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| First Steps: |
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You will be contacted by the Transition Administrator ("TA"). The TA will also provide you with the proposed replacement frequencies if you a General Category (851-854 MHz) licensee. Public Safety NPSPAC licensees will move their frequencies down by 15 MHz to the 851-854 MHz band. This will start a three month voluntary, and three month mandatory negotiation period. You can negotiate directly with Nextel, although you may ask the TA to be a part of that as a conduit (not as your representative) if you'd rather not deal with Nextel. You will negotiate all aspects of the retuning with Nextel, including items such as costs, the new frequencies to which you'll be going (for licensees presently on General Category channels) and timing of the moves. Prior to beginning those negotiations, you'll want to have in hand significant information about your system, including: (1) the number of mobiles on your system; (2) the make and model of those units; (3) combiner and repeater make and model information, etc.; and (4) an estimate of costs for your retune prepared by you or your outside consultant. Particularly for public safety agencies, make sure that you keep track of your internal costs in preparing cost estimates and related activities, as these costs will be reimbursable. |
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The Negotiations: |
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You'll want to include your counsel and outside consultants in these discussions, as you want to ensure that you receive all that you're entitled to. If you and Nextel are unable to reach an agreement, the TA will mediate. Disputes not settled by the TA will then be reviewed by the FCC and, upon further appeals, a court of competent jurisdiction.
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Bottom Line On Costs: |
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You
need qualified professional assistance to help you through this
complicated process, and you can get that assistance at no cost to you. |
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The
FCC mandate on rebanding includes compensation for all reasonable
costs for licensees. This means that the reprogramming of your
system should not cost you anything. Your reimbursable costs
include: |
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1) |
All labor associated with reprogramming
your system and your units |
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2) |
Replacement equipment (such
as code plugs, combiner harnesses) |
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3) |
All necessary software changes (all Motorola radios currently operating on NPSPAC frequencies will need software upgrades) |
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4) |
Legal, engineering, consulting
and project management costs |
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5) |
Replacement equipment for older
radios and repeaters which cannot be retuned |
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6) |
Internal staff costs for man-hours
directly involved in retuning |
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7) |
Costs for preparing the cost estimate |
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8) |
Costs incurred prior to the commencement of band reconfiguration |
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The
FCC Order directs Nextel to pay to the full costs of the nationwide
relocation with no cap. Nextel's performance will be guaranteed
with a $2.5 billion letter of credit. |
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