The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has extended the deadline for wireless telecom Sprint-Nextel Corporation to complete the spectrum swap intended to solve interference problems with public safety agencies that use the 800-MHz band. The effort to relocate Nextel and public safety signals so as to eliminate the persistent interference problems has been bogged down by technical difficulties. The original deadline, established three years ago, had been June 26, 2008. In an order issued late last week the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau granted a waiver for many of the channels used by Sprint-Nextel. This reprieve comes with conditions. Sprint must relinquish its Nextel channels within 60 days after the public safety agencies indicate that they are ready to make the switch, and it must ensure that public safety agencies using the vacated Nextel channels are not subject to interference. The original Order can be found on the FCCwebsite.
FCC Pushes Back Deadline for Spectrum Swap to Solve Interference Problem
