The FCC opened an application window for new entrants on T-band (470-512 MHz); it’s the first such opening in several years.
The Commission stopped accepting and processing applications for new Part 22 (Public Mobile Services) and Part 90 (Private Land Mobile Radio) services operating in the band in 2012. It sought to maintain a stable spectral environment to reallocate and auction public safety frequencies in the band as mandated by the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act.
However public safety advocates protested and in December 2020, the Don’t Break Up the T-Band Act was signed into law, which repealed the T-band mandate, Inside Towers reported. In January 2021, the agency said it would accept Part 22 and Part 90 applications for T-Band facilities for 90-days from incumbents. The window was extended two more times, until April 1 of this year.
Now, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau and the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau will accept new applications characterized as major under Part 22 rules. The bureaus will also accept new applications under Part 90 rules as long as they propose operation bandwidth of 12.5 kHz or narrower or use a technology that achieves the “narrowband equivalent of at least one channel per 12.5 kHz of channel bandwidth for voice and transmission rates of at least 4800 bps per 6.25 kHz for data systems operating with bandwidth greater than 12.5 kHz.”
Incumbent licensees can still submit applications. However, the agency won’t accept applications that don’t meet its spectral efficiency requirements.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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