000

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