Subject: [NEXTEL-1] "If Nextel walks away, the FCC holds all the cards, because they've created a record showing that they have a public-safety interference problem,"

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 06 May 2004 23:19:01 -0400

Nextel, FCC in Standoff Over Prime Cellular Spectrum-"If Nextel walks
away, the FCC holds all the cards, because they've created a record
showing that they have a public-safety interference problem,"

By Yuki Noguchi
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 7, 2004; Page E01

Nextel Communications Inc. yesterday
made another pitch for valuable new
cellular spectrum, as the Federal
Communications Commission appeared
poised to approve a proposal that would
give the Reston-based company less
desirable airwaves, a plan Nextel
opposes.

In a filing with the FCC, Nextel criticized
a study cited by Verizon Wireless that
concluded Nextel should pay about $5
billion for the spectrum it wants, far more
than it has proposed paying. Nextel filed a
study it commissioned from the American
Appraisal Associates Inc., which said the
earlier report contained faulty calculations.

Fire, police and emergency
communications systems have complained
of interference from Nextel's cellular
communications systems. Nextel has
proposed giving up some existing
airwaves and paying $850 million to move
the public safety users. In return, Nextel
wants a swath of spectrum in the 1.9
gigahertz range.

Competitors, as well as some politicians,
including most recently Sen. Charles E.
Schumer (D-N.Y.), have opposed
Nextel's proposal, saying Nextel should
pay far more for that spectrum.

The FCC agrees with Nextel that the
public safety users should be moved, but
a majority of the commissioners appear
ready to offer Nextel a slice of less-valuable
spectrum in the 2.1 GHz range, said
sources close to the FCC.

The commissioners' main goal is to solve the public safety question in a
way that would minimize the chance of a serious legal challenge. They
also want Nextel to pay to move the public safety users. Initial
problems with outages or dropped calls started to appear five years ago,
and for the last two and a half years, the FCC has been considering
solutions. The FCC can order Nextel to fix interference, but whether or
not the commission can require the company to pay to move public safety
groups is unclear.

The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association, which includes
Verizon Wireless, Nextel's most vocal opponent, said it would endorse a
deal that gives Nextel the less-valuable spectrum and requires it to pay
$3 billion.

Lawrence R. Krevor, Nextel's vice president of government affairs, said
the company would not accept the higher frequency airwaves. Cellular
equipment isn't currently made to operate in that range, and Nextel
would have to pay more to relocate current occupants in the 2.1 GHz
range, he said.

"At this point, we don't see any scenario where 2.1 [gigahertz] comes
close to the value" that Nextel is offering, Krevor said. "We are not
doing this for charity."

Nextel wants the 1.9 GHz range because standard cellular equipment can
be used there. The company's current airwaves make it dependent on a
technology made by a single vendor, Motorola Inc. Nextel also needs more
spectrum to offer high-speed data services and to continue to carry
increasing call traffic.

Some FCC staffers, as well as lobbyists for other major carriers and a
source close to Nextel, said they think Nextel would accept the 2.1 GHz
range if the FCC were to offer a reasonable price.

"If Nextel walks away, the FCC holds all the cards, because they've
created a record showing that they have a public-safety interference
problem," said a lobbyist for a rival carrier, who asked not to be named
because his information was based on private conversations with
commissioners.  "It's a question of who's going to blink first."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6868-2004May6.html

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 07 May 2004 06:04:01 -0400

The best quote in the whole story is from Public Safety's Buddy (NOT) Larry
K.

"We are not doing this for charity."

Need I say more?

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 07 May 2004 06:22:35 -0400

At least Larry K. came clean on why they don't want 2.1Ghz (equipment).

>From:  [email-masked]
>Date:  Thu Apr 29, 2004  2:11 pm
>Subject:  Re: Adelstein: FCC considering 2.1 GHz band in public-safety
interference issue

<SNIP>

>In the 2.1Ghz band there is little to none
>"Off-The-Shelf" equipment available. This requires
>manufactures re-tool their operations to produce
>equipment in the 2.1Ghz band which translates to
>higher costs to Nextel.

----------------

<SNIP>

> equipment isn't currently made to operate in that range................

Contrary  to what Nextel said last week..............

<SNIP>
>Nextel last week said giving it spectrum in the 2.1 GHz band instead of
>the 1.9 GHz band to solve the 800 MHz
>public-safety interference issue would take too long and would not
>survive a legal challenge.

>http://rcrnews.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?newsId=17911

---

From: Rick Parrish <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 07 May 2004 09:43:10 -0500

[email-masked] wrote:

> In the 2.1Ghz band there is little to none "Off-The-Shelf" equipment 
> available. This requires
> manufactures re-tool their operations to produce equipment in the 
> 2.1Ghz band which translates to higher costs to Nextel.
>
Nonsense! Just clip a couple of turns off of inductor L1 and then ...

Oh, wait. That's 2.1 Ghz ... *sigh*

Nevermind.

(8^{

-rick

 
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---

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 07 May 2004 10:48:46 -0400

Did you have the Yaesu FT 101E too? :) :) :)

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