Reuters reports that the FCC commissioners voted 5-0 in favor of what sounded like a Nextel plan to reorganize an ugly band: Nextel owns tiny slices of a very ugly chopped up range in the 700 and 800 MHz, and their proposal was to reorganize it so that the public-safety purposes to which other slices are put can be consolidated and provided with more reliability.
For their part, Nextel would receive a contiguous range in the 1.9 GHz band, and be less likely to cause interference in public-safety bands--which many blame not on Nextel but on the equipment used for fire, police, and emergencies--and have an easier time in providing cellular coverage at those higher frequencies.
The FCC values the deal at $4.8 billion, but will give Nextel credit for $1.6 billion in returning the lower-band frequencies. Nextel has to put up a line of credit for $2.5 billion to cover relocation costs, which are allowed to exceed that amount. If Nextel's final bill is less than $3.2 billion, they have to pay the government the difference.
Nextel's response was muted; they had wanted to pay $1.36 billion. Other cellular operators were complaining that the deal gave Nextel too much; it looks like the FCC chose this approach to make it worthwhile to public safety without letting Nextel off the hook.
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