On Feb. 7, Nextel Communications formally accepted the Federal Communications Commission's order to pay for retuning radio spectrum to eliminate 800MHz interference in public safety communications. With Nextel's acceptance, the implementation phase of reconfiguration of the band officially began.

IAFC President Chief Bob DiPoli joined executives from Nextel, leaders from public safety organizations and the FCC at a press conference held in Washington, D.C., to celebrate the victory.

“Today culminates three years of hard work and collaboration to find a comprehensive solution to 800MHz radio interference,” DiPoli said. “Not many issues are so important that they can rally the entire public safety community together, but in our line of work, command and control rely on effective communication. There is nothing more important than getting an urgent message where it needs to go and getting it there fast and surely. Interference was limiting our ability to do just that.”

The IAFC, the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the Major Cities Chiefs Association, the Major County Sheriffs' Association, the National Sheriffs' Association, and other organizations released a joint statement:

“Today is a triumph for public safety in America — for both first responders and the communities they dutifully serve every day. With Nextel's acceptance of the Federal Communications Commission's Order, we take a giant leap forward in realizing the goal of interference-free communications for all public safety officials operating within the 800MHz spectrum.

“[This] is a long-term, proactive solution that solves the pressing problem of radio interference at 800MHz and provides additional spectrum for the future needs of first responders.”

Nextel will pay all the costs of rebanding, which will affect an estimated 40,000 public safety organizations that operate 800MHz wireless communications, including many fire departments. The FCC has hired an independent Transition Administrator to coordinate and manage the rebanding and payments to reimburse licensees for their costs.

The transition administrator has established a Web site at www.800ta.org and has posted a link to its proposed schedule for rebanding, submitted to the FCC on Jan. 31. Rebanding is to take place in four regional “waves,” with the first licensee relocations to begin June 27 and reconfiguration to be completed in 36 months. Areas that share borders with Canada and Mexico — pending international negotiations — will be in the last wave. Check the “Regional Prioritization Plan” on the Web site for information on when your region is scheduled for rebanding.

Even if your region will not start formal rebanding anytime soon, you should start planning now if you operate 800MHz radio systems because a successful system retune requires attention to detail, careful planning and crisp execution, according to Shulman, Rogers, Gandal, Pordy & Ecker, P.A. The law firm, based in Rockville, Md., worked with many public safety and non — public safety licensees to help create the Consensus Plan, which formed the basis for the FCC rebanding order.

Once you receive a rebanding notice from the transition administrator, you'll have only a brief period of time to negotiate (three-month voluntary negotiations, three-month mandatory negotiations). “Many municipalities take that long just to hire outside consultants, so you'll want to be ready to go prior to receiving the notice. You have nothing to lose and much to gain by planning ahead. You should develop a detailed game plan before you take the field.”

Shulman Rogers suggests the following steps to get ready for rebanding.

• Conduct a system inventory.
• Update radio and user lists.
• Assess your staff to decide whether you need to hire outside contractors to help.
• Talk to your users and prepare them for the change.
• Identify and contract the vendors you will need, including attorneys, engineers and project managers.
• Develop plans to limit disruption (such as reprogramming radios at shift changes).

FYI

IAFC
www.iafc.org/government/index.asp#wireless

FCC
wireless.fcc.gov/publicsafety/800MHz/bandreconfiguration

Shulman Rogers
www.800mhzrebanding.com

Transition Administrator
www.800ta.org/index.htm

APCO
www.apcointl.org/frequency/800hp.htm