[Scan-DC] Anne Arundel County & Nextel Do Freq swap Ahead of Nexte's "Plan Scam"

[Marcelrf@bellsouth.net]

Anne Arundel County & Nextel Do Freq Swap Ahead of Nextel's "Plan Scam".

Anne Arundel County writes in contingency if "Plan Scam" is rejected.
===========================================================
May 21, 2003
Marlene H. Dortch, Secretary
Federal Communications Commission
Washington, D.C. 20554
Re: ex parte communication, WT Docket 02-55 and WT Docket 02-100

Dear Ms. Dortch:

Anne Arundel County, Maryland (.County.) has been working for the past
five years to mitigate
commercial wireless interference to its 800 MHz public safety radio
system.  Its experiences
have been documented in the County.s comments, as a member of the Public
Safety
Improvement Coalition (.PSIC.), on the spectrum realignment proposals in
WT Docket 02-55.
The County also has discussed mitigation efforts in the course of
defending its wireless siting
ordinance against the challenge of one of two interfering carriers,
Cingular Wireless, in WT
Docket 02-100.

In the case of the other interfering carrier, Nextel, the County
believes that an exchange of
frequencies may assist in resolving some of the issues.  The two parties
are preparing to sign an
Asset Exchange Agreement in which 14 Nextel channels in the 854-856 MHz
range would be
combined with two existing County channels in the same range.  In
return, the County would
assign to Nextel 13 channels in the 856-860 MHz range, plus a 14th
channel, 851.7625.  When
the Agreement is executed, the parties will seek Commission approval of
the channel swap and
any Special Temporary Authority (.STA.) that may be required for
continuity of operation.
The channels to be assigned to the County by Nextel, and those to be
retained by the County,
would be consistent with the general realignment of 800 MHz spectrum
originally proposed by

Nextel and later adopted by the .Consensus Parties. that include Nextel,
APCO and ITA.
Should the Consensus Parties. plan not be adopted by the FCC, the County
and Nextel would
amend their agreement as necessary .to ensure that Anne Arundel will
receive 16 frequencies
licensable. at the 10 sites chosen for an expanded 800 MHz system the
County has contracted to
install.

Accordingly, the County supports the Consensus Parties. spectrum
realignment proposal to the
extent it furthers the objectives of the Asset Exchange Agreement.  The
County maintains its
objections to other aspects of the Consensus Parties. proposal,
expressed in Docket 02-55
through the PSIC.1

Sincerely,


James R. Hobson
Counsel for Anne Arundel County
cc: Lance Johnson, Nextel

http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6514136236