Nextel said Thurs. it expects to spend $900 million in 2005 as it begins to implement the 800 MHz rebanding plan, approved by the FCC last year, which will eat up much of the company’s projected $2 billion free cash flow. About $600 million will be spent on new capacity sites, filters and working with public safety radio systems and $300 million to relocate broadcast auxiliary users and microwave incumbents from 1.9 GHz to 2.1 GHz, Nextel officials said on a call with analysts discussing 4th- quarter results.

High tech companies, anxious to open up more spectrum for Wi-Fi and other unlicensed uses, strongly supported an FCC proposal to allow the use of “white spaces” between TV channels, in comments on a proposed rulemaking. In general, high tech companies view the lower-frequency spectrum as especially valuable for unlicensed use because of its superior propagation characteristics. As expected, broadcasters slammed the plan. Cable operators cited a potential threat to their operations.

The Wireless Communications Assn. called on the FCC to rethink a key part of its order reallocating 2.5 GHz spectrum to spur growth of wireless broadband. WCA said for the order to accomplish its goals FCC must remove the Big LEO MSS satellite downlink allocation from the 2496- 2500 MHz band. Sprint and Nextel also filed petitions for reconsideration citing similar concerns. Meanwhile, Globalstar said it deserves a hearing, under Section 316 of the Communications Act, based on the extent of the impact to Globalstar’s system from all the sharing it will do in the S-band (2496-2500 MHz) and the L-band (1618.25- 1621.35 MHz).

The FCC Policy Branch granted several applications filed by SES Americom relating to its AMC 16. The company asked to launch a replacement Ka-band satellite (AMC 16) to 85 degrees W. The Commission granted the company permission to launch the craft and reduced its bandwidth by 600 MHz. The Commission also said Americom could move its AMC 9 from the 85 degrees W slot to 83 degrees W and operate from there.

A rebanding plan to mitigate public safety interference at 800 MHz would still be a “fair value proposition” if blocks at 700 and 900 MHz weren’t part of a spectrum exchange, said Nextel Senior Vp-Chief Regulatory Officer Bob Foosaner at a media and analyst briefing Sun. The FCC recently began considering a draft staff proposal on how to correct public safety interference at 800 MHz (CD March 11 p1). Under this draft, Nextel would pay for incumbent retuning at 800 MHz and the company would pay the difference between that and the value of 10 MHz at 1.9 GHz. But spectrum at 700 and 900 MHz that was part of a swap under the “consensus plan” backed by Nextel, public safety organizations and others wouldn’t be included in a proposed exchange. Asked whether Nextel would find favor with a plan that didn’t cover 700 and 900 MHz as part of a swap, Foosaner said: “We will have to understand what is acceptable to Nextel as we fully understand what the thought processes are at the Commission. We have always indicated we are willing to talk about various parts of the proposal.” Foosaner said any plan must eliminate interference and give Nextel 10 MHz at 1.9 GHz. While he said opponents to the consensus plan have successfully focused attention on valuing this spectrum at 1.9 GHz, Foosaner reiterated Nextel’s concerns that valuations floated by Cingular, Verizon Wireless and others were too high. Nextel has said it would contribute $5.3 billion in retuning and other expenses under the consensus plan, while the spectrum at 1.9 GHz is worth $3.5 billion. Verizon Wireless has charged Nextel would receive a spectrum “windfall” under the plan, with the 10 MHz at 1.9 GHz worth $5.3 billion. Foosaner said Verizon Wireless figures didn’t take into account the extent to which this 10 MHz at 1.9 GHz is occupied by Broadcast Auxiliary Service licensees, or the retuning costs that reduce the market value of this spectrum. “Did they look at the spectrum?” he asked: “The spectrum is occupied.” Also at the briefing, Nextel CEO Tim Donahue said the company plans to spend $600 million this year on network expansion. He also was bullish on the continued growth prospects for Nextel’s push-to-talk walkie-talkie type service, despite similar offerings that rivals are beginning to market. “Our ability to sell push-to-talk has never been stronger,” he said. Push-to-talk products such as those offered by Verizon Wireless appear to have simply refocused attention on Nextel’s plans, Donahue said, calling Verizon’s walkie-talkie version “not much of a product.” The proposed merger of AT&T Wireless and Cingular has a likely upside for Nextel, Donahue said. “We think it’s going to give some opportunity to us, because during times of mergers you typically have distraction; so it’s an opportunity for us to go and talk to AT&T and Cingular customers,” he said. -- MG

GENEVA -- Wireless operators at the ITU Telecom World 2003 show here said fast-growing Wi-Fi systems were complementary to coming 3G offerings, but several were skeptical of the business model for doing 802.11. Qualcomm Chmn.-CEO Irwin Jacobs said his company had tested the possibility of putting 802.11 capabilities on a CDMA chip a year and a half ago. “We haven’t put it on a chip yet because we are looking for what is the right business case, is there a demand,” Jacobs said Wed. But he said he expected the next versions of advanced CDMA 1x chip sets that also had GSM and General Packet Radio Service would carry 802.11 capabilities as well.

The Telecom Industry Assn. (TIA), having been stymied for a year by the White House, Congress and a slow-moving FCC, said Wed. it had a new message for President Bush that it believed this time he would hear: “Jobs, jobs, jobs.” In a meeting with reporters, TIA officials said that after a year with little deregulatory action, continued decline in telecom spending and more job losses, they would renew their push of their message supporting regulatory reform that they said would spark the ailing telecom sector. They want the White House to respond with a mention of broadband in the State of the Union address.

This is expected to be a bellwether week at the World Radio Conference (WRC) in Geneva, providing a gauge for whether the “positive tone and attitude” of last week extends beyond the conference’s opening days on some of the more contentious agenda items, U.S. WRC Ambassador Janice Obuchowski said. “It’s not necessarily the highest tension week, but it’s the workhorse week where everybody has settled,” she said. Meanwhile, the U.S. is making progress in advocating its position on a proposal to harmonize spectrum at for wireless local area networks at 5 GHz, she said.

The opening day of the FCC’s lower 700 MHz auction Wed. generated $24.5 million in gross bids, led by Aloha Partners II with $8.4 million after 2 rounds. Qualcomm was the 2nd highest bidder with $7.6 million, including $3.7 million for an economic area grouping license covering the Southeast. Cavalier Group was 3rd highest at nearly $5 million. Among broadcasters vying for licenses in the auction Capitol Bcstg. bid $164,000 and Banks Bcstg. $191,600. The auction includes 265 licenses in the lower 700 MHz C-block and D-block, including 251 C-block and 5 D-block licenses that remained unsold in an auction that closed in Sept. 2002. The C-block consists of a pair of 6 MHz segments while the D-block is a 6 MHz unpaired block licensed over economic area groupings. The FCC Wireless Bureau recently granted Qualcomm an additional year to use the remainder of an auction discount voucher that had been set to expire June 8. Qualcomm had told the agency it was considering using the $114 million voucher in the lower 700 MHz bidding.

The FCC’s Media Bureau sent a flurry of letters to all of the industry players involved in the digital TV transition seeking more specific details on their efforts to move the transition forward. Bureau Chief Kenneth Ferree asked the major TV networks -- ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, PAX, PBS, UPN and WB -- to describe in detail their digital programming being fed to affiliates, including the time period of the programming, the source of the material and the format in which it was transmitted.