After two years of heated public debate and painstaking deliberation, the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday approved the Consensus Plan, a plan endorsed by major public safety groups to resolve the problem of interference to public safety radio systems operating in the 800 MHz band.

The Consensus Plan was the solution endorsed by the International Association of Fire Chiefs, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Sheriff’s Association, the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International Inc. and other major public safety organizations.

“For more than five years, public safety professionals have been struggling with unreliable and unclear communications, which has jeopardized lives and the citizens they protect. We applaud the FCC for its leadership and decision in support of the public safety community. We are grateful to FCC Chairman Powell and the Commissioners for their careful consideration in this important proceeding,” said Chief Ernest Mitchell, president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs.

The IAFC said it supports the FCC’s decision because it will address the root cause of the interference problem by separating generally incompatible technologies. The FCC decision places responsibility for paying the cost of relocating 800 MHz incumbents on Nextel Communications Inc.

“The IAFC looks forward to working with the FCC and the wireless industry to implement this critical plan immediately. We understand the FCC has asked Nextel to go beyond their original pledge of spectrum exchange and supplemental financial compensation,” Mitchell said, “We don’t know what Nextel is planning to do, it’s up to them to accept the plan.”

The FCC commissioners’ unanimously voted to adopt the plan, which gives Nextel 1.9 GHZ spectrum worth an estimated $4.8 billion. In exchange, the Reston, Va.-based company will give up other spectrum and pay to reconfigure the airwaves it currently occupies to ensure public service communications systems are free of interference.

The reorganization would have to be completed within three years.

Other wireless carriers have denounced the decision, saying that it amounted to a “taxpayer giveaway” to Nextel. According to the Associated Press, Nextel’s response has been noncommittal. "We have an obligation to review all aspects of the decision to fully understand the implications to Nextel's shareholders," the company said.

“To the extent that these combined credits total less than the determined value of the 1.9 GHz spectrum rights, Nextel will make an anti-windfall payment to the U.S. Dept. of Treasury at the conclusion of the relocation process equal to the difference,” the FCC said.

To oversee the administrative and financial aspects of the band reconfiguration and to ensure that rebanding is achieved with minimal disruption to licensees, particularly public safety entities, the FCC created an independent “Transition Administrator.”

According to the FCC, the plan will result in an additional 4.5 MHz of 800 MHz-band spectrum, the equivalent of 90 additional two-way channels, becoming available to public safety, critical infrastructure, and private wireless users, including 10 channels for public safety/critical infrastructure interoperability.

APCO International also applauded the FCC’s decision as a “first step in the solution” for the interference in public safety communications and pledged to support the plan’s implementation.

APCO said it will be turning its focus to helping its members understand the FCC’s Plan.

At the APCO International 70th Annual Conference and Exposition in Montreal next month, APCO will conduct a “supersession” on the 800 MHz interference issue. “This educational program will help you understand all of the components of the Plan and how they affect you and your agency,” said Vincent R. Stile, APCO International ’s president and director of Suffolk County (N.Y.) Police Communications. “In addition, we will have an 800 MHz Resource Room to ensure that all of your individual questions and concerns are addressed. Various subject matter experts will be on hand to discuss the issue, the solution, and its implementation.”

Opposition

Support of the FCC’s decision from public safety side, however, was not universal. Calling the FCC’s decision an endorsement of “the Nextel spectrum grab,” a group called the First Response Coalition called on Congress and the courts to overrule the FCC’s decision. The coalition includes William Fox, commissioner of the Metropolitan Fire Association of New York City, the National Black Police Association, the Gray Panthers, the American Legislative Exchange Council, the National Black Chamber of Commerce, American Corn Growers Association and California Seniors Coalition.
Gene Stilp, a volunteer firefighter, EMT and vice president of the Dauphin-Middle Paxton Fire Company #1 in Dauphin, Pa., is the group’s coordinator.
“This is a sad day for firefighters, police officers and other emergency personnel across America,” Stilp said. “Since 9/11 this Administration has failed to provide funding to solve interoperability problems. Today's decision by the Commission continues to ignore this critical need. They had a major opportunity here, but they ignored the needs of first responders in order to solve a political problem and to bail out Nextel.”

Stilp said Nextel’s letter of credit pales in comparison to the $5 billion to $10 billion dollars that would be raised from public auction of the spectrum. “This money could have been earmarked to make the interoperability problems in American cities and towns a thing of the past. Now we have another list of promises, inadequate funding and additional years of delay.

“To anyone who understands how thinly stretched the budgets of fire, police, and other emergency responders are today, this 'plan' is an extremely poor action that fails the public. Unfortunately, it is the American public that will pay the price here if the courts and Congress do not intervene to overrule the FCC."

Unused Spectrum

Icom America Inc. on Wednesday announced it has filed a petition with the FCC to allow the reallocation of unused spectrum at 150 MHz to be used for public safety applications. The “Petition For Rule Making” is the first step towards making the spectrum available. According to Icom, the unused 150 MHz is currently allocated for use by the paging industry.

“These are frequencies that were originally used for the telephone systems that preceded cellular. As that demand lessened, they were reallocated to the paging industry, but with advances in personal wireless communication, paging is becoming obsolete,” said Icom. According to the company, 1,700 of these 150 MHz licenses went unpurchased at a recent FCC auction of the spectrum; they could have been purchased for as little as $350 each.