Boeing told the FCC it was concerned about unresolved cross-borde...

FCC, saying the “consensus plan” could create harmful interference problems for Canadian licensees, including mutual aid channels along the border for public safety (CD Nov 3 p5). Ticking off what Boeing called unresolved international issues with the plan, it told the FCC it was “concerned that the magnitude and scope of these issues are not fully appreciated.” Boeing cited an “apparent misperception” that relocating parts of border area business/industrial land transportation incumbents to 900 MHz spectrum could minimize international coordination issues. The consensus plan is designed to mitigate interference to public safety users by reconfiguring the 700, 800 and 900 MHz bands, with Nextel exchanging spectrum it has in each of those bands for other licenses, including 10 MHz at 1.9 GHz. Boeing outlined other cross-border concerns that had filtered into the FCC about the plan, including: (1) A filing from Pa. that said its border with Canada presented challenges for the development of high-power sites and added another factor to be considered when addressing public safety. (2) Arguments by the National Assn. of Mfrs. and its spectrum coordination arm MRFAC that the plan “continues to avoid hard issues associated with border regions.” Boeing contended the consensus plan would create “an unwieldy ‘double border’ in which the operations of border area licensees in the United States would be in conflict with adjacent spectrum uses both across the border and with other U.S. licensees operating in the United States but just outside the border area.” Boeing said the FCC should reject the consensus proposal as lacking adequate technical analysis and resolution of border area issues. “It has been shown that technical and operational fixes short of rebanding can adequately resolve 800 MHz interference problems,” it said. Otherwise, the FCC should grandfather border area incumbents to avoid forced relocation and “international coordination conflicts” until completing an overhaul of its bilateral cross-border spectrum arrangements with Mexico and Canada, Boeing said. Its filing referred to itself as a “cross-border incumbent” that relied on networks using the 800 MHz band for the operation of major manufacturing facilities. “After almost 2 years of contributing to this proceeding, border area spectrum users should not be required to wait for further proceedings to be completed in order to secure regulatory certainty that no disruption or harmful interference will occur to their critically important 800 MHz communications networks,” it said.