Nextel's proposal to share airwaves meets turbulence
oregonlive.com
09/16/02
RYAN FRANK
and EMILY TSAO
Nextel Communications, plagued by complaints nationwide that its signals disrupt police radios, is under intense criticism for proposing a remedy that competitors describe as a self-serving grab for unlicensed and lucrative airwaves.
Rivals from Nokia to Cingular Wireless complain that Nextel, the source of the interference, would come out ahead in the plan by trading its radio licenses for more valuable spectrum reserved for wireless phones and mobile satellite communications.
"They want to trade in their Volkswagens for Cadillacs," said Brian Fontes, a Cingular vice president. Nextel is "misselling this to the public and the FCC."
Major industrial radio users, including Boeing and Toyota, also criticize the plan, saying it won't protect their manufacturing plants from continuing radio interference from Nextel's intense signals.
The plan -- written cooperatively by Nextel, public safety groups and wireless organizations -- is among more than 300 written comments to the Federal Communications Commission on how to halt the interference.
An investigation last year by The Oregonian revealed that Oregon and 30 other states have reported at least one confirmed or suspected instance of wireless phone signals interfering with public safety radios or in-car computers. Nextel, of Reston, Va., is the source of interference in at least 21 states, public safety officials said.
The interference left police officers without radio communication as they rushed to a burglary, chased a man with a gun and tried to report a shooting.
The FCC acknowledged for the first time in March that the interference is a life-threatening problem nationwide and called for solutions in a comment period that ended in August.
The FCC will review the proposals before mandating a solution, probably by early 2003.
Millions of people depend on the 800 megahertz bandwidth to carry communications from two-way radios and cellular phones. The list includes emergency workers, manufacturers and gas companies, among others. Cellular phone conversations carried by companies such as AT&T Wireless and Verizon Wireless also are transmitted over the 800 MHz bandwidth.
But Nextel's strong signals create the most severe cases of interference. Its phones use radio frequencies intertwined with or adjacent to those used by police and firefighters.
The company has built hundreds of towers scattered throughout metropolitan areas that sometimes overwhelm public safety radio signals from towers placed on high ground. In most cases, Nextel and public safety agencies are operating within federal rules.
The proposed solution endorsed by Nextel, six public safety groups and nine private wireless organizations calls for a redesigned 800 MHz bandwidth.
Nextel argues the plan is endorsed by "almost all" of the parties vulnerable to the interference. Nextel Vice President Lawrence Krevor said the compromises make the plan "very promising."
The plan would relocate Nextel's channels from the intertwined frequencies to the high end of the spectrum in question.
The remaining channels would be separated into three blocks. A group of public safety channels would go to the low end of the 800 MHz band. Second is a block of channels intertwined with businesses, public safety agencies and certain dispatch companies -- all with radio systems restricted to prevent further interference. A third group of smaller radio users, acting as a buffer, would be sandwiched between Nextel and the intertwined channels.
Nextel also would give up frequencies in the 700 and 900 MHz bandwidth it says it bought for $2 billion in exchange for spectrum in the 1.9 gigahertz bandwidth at no additional cost.
The airwaves that Nextel covets -- designed for digital wireless phones and mobile satellite communications -- are prime technological real estate because they are not in use and would be available nationwide. Cingular's Fontes estimated the airwaves would cost $2 billion on the open market.
"It would be a wonderful gift at taxpayers' expense," Fontes said. "Unfortunately, I don't see gift giving as the role of the federal government."
If the FCC adopts the plan, the company said it will contribute $500 million to help public safety agencies retune old radios or buy new ones.
But other wireless phone companies, which also have been accused of causing interference, rebuff Nextel's suggestion that they share the costs of a solution.
"It's very perplexing," Krevor said.
But the proposal won't sail through the FCC.
Boeing executives said swaps like the one proposed by Nextel are a "recipe for failure." The airplane-maker said the proposal would lead to recurring interference because it would allow Nextel to push its radio signals closer in the spectrum to Boeing. The company uses 4,000 radios for its firefighters and workers in plants near Seattle.
Toyota officials also say the plan would not eliminate interference to 2,000 radios used in the company's 8 million-square-foot manufacturing plant in Georgetown, Ky., said Brad Reed, engineering specialist for Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America. He said Toyota has spent $300,000 to temper interference during the past two years.
The United Telecom Council doesn't back Nextel's plan because it may require its 800 companies -- mostly water, utility and gas pipeline companies -- to retune their radios and would restrict future radio systems, general counsel Jill M. Lyon said.
Instead, the group proposes tightening technical rules to eliminate the problem and suggests Nextel should pay all costs to eliminate the problem. Motorola, one of the world's leading radio makers, estimated a solution could cost as much as $4 billion.
"The people who are causing interference must fix it and must pay to fix it," Lyon said.
Utility companies Carolina Power and Light Company and Texas' TXU Business Services said Nextel would be a primary beneficiary of creating the interference problems in the first place. In their comments, the companies said Nextel's argument reminded them of the story about the "child who, having murdered his parents, pleads with the court for mercy because he is an orphan."
The National Association of Manufacturers first endorsed the Nextel-backed plan, then changed its opinion. The plan is "a compromise to give Nextel free spectrum, which is totally against our principles," said Jim Pakla, the association's director of frequency coordination.
A group of Nextel's competitors -- including Nokia, ALLTEL Communications, AT&T Wireless, Cingular Wireless and Southern LINC -- argues the company's plan was the "most disruptive, the most self-serving, the most time consuming and the most costly."
"We're somewhat dubious that all this is necessary," said Michael Rosenthal, Southern LINC's director of regulatory affairs based in Atlanta. "We can't see why it can't be solved on a case-by-case basis."
The wireless phone giants suggest public safety users migrate to the 700 MHz bandwidth. The move could be paid for with money generated when the FCC auctions the 800 MHz channels that the public safety agencies would vacate.
Portland officials, the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association, Boeing and the National Association of Manufacturers all submitted similar ideas in written comments.
Nextel's plan has supporters. It is backed by private companies, such as Federal Express, and public safety organizations representing police chiefs, fire chiefs and communications officials.
"The existing situation is unacceptable," said Glen Nash, past president of the Florida-based Association of Public-Safety Officials. "This is the best idea we have been able to come up with."
Executives at Federal Express, which has suffered interference from Nextel, endorse the plan as a "reasonable" way to separate the conflicting signals, said Nathan Lemmon, the company's chief engineer of wireless systems development.
Nancy Jesuale, Portland's director of communications and networking, said she supports the Nextel-backed plan as a short-term fix. Portland would need about a year and $1 million to retune its radios and comply with the plan, she said.
"We think that it isn't the final solution, but it is certainly a way to relieve the crisis," Jesuale said.
The only long-term solution is to move all public safety agencies out of the 800 MHz band, she said.
But any solution that requires such a move would cost Portland millions of dollars. The move would require taxpayer-funded agencies in many of the nation's largest cities to buy new radios for each police officer and firefighter.
"There is no question in my mind," FCC Commissioner Kathleen Q. Abernathy said, "there's going to be some pain by some parties." Ryan Frank: 503-294-5955; ryanfrank@news.oregonian.com Emily Tsao: 503-294-5968; emilytsao@news.oregonian.com |
