Sprint Says Sanctions Won’t Speed 800 MHz Rebanding
Sprint Nextel fired back at AT&T Thurs. over complaints about the pace of the 800 MHz transition. The FCC should spurn AT&T calls to subject Sprint to sanctions if it doesn’t meet various reconfiguration benchmarks, Sprint said.
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The April 19 AT&T letter has been getting wide attention at the FCC, sources said, in part because AT&T is a huge player and also because it was authored by emergency communications expert Brian Fontes, a former FCC chief of staff. “The FCC has to deal with the AT&T letter,” said a source unaffiliated with either side: “The pressure keeps mounting on the Commission to do something.”
“Instead of offering any constructive proposals that would expedite or make reconfiguration more efficient, AT&T proposes that the Commission subject Sprint… to a series of sanctions,” Sprint said. “AT&T does not -- and it cannot -- demonstrate how these sanctions would advance the Commission’s goal of completing band reconfiguration with minimal disruption to 800 MHz incumbents.”
AT&T historically has bucked the reconfiguration plan as far back as the rebanding order’s days pending at the FCC prior to its July 2004 approval, Sprint said. “AT&T opposed the Commission’s 800 MHz band reconfiguration plan prior to its adoption,” Sprint said: “The Commission should similarly reject AT&T’s unjustified attack on Sprint Nextel, the [800 MHz Transition Administrator], and the Commission -- and by implication, hundreds of public safety licensees.”
Sprint has “worked diligently” with safety licensees and other concerned parties to retune hundreds of licensees so far, completing Phase I of the FCC’s reconfiguration plan in 29 NPSPAC regions, it said. “Sprint Nextel concurs with AT&T in one respect: 800 MHz reconfiguration has proven to be more time consuming than anticipated and the process can be frustrating to all stakeholders,” Sprint said.
Sprint took aim at AT&T at several levels. It said AT&T will “benefit substantially” from rebanding since it also has 800 MHz operations. “Since March 2005, AT&T has been included as a potential contributor in 330 reports of 800 MHz public safety interference,” it said. The carrier said AT&T’s letter “may be a tactical attempt to divert attention from its own anticompetitive actions.” Sprint cites April 19 testimony by CTO Barry West in the House charging that AT&T and Verizon have “virtual monopoly pricing power” over special access.
In the letter to the Commission (CD April 20 p8), AT&T said sought financial penalties for Sprint if it fails to meet deadlines. AT&T also wants an FCC inquiry into whether Sprint is negotiating in “utmost good faith” with licensees.
“The rebanding plan proposed by Sprint Nextel, which the industry said at the time would take longer than Sprint Nextel said it would and also cost more, appears to be off track -- way off track,” Fontes said Thurs. in response to the letter: “As a result, there is still interference to public safety -- and it needs to be fixed. That’s where the focus should remain if this problem is going to be solved by the 36-month deadline.”