[Federal Register: May 12, 1998 (Volume 63, Number 91)]
[Notices]
[Page 26188-26189]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr12my98-90]
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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
[DA 98-808]
Waiver of Business and Industrial/Land Transportation Channel
Construction Requirements
1. On February 20, 1998, Southern Company (Southern) filed a
Request for Waiver of Section 90.629 of the Commission's Rules to
further extend the extended implementation period for its Business and
Industrial Land Transportation (I/LT) Category channels that Southern
has converted to commercial use. Southern, an electric utility holding
company, operates an 800 MHz Specialized Mobile Radio (SMR) system on
Business and I/LT channels, and on a small number of SMR and General
Category channels.1 The channels were licensed between 1992
and 1994, and Southern received a five-year extended implementation
period. In 1995, Southern, apparently by means of intercategory
sharing, converted the Business and I/LT channels to commercial use. It
has constructed and placed in operation all of the base stations, and
sixty-five percent of the channels, for which it is licensed. Southern
seeks to extend the implementation period for its Business and I/LT
channels, which expires on May 20, 1999, for an additional five years
or until the Commission auctions those channels, whichever is sooner.
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\1\ Pursuant to the recently completed auction of licenses for
the upper 200 channels of the SMR Service in the 800 MHz band, on
March 9, 1998, Southern was conditionally granted licenses for
frequency block A in BEAs 74, 75, and 78-82. See FCC Announces the
Corrected Conditional Grant of 800 MHz SMR Licenses, Public Notice
No. DA 98-482 (released March 10, 1998).
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2. In its Request for Waiver, Southern asserts that a further
extension of the implementation period is necessary because the current
implementation period is unduly burdensome, frustrates the purpose of
our rules, and is contrary
[[Page 26189]]
to the public interest. Southern's system, which has a service area of
over 120,000 square miles in the southeastern United States, provides
internal communications for Southern's operating companies and provides
service to a large external customer base, including public utilities,
federal, state, and local governments, and emergency management
agencies, such as sheriffs' departments and ambulance services. The
system provides voice dispatch service, full-duplex telephone
interconnection, short message service (similar to alphanumeric
paging), and data transmission capabilities. Southern states that the
continued operation of its system is necessary to maintain competition
in the urban dispatch service market, and to maintain dispatch and
telephone interconnection service in rural areas. It also states that
it is at a severe disadvantage with respect to other Commercial Mobile
Radio Service (CMRS) providers because the subsequently-adopted CMRS
construction requirement based on channel usage and population coverage
is more flexible than the requirement for Business and I/LT channels.
3. We also note that on April 22, 1998, the Land Mobile
Communications Council filed a Petition for Rule Making regarding the
allocation of spectrum for the Private Mobile Radio Services. We
anticipate that the Commission will resolve the matters raised therein
in another proceeding, but we invite comments on how the LMCC Petition
and the Southern waiver request relate to issues the Commission is
likely to consider with regard to implementation of the Balanced Budget
Act of 1997 (the Act). The Act, which mandates that most mutually
exclusive license applications be resolved by competitive bidding,
gives rise to such issues as whether geographic area licensing for
Business and I/LT channels serves the public interest, how to define
bidder eligibility for auctions held to award mutually exclusive
licenses for these channels, how to define the class of land mobile
licensee that is exempt from licensing by auction, and whether the
existence of the Southern Request for Waiver and a number of other
applications requesting large numbers of channels in the I/LT and
Business Categories should be considered when developing rules for
future licensing of these channels.2
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\2\ The Wireless Telecommunications Bureau has pending before it
a number of applications filed by single users for large numbers of
800 MHz I/LT and Business channels. The applicants' individual
communications requirements do not appear sufficient to require such
large numbers of channels. The Bureau continues to maintain these
applications in pending status until the Act is fully implemented.
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4. Interested parties may file comments on Southern's Request for
Waiver on or before May 28, 1998. Parties interested in submitting
reply comments must do so on or before June 12, 1998. All comments
should reference Southern's Request for Waiver with the designated DA
number, and should be filed with the Office of the Secretary, Federal
Communications Commission, 1919 M St., N.W., Room 222, Washington, D.C.
20554. A copy of each filing should be sent to International
Transcription Services, Inc. (ITS), 1231 20th St., N.W., Washington,
D.C. 20036, (202) 857-3800, and to Scot Stone, Federal Communications
Commission, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, Public Safety and
Private Wireless Division, 2025 M St., N.W., Room 8010G, (202) 418-0680
or via e-mail to sstone@fcc.gov.
5. The full text of the Request for Waiver, comments, and reply
comments are available for public inspection and duplication during
regular business hours in the Public Safety and Private Wireless
Division of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, Federal
Communications Commission, 2025 M St., N.W., Room 8010, Washington,
D.C. 20554. Copies also may be obtained from ITS, 1231 20th St., N.W.,
Washington, D.C. 20036, (202) 857-3800.
6. For further information, contact Scot Stone of the Public Safety
and Private Wireless Division of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau
at (202) 418-0680 or via e-mail to sstone@fcc.gov.
Federal Communications Commission.
Rosalind Allen,
Deputy Chief, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau.
[FR Doc. 98-12606 Filed 5-11-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P