FCC Backs Nextel's Plan For Airwaves (TechNews.com)

FCC Backs Nextel's Plan For Airwaves (TechNews.com):

"A majority of commissioners at the Federal Communications Commission have voted to support a plan that provides Nextel Communications Inc. valuable new spectrum in exchange for clearing up interference problems with public safety communications, although Nextel would have to pay $1.3 billion to $1.5 billion more than it has proposed, according to FCC sources."

"Verizon Wireless, Cingular Wireless and the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association vehemently opposed Nextel's plan, calling the spectrum exchange a "giveaway" worth as much as $7 billion to Nextel. Those groups have threatened a legal challenge to any plan that gives Nextel a license at the high frequency without an auction, citing the FCC's decade-old policy of auctioning off spectrum to the highest bidder."