FCC Grants T-Mobile a Waiver for Three 700 MHz Licenses in MT and WY

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The Mobility Division of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau granted T-Mobile a conditional waiver that would otherwise accelerate—by two years, to June 13, 2017—the end of a license term and related construction requirements for three 700 MHz licenses. The FCC division said that “a waiver grant will serve the public interest by enabling T-Mobile to rapidly bring new and advanced wireless services to the citizens of Montana and Wyoming, many of whom reside in remote areas where the entry of a new wireless carrier will increase competition and consumer choice.”

The FCC required Lower 700 MHz band A and B Block licensees to provide signal coverage and offer service over at least 35 percent of their license area by June 13, 2013, and to provide signal coverage and offer service over at least 70 percent of that area by the end of their initial 10-year license term. However if a licensee does not satisfy the Interim Construction Requirement, its license term will, according to the FCC “be reduced by two years, thereby requiring it to meet the Final Construction Requirement two years sooner.”

Further, if a licensee does not meet its Final Construction Requirement, it will be subject to a “keep-what-you-serve” rule, whereby its “authorization will terminate automatically without Commission action for those geographic portions of its license in which the licensee is not providing service, and those unserved areas will become available for reassignment by the Commission.”  

T-Mobile sought a waiver to provide additional time to meet the construction requirements for three licenses: 

•Billings, MT-WY (BEA 144), a Lower 700 MHz A Block license that covers portions of eastern and southern Montana and northern Wyoming;
•Great Falls, MT(BEA 145), a Lower 700 MHz A Block license that covers north central Montana; and
• Montana 5 – Mineral  (Cellular Market Area 527), a Lower 700 MHz B Block license in western Montana.  

In its Waiver Request, T-Mobile proposed alternative construction benchmarks and related commitments, leading to 70 percent geographic coverage in each License area prior to the June 13, 2019, Final Construction Requirement. A T-Mobile spokesperson stated their new wireless services would “bring public interest benefits to the citizens of Montana and Wyoming, particularly those in rural and Tribal areas.”   

December 23, 2016

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