[Scan-DC] Portland Oregonian on Nextel interference "fix"]

[Marcel]

Old news for us but new for "Joe Public"
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Nextel offers  $850 million to fix radio disruption 

03/17/03

By Ryan Frank and Emily Tsao
The Portland Oregonian 

Nextel Communications has offered to pay $850 million in an all-or-nothing proposal that
it said will fix a national problem of interference between wireless phone signals and
police and fire radios. 

Accused of being the chief creator of the interference, Nextel said the proposed fixes
would eliminate conflicts in the adjacent airwaves that carry conversations for millions
of wireless phone users and public safety officers. The plan was created by the cell phone
company, public safety groups and radio industry groups. 

The offer, an increase of $350 million over an earlier company proposal, was disclosed in
a complicated 125-page plan submitted to federal regulators. 

The Reston, Va., company said the money should be enough to upgrade or replace thousands
of radios used by firefighters as well as taxi cab drivers and automakers, from Miami to
Seattle. 

But company executives said the offer is good only if its entire plan is approved by the
Federal Communications Commission, which manages the nation's airwaves. 

It could be a tough sell. 

The proposal calls for prime, but unused, airwaves to be turned over to Nextel. The
company's competitors and groups representing utilities and manufacturers call the plan a
self-serving, cumbersome house of cards that wouldn't eliminate the conflicts. 

The FCC is reviewing the filing and more than 600 comments about the interference. But the
Nextel-backed plan carries extra weight because it is the only one with broad support and
the only one the commission recently sought comments about. 

The FCC could mandate a solution as soon as this summer, officials said. 

The Nextel-endorsed proposal, which is supported by public safety and some radio groups,
is among the latest in a series of 11/2 years of filings to the FCC about the conflict. 

It comes five years after a Washington County engineer first exposed the interference
after discovering conflicts between signals from a Nextel antenna and firefighter radios
near Washington Square. 

An investigation by The Oregonian found that police and fire officials in 30 other states
have reported at least one confirmed or suspected instance of wireless phone signals
interfering with public safety radios or in-car computers. The interference left police
officers without radio communication as they rushed to a burglary, chased a man with a gun
and tried to report a shooting. 

Nextel first submitted a proposed solution to federal regulators in November 2001. The
push to resolve the disruption had gained momentum after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks exposed other flaws in public safety communications at the World Trade Center in
New York City. 

Four months later, the FCC acknowledged for the first time that the interference is a
life-threatening, nationwide problem that will get worse. 

With the support of public safety and wireless organizations, Nextel later submitted two
additional proposals to federal regulators. The five-member communications commission,
which is appointed by the president, stopped accepting written suggestions about the
conflict in February. 

If the FCC orders a solution, industry executives expect it to be challenged in federal
court. Busy bandwidth Millions of people depend on the 800-megahertz bandwidth to carry
communications from two-way radios and cell phones. The list includes emergency workers,
manufacturers and utility companies. Cell phone conversations carried by companies such as
AT&T Wireless and Verizon Wireless also are transmitted there. 

But Nextel's strong signals cause the most severe interference. Its phones use radio
frequencies intertwined with or adjacent to those used by police and firefighters. The
company has built hundreds of towers throughout metropolitan areas that sometimes
overwhelm public safety radio signals. 

The interference problems notwithstanding, Nextel and public safety agencies operate
within federal rules. 

The current Nextel-backed plan is the "the most workable, viable, effective plan for
solving interference in the shortest period of time," said Lawrence Krevor, a Nextel vice
president. 

About 90 percent of the radio users affected by interference endorsed the plan, which
could be carried out in 31/2 years, the company said. 

"We are working hard to convince those that the compromise plan is the only real solution
we can come up with," said Harlin McEwen, a spokesman for the International Associations
of Chiefs of Police, which endorsed the plan. 

Of the $850 million Nextel has offered to pay, about $700 million would be dedicated to
replace or update public safety radios. The remainder would improve radios used by
manufacturers, dispatch companies and other businesses. An independent administrator would
dole out the money. 

The plan would separate the intense wireless phone signals from the less powerful public
safety frequencies. 

Nextel also would give up frequencies in the 700-, 800- and 900-MHz bandwidths it said it
bought for $2 billion in exchange for spectrum in the 1.9-gigahertz bandwidth at no
additional cost. 

The airwaves that Nextel covets, designed for digital wireless phones and hand-held
radios, are prime technological real estate because they are not in use and would be
available nationwide. Estimates put the value of the airwaves at $2 billion on the open
market. 

A five-member committee, which includes one spot for Nextel, would manage the
reorganization. Competitors take aim Nextel's competitors, manufacturers and utilities
complain the company-backed proposal would require mounds of money and time but wouldn't
eliminate interference. 

"They have a plan which has a thousand moving parts with a hundred different players to
solve a problem that deserves and can have a much simpler solution," said Travis Larson,
spokesman for the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association, an industry trade
group. 

The National Association of Manufacturers and Boeing both question whether Nextel's $850
million would be enough. 

Motorola, which has an interest on all sides of the debate, has estimated a solution could
cost as much as $4 billion. The company owns a 9 percent stake in Nextel and is one of the
nation's leading maker of radios for everything from police cars to taxi cabs. 

But "nobody knows how much it will cost for sure," said McEwen, who represents groups that
endorsed the Nextel-backed plan. 

The wireless companies suggest the only way to eliminate interference is to move police
communications to the 700-MHz spectrum. That move would require an act of Congress, which
makes it unlikely to fit into an FCC-approved solution, government officials said. 

"If you really want to get rid of interference, 700 is the only solution," said Brian
Fontes, a Cingular vice president. 

Nextel argues against that fix, saying it would take too long and cost too much. 

Nextel accuses competing cell companies of making "every effort to obstruct and delay" its
plan. The company said its competitors contribute to the interference in seven states and
said they "distorted the technical record by repeatedly downplaying" the fact. 

Nextel also chastised them for not helping pay to fix it. 

"A lot of folks are sitting out there and taking shots at (the proposal) for one reason or
another," Nextel's Krevor said, "but they aren't coming up with alternative solutions or
better solutions." 

Ryan Frank: 503-294-5955; 
ryanfrank@news.oregonian.com 

Emily Tsao: 503-294-5968; 
emilytsao@news.oregonian.com 


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