Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Where is Powell on 800 MHz rebanding plan?

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 21 May 2004 18:35:04 -0400

Where is Powell on 800 MHz rebanding plan?
By Heather Forsgren Weaver
May 21 13:31:00, 2004

WASHINGTON—Press reports circulated today that FCC Chairman Michael
Powell had pulled away from supporting Nextel Communications Inc.
getting spectrum in the 1.9 GHz band as part of a solution to
public-safety interference in the 800 MHz band.

Last week, RCR Wireless News reported that Powell was certainly still
considering 2.1 GHz spectrum under any plan. On
May 13, Powell hinted that negotiations with Nextel regarding the 2.1
GHz band—the band favored by Nextel’s
opponents—were continuing despite Nextel President Tim Donahue’s May 11
assertion that Nextel would not accept the
2.1 GHz band.

“People say whatever they want to say in their letters, but it doesn’t
mean it is the end of the story, and I am not really able to share with
you all of the details of where we are. I can only say that we are still
pretty confident that we are making progress, and we are going to get
there pretty soon,” said Powell last week.

While it is generally believed that the chairman supports staff
proposals—such as the one given to the commissioners March 9 that
contemplated replacement spectrum in the 1.9 GHz band—that proposal was
delivered prior to the CTIA Compromise Plan submitted April 29.

Powell’s May 13 comments indicate he was clearly thinking about 2.1 GHz
at that time.

Determining where each commissioner stands on either 1.9 GHz or 2.1 GHz
has been the subject of much speculation ever since the Cellular
Telecommunications & Internet Association proposed giving Nextel
spectrum in the 2.1 GHz band as replacement spectrum, which
significantly changed the rules of the game.

FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein Thursday said he found Nextel’s
complaints about the 2.1 GHz band “unusual” because the carrier did not
raise relocation concerns when it presented its first proposal, which
included 2.1 GHz replacement spectrum, to solve public-safety
interference in the 800 MHz band in 2001.

Nextel May 14 charged that the CTIA Compromise Plan to solve
public-safety interference in the 800 MHz band favors the association’s
cellular members because they hold the licenses that would have to be
relocated for Nextel to make use of the 2.1 GHz band.

http://rcrnews.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?newsId=18200

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Yahoo! Domains - Claim yours for only $14.70
http://us.click.yahoo.com/Z1wmxD/DREIAA/yQLSAA/61FxlB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

-- 
    "NEXTEL-1 IT'S NOT JUST NEXTEL"
  Note The New address 
Subscribe to Nextel-1: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/NEXTEL-1

  "NEXTEL2 FOR iDEN SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS"
Subscribe to Nextel2: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/NEXTEL2

  "WIRELESS FORUM HOMELAND SECURITY GROUP"
     The Complete Resource for Wireless Homeland Security.
Subscribe to WFHSG:  http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/WFHSG

Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEXTEL-1/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
     [email-masked]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
     http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/