For a wholesale move from the 800-MHz--or any neighboring--band to 2.1 GHz would require "a complete change out of existing systems," entailing significant costs in equipment and operations, Dougherty said. Dougherty, formerly was a wireless specialist at Qwest, explained, for instance, that trees can cause onerous interference in some of the higher gigahertz bands.
The FCC has been struggling to reach a solution on the issue for months. The five-member commission has been divided, with commissioners Kevin Martin and Michael Copps generally favoring Nextel, and commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Kathleen Abernathy in opposition. Chairman Powell has been the swing vote. Powell said he wants the FCC to reach a decision on the issue before the end of the month. Any decision is expected to be challenged in court by one side or the other.
With billions of dollars at stake, the issue has attracted comments from a broad range of Congressmen, politicians, and public-safety and trade organizations. A group of congressmen and the wireless trade association Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association have weighed in against Nextel, while the Association of Public Safely Communications Officials and scores of police and fire departments are supporting Nextel.
Dougherty said the mess can largely be attributed to the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which deregulated the telecommunications industry without creating an effective structure for carrying out the seismic changes it created.
