Sprint Looses Public Service Court Decision
Sprint, the nation’s third-largest wireless carrier, must clear certain channels by June 26. The company would essentially swap spectrum with the public safety agencies to eliminate radio interference
The deadline was set three years ago in an initial order. But last September the FCC, told Sprint it must clear out regardless of whether public safety agencies are ready to move out of their spectrum.
“The commission’s decision to hold Nextel to the June 26, 2008 deadline is reasonable,” the court opinion said. “If Nextel completely vacates its general category channels on June 26, there is reason to believe it will immediately reduce interference experienced by public safety licensees already operating in that portion of the band.”
Sprint, which said the FCC’s position was unreasonable, claimed if regulators enforce the deadline it would cripple the network and that they have spent more than $1 billion in its spectrum relocation efforts so far. Sprint’s statement says:
Sprint is disappointed with the court’s decision. Sprint has been and continues to be committed to working with public safety to eliminate the risk of interference for public-safety communications. However, more than 500 public-safety agencies have requested more time — in many cases, years — to complete their retuning activities.Sprint has agreed to provide spectrum to public-safety licensees within 60 days of when they are ready to retune.
We remain hopeful that we will be able to resolve this issue in a manner that balances the 800 MHz reconfiguration with the needs of our customers — especially the 3 million public-safety customers who rely on our iDEN network.
The FCC had two problems it wanted to solve with the spectrum swap;
- A developing interference problem stemming from the FCC’s own decision to allow Nextel to offer cellular like services using frequencies adjoining police and fire radios.
- A requirement to add 90 Mhz of spectrum for “3G” services (the AWS band).
The FCC solution required three steps:
- Move microwave television truck frequencies to a nearby band - that would make room for Nextel, AWS and Mobile Satellite Services.
- Put Nextel’s cellular frequencies in that (now) open slot.
- Give Nextel’s interfering frequencies (now abandoned) back to public service users.
It was the Consensus Decision. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
Related (and sometimes dated) DailyWireless articles include; Sprint-Nextel: Deal from Hell, FCC: Nextel Gets PCS Spectrum, Public Service Moves to 800Mhz, Public Safety Shuffle, Decision in Nextel’s Court, Consensus Plan from FCC?, Localizing Consensus Plans, Verizon Jaming Public Service Fix, FCC: Nextel Gets Spectrum Credit, FCC: Nextel Gets PCS Spectrum, Nextel’s Consensus Move, Nextel Accepts Consensus Swap, Freq Consensus?, 700MHZ Goes Live, General Dynamics Wins IWN Contract, McCain Wants Commercial 700 MHz for Police, and FCC: Moving on 700MHZ Public Safety Interop?New York’s $1B Wireless Net, Oregon’s $500 Million Statewide Wireless Network and FCC: Limited Open Access, No Wholesale Requirement for 700 MHz.
Sam Churchill and Don Park run the DailyWireless.org website which summarizes the news from Community Lan and other industry related sectors with detailed updates from around the world. It is full of sausy talk, viscious rumors and tantilizing tidbits.