[Federal Register: December 27, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 247)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 76411-76414]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr27de05-11]
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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
47 CFR Parts 1 and 22
[WT Docket Nos. 03-103, 05-42; FCC 05-202]
Air-Ground Telecommunications Services
AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.
ACTION: Final rule.
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SUMMARY: In this document, the Commission (``Commission'') resolves two
petitions for reconsideration in this proceeding. Further, the
Commission adopts certain reporting requirements that will require
licensees who win an exclusive 3 MHz license to report to the
Commission in order to enable the Commission to monitor the migration
of their narrowband subscribers to a new broadband system.
DATES: Effective February 27, 2006.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Richard Arsenault, Chief Counsel,
Mobility Division, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, at 202-418-0920
or via e-mail at Richard.Arsenault@fcc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Order on
Reconsideration portion (Order on Reconsideration) of the Commission's
Order on Reconsideration and Report and Order, FCC 05-202, in WT Docket
Nos. 03-103 and 05-42, adopted December 8, 2005, and released December
9, 2005. Contemporaneous with this document, the Commission issues a
Report and Order (published elsewhere in this publication). The
complete text of this document is available for public inspection and
copying from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday or from 8 a.m.
to 11:30 p.m. on Friday at the FCC Reference Information Center,
Portals II, 445 12th Street, SW., Room CY-A257, Washington, DC 20554.
This document and all related Commission documents may also be
purchased from the Commission's duplicating contractor, Best Copy and
Printing, Inc. (BCPI), Portals II, 445 12th Street, SW., Room CY-B402,
Washington, DC 20554, telephone 202-488-5300, facsimile 202-488-5563,
or you may contact BCPI at its Web site: http://www.BCPIWEB.com. When
ordering documents from BCPI please provide the appropriate FCC
document number (for example, FCC 05-202, Order on Reconsideration).
The full text may also be downloaded at: http://www.fcc.gov.
Alternative formats are available to persons with disabilities by
sending an e-mail to fcc504@fcc.gov or call the Consumer & Governmental
Affairs Bureau at 202-418-0530 (voice), or 202-418-0432 (tty).
Paperwork Reduction Act
This Order on Reconsideration does not contain any new or modified
information collections.
Synopsis of the Order on Reconsideration
1. In the Report and Order in this proceeding, 70 FR 19293, April
13, 2005, the Commission, inter alia, amended its 800 MHz commercial
Air-Ground Radiotelephone Service band plan and service rules. Based on
the band configuration proposals submitted by interested parties in the
proceeding, the Commission decided to assign nationwide air-ground
licenses under one of three alternative band configurations: (1) Band
Plan 1, comprised of two overlapping, shared, cross-polarized 3 MHz
licenses (licenses A and B, respectively), (2) Band Plan 2, comprised
of an exclusive 3 MHz license and an exclusive 1 MHz license (licenses
C and D, respectively), and (3) Band Plan 3, comprised of an exclusive
1 MHz license and an exclusive 3 MHz license (licenses E and F,
respectively), with the blocks at opposite ends of the band from the
second configuration. Each of these band plans includes at least one 3
MHz license, which the Commission determined would enable a new
licensee to provide broadband service to the flying public.
2. The Commission will award licenses to winning bidders for the
licenses comprising the band plan that receives the highest aggregate
gross bid, subject to long-form license application review. In order to
further competition and ensure maximum use of this frequency band for
air-ground services, no party will be eligible to hold more than one of
the spectrum licenses being made available. We note that current
bilateral agreements between the United States, Canada, and Mexico
provide for coordinated use of air-ground frequencies over North
American airspace and are based on a narrow bandwidth channel scheme,
and therefore may need to be renegotiated to provide for more flexible
use of this spectrum. The Commission decided not to permit a licensee
to provide ancillary land mobile or fixed services in the 800 MHz air-
ground spectrum.
3. Verizon Airfone Inc. (Verizon Airfone or Airfone) is the sole
incumbent currently operating in the 800 MHz air-ground band. The
Commission granted Verizon Airfone a non-renewable license for a five-
year term commencing on the effective date of the Report and Order. The
Commission determined that in order to ensure that the air-ground
spectrum can be used to provide broadband air-ground services to the
public in the near future, it is imperative to clear the incumbent
narrowband system from a minimum of three megahertz of spectrum as soon
as reasonably practicable. The Commission concluded that Verizon
Airfone's incumbent system must cease operations in the lower 1.5 MHz
portion of each 2 MHz air-ground band within 24 months of the initial
date of grant of any license, if band plan 1 or 2 is implemented;
Verizon Airfone may relocate its incumbent operations to the upper 0.5
MHz portion of each 2 MHz band and may continue to operate under the
renewal authorization until the end of the five-year license term. If
band plan 3 is implemented, Verizon Airfone's incumbent system must
cease operations in the upper 1.5 MHz portion
[[Page 76412]]
of each 2 MHz air-ground band within 24 months of the initial date of
grant of any new license; Verizon Airfone may relocate its incumbent
operations to the lower 0.5 MHz portion of each 2 MHz band and may
continue to operate under the renewal authorization until the end of
the five-year license term.
4. In this Order on Reconsideration, we address the Petition for
Clarification and Reconsideration of the Report and Order in this
proceeding, 70 FR 19293, April 13, 2005, filed by Space Data
Corporation (Space Data). We deny Space Data's request to permit the
provision of ancillary land mobile and fixed service in the 800 MHz
air-ground band on a secondary basis. We grant Space Data's request to
clarify that stratospheric platforms, such as high-altitude balloons,
may be used to provide air-ground services in the band.
5. In the Report and Order, the Commission prohibited the provision
of ancillary land mobile and fixed services in the 800 MHz air-ground
band. The Commission determined that, in light of the small amount of
spectrum dedicated for commercial air-ground service (only four
megahertz), the public interest would be best served by ensuring that
the band is devoted to the provision of air-ground service. Space Data
requests that we revisit this determination and permit licensees to
provide ancillary land mobile and fixed service on a secondary basis in
the band.
6. We conclude that Space Data has failed to demonstrate sufficient
grounds for revisiting the Commission's proscription on ancillary land
mobile and fixed service use of the 800 MHz air-ground band. Ancillary
use of the air-ground band could create the potential for harmful
interference with users of adjacent spectrum bands. Space Data claims
that because it proposes ancillary use of the band on a secondary
basis, the potential for harmful interference can be readily addressed.
We find that it is unnecessary to resolve the parties' claims regarding
the potential for interference arising from ancillary land mobile and
fixed operations. Rather, we conclude that the Commission's goal to
promote the provision of new and innovative wireless services to the
flying public, including broadband services, will be best served by
requiring that the four megahertz of spectrum in the band be devoted to
the provision of air-ground service.
7. Space Data also requests clarification that balloon-borne
stratospheric platforms may be used to provide air-ground
communications services in the 800 MHz air-ground band. We confirm that
stratospheric platforms, as described by Space Data, may be used to
provide service in the 800 MHz air-ground band so long as licensees
comply with the rules adopted in the Air-Ground Report and Order and
other applicable rules.
8. We also grant Space Data's request that we clarify that, if a
licensee were to deploy stratospheric platforms in the band, those
operations would be subject to the 12 watt peak effective radiated
power limit for airborne mobile station transmitters set forth in new
Section 22.867(a) of the Commission's rules. Together, these rules
should ensure that any stratospheric operations in the band would not
cause harmful interference to operations in adjacent spectrum bands.
9. In addition, in this Order on Reconsideration, we deny the
Petition for Partial Reconsideration of the Report and Order, filed by
AirCell, Inc. (AirCell). Specifically, we deny AirCell's request to
shorten from five to two years the term of the nonrenewable license
granted to Verizon Airfone Inc. We also deny AirCell's request to
abbreviate from two years to six months the transition period that the
Commission adopted in order for Verizon Airfone to move its incumbent
narrowband operations to one megahertz of spectrum in the 800 MHz air-
ground band, which period will commence on the grant date of the first
new license in the band.
10. AirCell claims that based on its experience as an air-ground
service provider, relocation of Airfone's incumbent operations from
four to one megahertz of spectrum could be concluded in six months.
AirCell believes that Airfone's ground stations could be remotely
retuned to operate on one megahertz in the band. According to Airfone,
however, the software controlling each of its ground stations must be
modified, tested, and deployed on-site, and each location needs to be
evaluated for the possible installation of customized emission filters.
AirCell assumes that moving Airfone's narrowband operations to one
megahertz in the band would not require modification of end user
equipment. Airfone's service, however, is installed on over 3,000
general aviation, military, and Federal Government aircraft that cannot
be remotely contacted for reprogramming and therefore would require a
maintenance visit. In view of the foregoing, we find that there is no
basis in the record to shorten the two-year transition period.
11. AirCell also argues that the possibility that it could
construct an air-ground system and begin to provide broadband service
shortly after obtaining a license in the band warrants reducing the
transition period to six months. Even if a new entrant could launch
broadband service within a few months of obtaining a license in the
band, the transition of Airfone's system to one megahertz in the band
may be far more complex than envisioned by AirCell. In establishing the
two-year transition period, the Commission carefully balanced the goal
in this proceeding of enabling new entrants to deploy innovative
wireless services to the flying public in the near future with the need
for an orderly transition of Airfone's legacy narrowband system. We
find no basis in the record to revisit the reasonableness of the
decision reached in the Report and Order in weighing these competing
public interest objectives.
12. We also reject AirCell's assertion that the two-year transition
period would somehow act as a perverse bidding credit for Airfone by
allowing the company to bid on a ten-year license, while other auction
participants would be bidding on licenses with an effective eight-year
term. Even if Airfone were to obtain a new 3 MHz air-ground license,
the company would have to move its incumbent narrowband operations from
four to one megahertz of spectrum in the band before it could commence
broadband operations. Moreover, if Airfone were to obtain either of the
non-exclusive 3 MHz licenses comprising band plan 1, it and the other
non-exclusive 3 MHz licensee would both have to wait the same interlude
(the period it takes Airfone to move its incumbent operations) to
commence service. Accordingly, we deny AirCell's request to reduce the
transition period.
13. Lastly, we note that AirCell has more recently urged the
Commission to shorten the transition period to one year rather than six
months. For all of the foregoing reasons, we also deny AirCell's
request to reduce the transition period to one year.
14. AirCell also argues that grant of the five-year license to
Verizon Airfone is antithetical to the Commission's goal in this
proceeding to promote competition in the 800 MHz air-ground band. To
the contrary, the Commission granted Airfone a nonrenewable five-year
license, rather than a renewable ten-year license, in order to promote
the introduction of competition and new services in the 800 MHz air-
ground band.
15. AirCell claims that if Airfone were to obtain an exclusive 3
MHz license, the winner of the corresponding 1 MHz license could be
prevented from commencing operations until the end of
[[Page 76413]]
the five-year license term. The Commission recognized this possibility
in the Report and Order and noted that the holder of a 1 MHz license
might have to share spectrum with Airfone's incumbent system until the
end of the company's five-year license term.
16. AirCell also argues that we should shorten the term of
Airfone's license because, if band plan 1 is implemented (i.e., two
overlapping 3 MHz licenses), the licensees would have to overlap their
systems 100 percent while the incumbent system operates in one
megahertz of the band. AirCell claims that, with 100 percent spectrum
overlap, isolation between two 3 MHz networks would be degraded and the
licensees would have to extensively coordinate site locations. The
Commission granted Airfone a five-year license term (which commenced on
May 13, 2005), rather than a ten-year license term, to promote the
introduction of new services in the 800 MHz air-ground band. The
possibility that full spectrum sharing--during the period from when
Airfone transitions to one megahertz in the band and the end of
Airfone's license term--may not be optimal does not cause us to
reconsider this decision. We therefore reject AirCell's request to
shorten the license term.
17. AirCell states that, in order to help ensure that Airfone will
timely conclude the transition of its incumbent narrowband operations
from four to one megahertz of the 800 MHz air-ground band, we should
establish milestones or benchmarks that Airfone must meet during the
transition period and that we should require the company to regularly
file reports regarding the status of the transition process. The
process of transitioning Airfone's incumbent system and its general
aviation subscribers to operate on one megahertz of the band will be
more complex than envisioned by AirCell. We therefore conclude that
imposing transition benchmarks or milestones that Airfone would have to
meet by target dates would be impracticable and potentially burdensome.
18. We agree with AirCell that we should require Airfone to file
regular transition status reports. We find that such reports will serve
the public interest by enabling the Commission to closely monitor the
transition of Airfone's narrowband system and to ensure that the
transition is timely effected. We hereby delegate authority to the
Commission's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau to adopt specific
reporting requirements and direct it to issue a Public Notice
enumerating such requirements within 60 calendar days of the adoption
of this Order on Reconsideration. We envision that each report will
provide specific details regarding the status of Airfone's transition
of its base stations and its subscribers' aircraft so that they may
operate on one megahertz of the 800 MHz air-ground band. At a minimum,
each report should provide the number and percentage of each type of
aircraft (commercial, general aviation, and government) and base
stations that have been transitioned to operate in the one megahertz
portion of the band. Airfone must file its initial transition status
report with the Commission six months from the date of the grant of any
new license in the band and at each of the three six-month intervals
thereafter. Airfone is not required to submit any classified
information regarding government aircraft in its reports.
19. In addition, if Verizon Airfone, or one of its affiliates, wins
an exclusive 3 MHz license at auction, it shall include in each status
report--and file additional reports at six-month intervals from the
conclusion of the two-year transition period until the expiration of
its five-year nonrenewable license--information regarding the
transition of its existing subscribers from its narrowband system to a
broadband system. We hereby delegate authority to the Commission's
Wireless Telecommunications Bureau to adopt specific reporting
requirements and direct it to issue a Public Notice enumerating such
requirements within 60 calendar days of the grant of an exclusive 3 MHz
license to Airfone. At a minimum, Airfone must specify the number and
percentage of each type of aircraft (commercial, general aviation, and
government) and base stations that have been configured to operate in
the three megahertz portion of the band. The report must also delineate
which aircraft have been transitioned from Airfone's 4 MHz narrowband
system directly to a 3 MHz broadband system, and which aircraft have
been transitioned from the 4 MHz narrowband system to a 1 MHz
narrowband system and then to a 3 MHz broadband system. Airfone is not
required to submit any classified information regarding government
aircraft in its reports.
Ordering Clauses
20. Pursuant to the authority contained in sections 1, 4(i), 11,
303(r) and (y), 308, 309, and 332 of the Communications Act of 1934, as
amended, 47 U.S.C. 151, 154(i), 161, 303(r), 303(y), 308, 309, and 332,
this Order on Reconsideration and Report and Order is hereby Adopted.
21. Pursuant to sections 1, 4(i), and 4(j) of the Communications
Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 151, 154(i), and 154(j), and section
1.429 of the Commission's rules, 47 CFR 1.429, that the Petition for
Clarification and Reconsideration, filed by Space Data Corporation on
May 13, 2005, Is granted in part and denied in part, to the extent
indicated herein.
22. Pursuant to sections 1, 4(i), and 4(j) of the Communications
Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 151, 154(i), and 154(j), and section
1.429 of the Commission's rules, 47 CFR 1.429, that the Petition for
Partial Reconsideration, filed by AirCell, Inc. on May 13, 2005, Is
denied.
23. Pursuant to sections 1, 4(i), and 4(j) of the Communications
Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 151, 154(i), and 154(j), and
sections 0.201 and 0.331 of the Commission's rules, 47 CFR 0.201 and
0.331, that the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau shall, within 60
calendar days of the date of the adoption of this order, issue a Public
Notice that specifies the reporting requirements imposed on Verizon
Airfone pursuant to paragraph 21 of the Order on Reconsideration.
24. Pursuant to sections 1, 4(i), and 4(j) of the Communications
Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 151, 154(i), and 154(j), and
sections 0.201 and 0.331 of the Commission's rules, 47 CFR 0.201 and
0.331, that in the event an exclusive 3 MHz license is granted to
Verizon Airfone, or an affiliate of Verizon Airfone, the Wireless
Telecommunications Bureau shall, within 60 calendar days of the grant
thereof, issue a Public Notice that specifies the reporting
requirements imposed on Verizon Airfone pursuant to paragraph 22 of the
Order on Reconsideration.
25. Pursuant to sections 4(i), 303(c), 303(r), and 309(j) of the
Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 154(i), 303(c),
303(r) and 309(j), that part 22 of the Commission's rules Are amended
as specified in Appendix B of the Report and Order, effective 60 days
after publication in the Federal Register.
26. The Commission's Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau,
Reference Information Center, Shall send a copy of the Order on
Reconsideration and Report and Order, including the Final Regulatory
Flexibility Analysis, to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small
Business Administration.
[[Page 76414]]
Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene H. Dortch,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 05-24485 Filed 12-23-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P