Public Safety Issue Overlooked in Nextel Sprint Merger

AXcess News www.axcessnews.com)"> released a story covering the recent FCC extension of the 800MHz 'public safety' frequency, weeks before the Nextel merger with Sprint was announced. Nextel was under the gun with the FCC regarding the interference their cellular phones gave to local public safety agencies in fixing the problem. Below is an excerpt of the story as written by Axcess News, a list of the companies covered.

"In November the Federal Communications Commission quietly extended certain 800 MHz deadlines that required Nextel's relinquishment of 800 MHz spectrum below 817/862 MHz to public safety and other spectrum users. If FCC Chairman Michael Powell had not given in to that extension the merger between Nextel and Sprint could be affected.

"But word of the merger wasn't leaked for several weeks, enough time to appear as if Powell's side-stepping pander to the communication giants merger was not conveniently aided by the FCCs extension.

"According to Mr. Phil Peery of Puget Sound Communications, an RF engineering shop serving municipalities public safety needs in the Northwest for over 25 years, the problem is going unresolved.

"Peery put in simple terms, 'If you're a police officer and you're called to a burglary, your transmission is interrupted. You hear noise, you can't get a signal.'

"Peery said that 100 firestations in Snohomish County Washington alone were facing the need to upgrade their communications systems to meet the FCC's order which was passed in July of this year that requires public safety systems to switch frequencies.

"While the FCC's extension buys time, it's doing little for municipalities who are faced with the burden -- and cost of those upgrades, Peery explained.

"Snohomish County voters were asked in 1995 to approve a $27 million program aimed at upgrading the communications system. Voters rejected the program but the county saw fit to go ahead with those plans anyway. To date, the system remains incomplete with no estimate as to its final cost.

"In a recent bid by Motorola for several firehouses in Snohomish County their quote was so high that it sent the fire department searching on Google where they found Nighthawk Systems .

"Nighthawk announced at the open Thursday that it had contracted with the firehouses to purchase their wireless PT1000 system that Peery believes will be of interest to other public safety agencies. 'Every month the fire chiefs meet and believe me, this is something [public safety] they'll be talking about,' said Peery.

"Peery's company is not affiliated with Nighthawk, but is an independent RF engineering firm.

"According to Mr. H. Douglas Saathoff, Nighthawk's CEO, the PT1000 operates in the 800MHz frequency but that it has 8 signals, or functions, so it can do more. Older systems might tell the firehouse door to raise when an alarm was sent. Nighthawk's can manage eight times that number of processes and it is compatible to Motorola's system. "Saathoff told AXcess News that their system is one of the few, affordable ones with so many remote functions in the frequency range the FCC has reserved for public safety agencies that its value to municipalities shouldn't be overlooked. His competitor Motorola 'has dominated that market long enough,' Saathoff explained.

"While Nextel's gotten a reprieve that will last long enough for it to get its merger with Sprint through the FCC, the fate of Motorola in all of that remains unknown."

To read the whole story, go to AXcess News at: http://www.axcessnews.com. AXcess News distributes these press releases on stories it deems newsworthy in the hopes of building readership. Please visit our news website where access to all of our news is free.