§  95.823   Geographic partitioning and spectrum disaggregation.

   (a) Eligibility. Parties seeking Commission approval of geographic
   partitioning or spectrum disaggregation of 218-219 MHz Service system
   licenses shall request an authorization for partial assignment of
   license pursuant to §  1.948 of this chapter.

   (b) Technical standards —(1) Partitioning. In the case of partitioning,
   requests for authorization of partial assignment of a license must
   include, as attachments, a description of the partitioned service area
   and a calculation of the population of the partitioned service area and
   the licensed geographic service area. The partitioned service area
   shall be defined by coordinate points at every 3 seconds along the
   partitioned service area unless an FCC-recognized service area ( i.e.
   Economic Areas) is utilized or county lines are followed. The
   geographic coordinates must be specified in degrees, minutes, and
   seconds, to the nearest second of latitude and longitude, and must be
   based upon the 1983 North American Datum (NAD83). In the case where an
   FCC-recognized service area or county lines are utilized, applicants
   need only list the specific area(s) (through use of FCC designations or
   county names) that constitute the partitioned area.

   (2) Disaggregation. Spectrum maybe disaggregated in any amount.

   (3) Combined partitioning and disaggregation. The Commission will
   consider requests for partial assignments of licenses that propose
   combinations of partitioning and disaggregation.

   (c) Provisions applicable to designated entities —(1) Parties not
   qualified for installment payment plans. (i) When a winning bidder
   (partitionor or disaggregator) that elected to pay for its license
   through an installment payment plan partitions its license or
   disaggregates spectrum to another party (partitionee or disaggregatee)
   that would not qualify for an installment payment plan, or elects not
   to pay for its share of the license through installment payments, the
   outstanding principal balance owed by the partitionor or disaggregator
   shall be apportioned according to §  1.2111(e)(3) of this chapter. The
   partitionor or disaggregator is responsible for accrued and unpaid
   interest through and including the consummation date.

   (ii) The partitionee or disaggregatee shall, as a condition of the
   approval of the partial assignment application, pay its entire pro rata
   amount of the outstanding principal balance on or before the
   consummation date. Failure to meet this condition will result in
   cancellation of the grant of the partial assignment application.

   (iii) The partitionor or disaggregator shall be permitted to continue
   to pay its pro rata share of the outstanding balance and, if
   applicable, shall receive loan documents evidencing the partitioning
   and disaggregation. The original interest rate, established pursuant to
   §  1.2110(g)(3)(i) of this chapter at the time of the grant of the
   initial license in the market, shall continue to be applied to the
   partitionor's or disaggregator's portion of the remaining government
   obligation.

   (iv) A default on the partitionor's or disaggregator's payment
   obligation will affect only the partitionor's or disaggregator's
   portion of the market.

   (2) Parties qualified for installment payment plans.

   (i) Where both parties to a partitioning or disaggregation agreement
   qualify for installment payments, the partitionee or disaggregatee will
   be permitted to make installment payments on its portion of the
   remaining government obligation.

   (ii) Each party may be required, as a condition to approval of the
   partial assignment application, to execute loan documents agreeing to
   pay its pro rata portion of the outstanding principal balance due, as
   apportioned according to §  1.2111(e)(3) of this chapter, based upon the
   installment payment terms for which it qualifies under the rules.
   Failure by either party to meet this condition will result in the
   automatic cancellation of the grant of the partial assignment
   application. The interest rate, established pursuant to
   §  1.2110(f)(3)(i) of this chapter at the time of the grant of the
   initial license in the market, shall continue to be applied to both
   parties' portion of the balance due. Each party will receive a license
   for its portion of the partitioned market.

   (iii) A default on an obligation will affect only that portion of the
   market area held by the defaulting party.

   (d) Construction requirements —(1) Partitioning. Partial assignors and
   assignees for license partitioning have two options to meet
   construction requirements. Under the first option, the partitionor and
   partitionee would each certify that they will independently satisfy the
   applicable construction requirements set forth in §  95.833 of this part
   for their respective partitioned areas. If either licensee failed to
   meet its requirement in §  95.833 of this part, only the non-performing
   licensee's renewal application would be subject to dismissal. Under the
   second option, the partitionor certifies that it has met or will meet
   the requirement in §  95.833 of this part for the entire market. If the
   partitionor fails to meet the requirement in §  95.833 of this part,
   however, only its renewal application would be subject to forfeiture at
   renewal.

   (2) Disaggregation. Partial assignors and assignees for license
   disaggregation have two options to meet construction requirements.
   Under the first option, the disaggregator and disaggregatee would
   certify that they each will share responsibility for meeting the
   applicable construction requirements set forth in §  95.833 of this part
   for the geographic service area. If parties choose this option and
   either party fails to do so, both licenses would be subject to
   forfeiture at renewal. The second option would allow the parties to
   agree that either the disaggregator or the disaggregatee would be
   responsible for meeting the requirement in §  95.833 of this part for
   the geographic service area. If parties choose this option, and the
   party responsible for meeting the construction requirement fails to do
   so, only the license of the non-performing party would be subject to
   forfeiture at renewal.

   (3) All applications requesting partial assignments of license for
   partitioning or disaggregation must include the above-referenced
   certification as to which of the construction options is selected.

   (4) Responsible parties must submit supporting documents showing
   compliance with the respective construction requirements within the
   appropriate construction benchmarks set forth in §  95.833 of this part.

   [ 64 FR 59662 , Nov. 3, 1999, as amended at  67 FR 46378 , July 9, 2002]

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