Dear Editor,
Our company is one of the few that did not sell our 800 MHz licenses to Nextel. We have systems in Phoenix and several rural Arizona cities, so obviously I have been following the 800 MHz interference issue with great interest. Over the last three years I have had several occasions where Nextel has caused harmful interference to our systems. While I am no fan of Nextel, I will say that the people that I have dealt with have always been cooperative and responsive, and once notified of a problem, they have always turned off their interfering transmitter(s) quickly.
Sounds like I am a proponent of case-by-case interference resolution, right? Not so. I have the of advantage being in the communications field. I know exactly what frequencies I am operating on and know that they can be interfered with, plus I possess the equipment to quickly monitor and locate an offending transmitter. The police officer or FedEx driver who can’t use their radio at Main St. and Central in Hometown USA, doesn’t have that knowledge.
As an SMR, we have high-profile users on our systems that require consistent communications too. Every day Nextel continues to activate new cell sites, so the interference continues to expand. We are simply out of time to remedy this situation.
While the “Consensus Plan” seems to have the best plan for long-term resolution, it is too complex, requires too much additional negotiation with individual licensees to retune to a different part of the 800MHz band, and simply will take too long to implement. Nextel has stated that they will only pay $850 million (not enough) if they get spectrum at 1.9 GHz. If they don’t get what they want; no deal. I’m sorry but this is just blatantly wrong. Who exactly is in charge here? Since when does any licensee tell the FCC what it will or won’t do?
The following is respectfully submitted for your consideration.
1) Let Nextel spend its money on its system. Nextel and Motorola can engineer handsets that will work on spectrum already licensed to Nextel. Let them use their top 200 channels at 800 MHz, their 700 & 900 MHz spectrum. They can design their system to use more low-level, low-power sites. If they cut their power, sectorize and increase their number of sites, they can re-use frequencies at closer distances. They will benefit from a larger system capacity, they will not have to negotiate with incumbents (legal fees) and ultimately pay for the incumbents to relocate. Their resources are spent entirely on their system. Since they believe that $850 million is sufficient to relocate all affected public safety and BILT users nationwide, surely it is more than enough to upgrade only their system to eliminate this interference.
2) Nextel terminates digital transmissions in the interleaved part of the band below 861 MHz.
Nextel could turn around and “sell” its license interests in this part of the band, and use the income to acquire additional spectrum at 700 or 900 MHz. They are experienced with negotiating deals to acquire licenses, simply reverse the procedure and market what they now have.
3) Nextel agrees to coordinate with adjacent NPSPAC users.
As Nextel is not “interleaved” with users in this portion of the band, and not all areas of the country will even use this portion of the band, Nextel should easily be able to coordinate with the local agencies desiring use of this spectrum.
Nextel’s system has caused the problem; technical solutions applied to Nextel’s system, combined with a mandatory Nextel band realignment, with the burden for compliance 100 percent on Nextel’s shoulders will certainly make the 800 MHz band very usable again.
Christopher F. Salgot
C&M Communications,
R&M Repeater
