Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Rebanding at 800 MHz Celebrates its 10th Anniversary!

A history lesson for those who still believe that the 2012 Congressional give away of $20 billion dollars worth of spectrum to the Public Safety community to create and deploy a nationwide Federal Government owned and operated First Responder LTE network by 2023 is remotely possible.  Keep in mind rebanding was a privately funded 3 year project by Nextel to reband/reconfigure (not build from scratch) an existing network.  

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Ten years later, 800 MHz rebanding proves to be an enlightening exercise

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It has taken much longer than originally expected, but 800 MHz rebanding is complete in most of the United States 10 years after the FCC established a plan for the spectral reconfiguration of the band. Was it worth the effort?
“I don’t know whether this rebanding thing will work or not, but I can guarantee you this: There’s no way this is going to be finished in three years. There’s just too much to do.”
This quote was uttered to me in early 2005 by a public-safety official who was standing in line for food during a break taken at a meeting being conducted in the Tomorrowland Hotel at Walt Disney World, where the ambitious three-year schedule for 800 MHz reconfiguration had just been unveiled.

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To add more irony/evidence to those who still say "On Marc, get a grip, this is the federal government they can do it", let me point out that since rebanding started Nextel has been absorbed by Sprint and the Nextel network, which drove the rebanding project, has been decommissioned by Sprint.  Yet the rebinding process started 10 years ago today continues.  

Go Figure!