July 9, 2004
FCC OKs Plan to Swap Nextel's Bandwith
A plan aimed at ending cell phone interference that has affected hundreds of public safety systems around the country won approval Thursday from federal regulators, reports the Associated Press.
"The Federal Communications Commission's unanimous decision, which gives Nextel Communications Inc. access to a valuable new piece of broadcast spectrum, was denounced by the cell phone industry's lobbying group and Verizon Wireless, the nation's largest cell company. They said it amounted to a taxpayer giveaway to Nextel worth billions of dollars.
The FCC voted to give Nextel spectrum worth $4.8 billion. In exchange, the Reston, Va.-based company will give up other spectrum and pay to reconfigure the airwaves it currently occupies to ensure public service communications systems are free of interference.
The reorganization would have to be completed within three years."
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