Wrapping Up 800 MHz Rebanding Could Take Five Years or More

Speakers said several questions hang over the rebanding, including the fates of BearingPoint, a central member of the 800 MHz Transition Administrator team, and of Sprint Nextel and the banks lending it money to pay rebanding costs. Even if none fail, the reconfiguration probably will take much longer than foreseen five years ago.

Alan Tilles, a lawyer who has represented many licensees in the rebanding, said some agencies may not complete the process for four years or more. Near the Mexican border, many agencies won’t be done rebanding “for a long, long time,” he said. “Non-border, most everybody ought to be able to be done by the end of 2012.” The FCC has contributed to slow progress by taking up to 18 months to make decisions on some complaints, Tilles said. The time required to retune major, often statewide, systems slows the process for agencies with interconnected radio systems, he said.

Lesley Lewis, the radio-systems manager in Brevard County, Fla., said rebanding has taken the county much longer than expected and is only about half complete. The county has to change 60 frequencies and retune more than 3,000 radios, she said. “We expected to be completed and compliant with the FCC’s June 2008 deadline” but fell behind because a county agency had problems, she said. “One simple change order has put us on hold. … It’s taken us six months, seven months for one change order and I still don’t have it back. … We just want this to be over with.”

Gregory Holcomb, the director of public-safety communications in Lake County, Fla., said his county runs a small, relatively simple communications system but can’t complete rebanding until neighboring counties move forward. Though the counties are dependent on each other, they negotiate separately with Sprint even on the reconfiguration of shared mutual aid channels, he noted. “On mutual aid, we are still in the exact same position that we were several years ago,” Holcomb said. “We have neighboring counties that are still in negotiations and haven’t touched a radio or infrastructure. … Regionally, we still rely very heavily on those channels.”

“It is an overwhelming task,” said Chris Fischer, APCO’s president. “I admire the folks that are just rolling up their sleeves and getting it done. But not everybody has the resources that they can throw into this. … Sometimes it’s not just about money. It’s about resources and some folks are pretty strapped.”

Tilles said he isn’t worried that the 800 MHz rebanding is taking much longer than predicted. “What would be the alternative?” he asked. “You have to finish by a particular date. Well, can’t do it. What are you going to do now?” -- Howard Buskirk

APCO Notebook…

Robert Gurss, APCO director of legal and government affairs, said the FCC may act on E-911 location accuracy rules as part of its consensus agenda prior to the confirmation of a permanent chairman. The commission appeared poised to approve rules last year under former Chairman Kevin Martin. Gurss also said rules prohibiting wireless microphones in the 700 MHz band appear ready for approval, under Acting Chairman Michael Copps. “It’s DTV related,” he said. “What [the FCC] has put forward is not overly controversial.” Gurss also said there’s intense interest among APCO members in developing rules that would cut down on the number of prank 911 calls made from cellphones that are no longer part of a valid service plan. The FCC has sought comment on complaints that public safety answering points have been inundated by calls made by so called non-service initialized phones. Some 95 percent of the calls on retired cell phones are estimated to not be real emergency calls, Gurss said. “There are some cases of people making thousands upon thousands of abusive 911 calls,” he said. “Obviously, it has a disruptive effect on PSAPs across the country.”

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Vermont and Indiana have jumped ahead of the rest of the U.S. in putting in place next-generation 911 service, said Bob Currier, manager of regulatory and government affairs at Intrado, during a Tuesday presentation. States conducting trials include Ohio, North Carolina, Alabama, Virginia and Iowa, Currier said, while at least six states have studies underway. Currier said the more than $7 billion set aside for broadband in the economic stimulus bill could help with next-generation 911 build out. “Be part of the solution,” he said. “It’s evolving. There are choices being made.” Sam Bard with microDATA said states that don’t plan well before rolling out next generation service “will end up wasting taxpayer dollars and it will take them longer” to put new systems in place. -

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The National Emergency Number Association is also holding its winter conference this week in Orlando in cooperation with APCO, at the same hotel. It’s cosponsoring a luncheon Wednesday with APCO featuring Joe Dittmar, a survivor of the 9/11 attack at the World Trade Center, followed by the start of the NENA meetings.