Private Wireless, MSS Incumbents Skeptical Of Nextel 800
MHz Plan
By Paul Kirby
The public safety community is expressing qualified support for Nextel
Communications, Inc.’s proposal that the FCC realign the 800 megahertz band,
saying the plan may help protect their systems from interference and provide more
frequencies for critical functions.
But private wireless and mobile satellite service (MSS) operators are concerned that
the proposed realignment could force them to give up their current spectrum.
Nextel said the realignment, which was outlined in a recent white paper to the
Commission would address interference issues between commercial mobile radio
service (CMRS) providers and public safety systems in the 800 MHz band and
would double the amount of spectrum allocated to public safety agencies. Those
interference issues have come under increased attention in the wake of the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks on the U.S.
Under the plan, the current regime of interleaving channels for CMRS and public
safety operations in the 800 MHz band would be replaced by a contiguous 20 MHz
block of spectrum for public safety systems—more than double its current allocation
of 9.5 MHz of noncontiguous spectrum—and a 16 MHz block for digital SMR
(specialized mobile radio) networks.
Business and industrial/land transportation (B/ILT) licensees currently using the new
public safety spectrum block could relocate to 700 MHz and 900 MHz spectrum
licensed to Nextel or remain in their current frequencies and operate on a secondary,
noninterference basis.
Nextel would exchange 16 MHz of its spectrum in the 700 MHz, 800 MHz, and
900 MHz bands for the same amount of spectrum in the 800 MHz and 2.1 gigahertz
bands.
Nextel pledged to contribute up to $500 million to cover the relocation costs to
public safety incumbents, including the expense of returning equipment.
The 800 MHz realignment “will help police, firefighters, and other public safety
agencies meet the unprecedented challenges they now face in protecting our nation’s
security, while enhancing the spectral operating environment for public safety and
CMRS licensees,” Robert S. Foosaner, Nextel’s senior vice president and chief
regulatory officer, and Lawrence R. Krevor, the company’s VP-government affairs,
said in a Nov. 21 letter to Thomas J. Sugrue, chief of the FCC’s Wireless
Telecommunications Bureau.
Public safety agencies have complained that Nextel’s 800 MHz SMR operations
have caused interference to their systems. According to Nextel, public safety systems
in about 25 metropolitan areas have experienced such interference.
Nextel said its realignment plan wouldn’t hurt any of the incumbents in those
spectrum bands. “Although these actions will impose short-term costs on the affected
parties, no private radio or commercial licensee will experience a net gain or loss in
the amount of spectrum it currently holds,” the company said in the white paper.
“These parties will benefit in the long term because they will be relieved of the
burdens associated with ongoing coordination requirements, including operating
restrictions and channel deployment limitations necessary to protect public-safety
communications systems from interference,” it added.
Public Safety Indicates Support
In a Nov. 21 letter to the FCC, seven public safety groups called Nextel’s proposal
a “major step in the right direction.” The groups said that “the basic elements of this
proposal. . .have the potential to substantially improve the quality and quantity of
public safety communications.”
But they warned that “implementing the proposal will also impose substantial,
undetermined costs on some public safety licensees.” As a result, they said their
“support for this or any similar approach will be contingent upon adequate funds
being put forward to cover all of the implementation costs imposed on existing
public-safety licensees. It will be incumbent upon the commercial entities who will
benefit from this proposal to bear the full amount of the costs incurred. These costs
are unknown at this time and should not be subject to an arbitrary aggregate ceiling.”
The groups said the FCC should adopt a notice of proposed rulemaking to consider
the Nextel plan.
Signing the letter were the heads of the Association of Public-Safety
Communications Officials-International, the International Association of Fire Chiefs,
the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the Major Cities Chiefs
Association, the National Sheriffs’ Association, the Major County Sheriffs’
Association, and the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council.
Representatives of private wireless licensees said they were still studying Nextel’s
proposal but expressed concern about how their operators would fare under the
plan. “It looks like Nextel and public safety [licensees] want to have a party in our
house and we’re not invited,” said Laura L. Smith, president and chief executive
officer of the Industrial Telecommunications Association.
Ms. Smith questioned how B/ILT licensees benefitted from the plan and suggested
that Nextel pick up the relocation costs of private wireless licensees. She also
questioned how soon the 700 MHz spectrum would be available in light of the
presence of incumbent TV broadcasters and expressed concern about how
interference would be mitigated. She agreed with the public safety groups that the
FCC should seek comments on the proposal through a notice of proposed
rulemaking.
J. Sharpe Smith, ITA’s director-industry and public affairs, says another drawback
with the 700 MHz band is that Motorola, Inc., is the only vendor that has committed
to making equipment for those frequencies, and the equipment won’t be
commercially available until next year. Some observers think the 900 MHz band has
poorer propagation characteristics than the lower bands, and equipment for that
spectrum has always been more expensive, Mr. Smith said.
“Nobody wants to have public safety systems plagued by interference,” Mr. Smith
added. But, he said, “We’re going to have to scrutinize this proposal very closely.”
Meanwhile, the MSS industry said Nextel’s plan was simply another attempt by the
terrestrial wireless industry to grab frequencies assigned to MSS operators.
The FCC’s International Bureau recently granted eight companies MSS licenses in
the 2 GHz band, but the terrestrial wireless industry has continued to press the FCC
to reallocate some or all of that spectrum for third-generation (3G) wireless services
(TRW, July 26).
“They’ve been trying to perfume this same pig for some time,” said Richard DalBello,
executive director of the Satellite Industry Association. Mr. DalBello said the FCC
had concluded that MSS systems were an effective way to provide telecom services
to rural areas of the country. “The services that we provide are valuable,” he added. |
