WASHINGTON-A handful of public-safety organizations, led by the Association of Public-safety Communications Officials, sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission urging the government agency to deny Sprint Nextel Corp.’s attempts to alter the start date of its 800 MHz rebanding efforts.
In a letter sent to FCC Wireless Telecommunications Bureau acting chief Cathy Seidel, APCO, along with fellow public-safety groups, admitted that while the reconfiguration process has moved slower than anticipated, the FCC should rebuff Sprint Nextel’s attempts to have the original June 27 start date moved to early December.
The organizations associated with the letter include the International Association of Chiefs of Police; the International Association of Fire Chiefs; the Major Cities Chiefs Association; the Major Counties Sheriffs Association; and the National Sheriffs Association.
“The commission should move quickly to reject this suggestion, as the mere possibility of an extension of time creates uncertainty and further delay,” the letter implored.
The public-safety organizations noted that an altered start date would cause at least a seven-month delay in band reconfiguration and “disrupt the entire process established by the commission and the Transition Authority.”
“Band reconfiguration must be kept on a tight schedule to eliminate dangerous interference to public-safety systems as quickly as possible,” the organizations added.
Sprint Nextel asked the FCC last Thursday for a delay in the retuning process for the 800 MHz band, claiming that the slow start reported by the 800 MHz Transition Administrator last month was due to a steep learning curve exacerbated by things beyond Sprint Nextel’s control.
The TA recently told the FCC that there would be a significant number of incomplete agreements at the end of the negotiation process for Wave 1 licensees. As such, Sprint Nextel is asking that the FCC not use the June 27 start date for the rebanding process, which could push back the mandated three-year rebanding process.
The TA established a four-wave process. The first three waves should be finished with rebanding by June 27, 2008. Formal negotiations for Wave 1 began June 27. The third-wave formal negotiation process is set to begin no later than Jan. 3. Wave 4 is the border region, and the TA expects this area to take longer due to necessary diplomatic negotiations that must take place with Canada and Mexico.
More than 1,000 agreements must be reached with Wave 1 licensees, located in Chicago, the northeastern United States, Northern California, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Colorado. As of Nov. 10, the TA had received 146 completed agreements. The apparent delay in negotiations for the first wave could have a potential ripple effect through the whole process.
