Several local govts. that use public safety frequencies at 800 MH...

on revised spectrum swap plan submitted by Nextel, Assn. of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO), Industrial Telecom Assn., others. Blueprint, designed to alleviate public safety interference at 800 MHz, would divide that band into noncellular block for public safety, business/industrial land transportation and traditional specialized mobile radio users. Nextel would relocate to 16 MHz cellular block in that band. Nextel, in return for giving up spectrum at 700, 800 and 900 MHz, would receive 5 MHz of unlicensed PCS spectrum at 1.9 MHz and another 5 MHz of reserve mobile satellite service spectrum. San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) told FCC it concurred with plan, but cautioned that proposed migration would be “onerous task.” It said “to date BART has already incurred significant expenses in maintaining and protecting its system from interference caused by CMRS operations.” BART estimated its costs under consensus plan would be $3-$5 million and nationwide costs would “greatly exceed” $500 million that Nextel had pledged. “Funding of any proposed private ’superfund’ to make payments to affected entities must be guaranteed by the federal government, and accordingly the payment procedure must be acceptable to the federal government as well as affected entities,” BART said. Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) said it agreed “in principle” with idea of regrouping different users at 800 MHz to avoid potential interference from commercial wireless operators. But DART said it couldn’t support consensus plan until questions were answered such as how current users would be defined and “assurances of the technical effectiveness and funding of the plan.” DART told FCC that goals it identified in its proposal that explored ways to mitigate interference “are not fully met by this plan. There is no guarantee that the grouping of safety users and the creation of a guard band would prevent or decrease interference, particularly instances of intermodulation.” DART, which uses public safety licenses at 800 MHz, said consensus plan didn’t include “key users” such as public transit. D.C. Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) said consensus plan “fail[s] to meet those requirements established by the public safety community. Specifically, there must be sufficient funds to complete the realignment.” OCTO said its realignment cost under plan could reach $60 million. City of Baltimore said it disagreed consensus plan represented “virtually all” users of 800 MHz band and didn’t believe that “interference problems are so pervasive that a nationwide overhaul of the entire band is needed.”