WASHINGTON-Nextel Communications Inc. may have up to three months to decide whether it will accept or reject the Federal Communications Commission’s plan to solve public-safety interference in the 800 MHz band since publication in the Federal Register could take up to 60 days, said John Muleta, chief of the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau.
This delays a reaction by other players, such as Verizon Wireless, which has threatened to appeal the plan if Nextel accepts it. Most industry observers had thought Nextel would have to make its decision no later than mid-September; instead it could be after Halloween.
“Federal Register publication is a little out of the control of the wireless bureau,” said Lauren Patrich, WTB special counsel for media relations, following Muleta’s press briefing Tuesday morning.
Nextel may want changes to the plan. If so, it will have to file a petition for reconsideration, said Muleta, noting that any contact Nextel has with the FCC is subject to the notice rules-in other words, if Nextel wants to negotiate with the commission, it must do so in the open, not behind closed doors.
In the meantime, while the FCC waits to see what Nextel will do, Muleta said he is already aware of at least one timing clarification the commission must make regarding spectrum use by public safety. The order mistakenly said that public safety must make use of spectrum made available by the plan within three years instead of the intended three years after the spectrum becomes available.
“The order currently says that public-safety has three years from the effective date of the order; our intent was to say after the spectrum becomes available. That to me requires some clarification,” said Muleta.
A senior Nextel executive appeared Aug. 10 in Montreal at an education session on the FCC’s plan sponsored by the Association of Public-safety Communications Officials. Robert Foosaner, Nextel senior vice president and chief regulatory officer, expressed concern that the FCC did not take the Consensus Plan in its entirety. Foosaner also noted that the 256-page document has internal inconsistencies that make it difficult to digest.
The Consensus Plan was the proposal put forward by Nextel, some public-safety advocates and private wireless. The FCC adopted significant portions of the plan but has made some changes, including requiring Nextel to pay money into the treasury if the value of the spectrum it returns and relocation expenses do not equal $4.86 billion.
