WASHINGTON-Nextel Communications Inc. told the Federal Communications Commission last month that it will not meet the Dec. 31 deadline to have 95 percent of its handset base capable of locating 911 callers.
“Sprint Nextel would likely achieve 80-percent to 85-percent handset penetration by the end of this year. Given that the replacement rate for non-compliant handsets has varied significantly from month to month, this estimate could be either too optimistic or unduly conservative. Nextel’s experience is that our customers like their phones. A substantial number of them choose to retain their older, non-assisted global positioning system-capable handsets, which function just as the customer desires, regardless of the benefits of A-GPS capability,” said Nextel’s Lawrence Krevor in a letter filed with the FCC July 26.
Nextel, which is seeking approval to merge with Sprint Corp., has said for years that it might not meet the Dec. 31 deadline. Krevor estimated that Nextel would not have 95 percent of its handsets be A-GPS capable until the end of 2007-two years after the deadline.
In a separate waiver request filed last month, CTIA and the Rural Cellular Association said their members that chose handset solutions to meet the wireless E-911 rules will not be able to meet the deadline.
Rural carriers long have complained about the handset requirement, noting that many customers prefer their 3-watt analog phones as opposed to digital phones.
When the FCC allowed carriers to choose handset solutions to meet the wireless E-911 Phase II rules, it said that 95 percent of all handsets in use must have location capability by Dec. 31. Some carriers previously indicated that they might not be able to meet that deadline. Some rural carriers unsuccessfully tried to get the Senate to amend the recently passed E-911 bill to delay the deadline.
Handset-based solutions must be able to locate a caller within 50 meters 67 percent of the time and within 150 meters 95 percent of the time.
Krevor said that if the FCC does not grant the waiver, Nextel will work to meet the deadline.
In other Sprint/Nextel merger action, NY3G Partnership said the FCC should require Sprint Nextel to “file unredacted copies of its Education Broadcast Service leases with the FCC for public inspection.” NY3G claims that a lease agreement that Nextel has for one of EBS licenses in New York is anti-competitive.
The Media Access Project has proposed specific EBS merger conditions, but the merging partners have said the alleged harms that MAP has identified are theoretical.
Finally, the FCC said July 29 that numbering resource utilization and local number portability information have been included in the record of the merger but under protective order. Those wishing to obtain the information must sign a non-disclosure document.
