§  90.725   Construction requirements for Phase I licensees.

   (a) Licensees granted commercial nationwide authorizations will be
   required to construct base stations and placed those base stations in
   operation as follows:

   (1) In at least 10 percent of the geographic areas designated in the
   application within two years of initial license grant, including base
   stations in at least seven urban areas listed in §  90.741 of this
   part;

   (2) In at least 40 percent of the geographic areas designated in the
   application within four years of initial license grant, including base
   stations in at least 28 urban areas listed in §  90.741 of this part;

   (3) In at least 70 percent of the geographic areas designated in the
   application within six years of initial license grant, including base
   stations in at least 28 urban areas listed in §  90.741 of this part;

   (4) In all geographic areas designated in the application within ten
   years of initial license grant, including base stations in at least 28
   urban areas listed in §  90.741 of this part.

   (b) Licensees not meeting the two and four year criteria shall lose the
   entire authorization, but will be permitted a six month period to
   convert the system to non-nationwide channels, if such channels are
   available.

   (c) Licensees not meeting the six and ten year criteria shall lose the
   authorizations for the facilities not constructed, but will retain
   exclusivity for constructed facilities.

   (d) Each commercial nationwide licensee must file a system progress
   report on or before the anniversary date of the grant of its license
   after 2, 4, 6 and 10 years, demonstrating compliance with the relevant
   construction benchmark criteria.

   (1) An overall status report of the system, that must include, but need
   not be limited to:

   (i) A list of all sites at which base stations have been constructed,
   with antenna heights and effective radiated power specified for each
   site;

   (ii) A list of all other known base station sites at which construction
   has not been completed; and

   (iii) A construction and operational schedule for the next five-year
   period, including any known changes to the plan for construction and
   operation submitted with the licensee's original application for the
   system.

   (2) An analysis of the system's compliance with the requirements of
   paragraph (a) of this section, with documentation to support
   representations of completed construction, including, but not limited
   to:

   (i) Equipment purchase orders and contracts;

   (ii) Lease or purchase contracts relating to antenna site arrangements;

   (iii) Equipment and antenna identification (serial) numbers; and

   (iv) Service agreements and visits.

   (e) Beginning with its second license term, each nationwide licensee
   must file a progress report once every five years on the anniversary
   date of the grant of the first renewal of its authorization, including
   the information required by paragraph (d)(1) of this section.

   (f) Licensees authorized Phase I non-nationwide systems, or authorized
   on Channels 161 through 170 or Channels 181 through 185, must construct
   their systems ( i.e., have all specified base stations constructed with
   all channels) and place their systems in operation, or commence service
   in accordance with the provisions of §  90.167, within twelve months of
   the initial license grant date. Authorizations for systems not
   constructed and placed in operation, or having commenced service,
   within twelve months from the date of initial license grant cancel
   automatically.

   (g) A licensee that loses authorization for some or all of its channels
   due to failure to meet construction deadlines or benchmarks may not
   reapply for nationwide channels in the same category or for
   non-nationwide channels in the same category in the same geographic
   area for one year from the date the Commission takes final action
   affirming that those channels have been cancelled.

   (h) The requirements and conditions of paragraphs (a) through (e) and
   paragraph (g) of this section apply to nationwide licensees that
   construct and operate stations for fixed or paging operations on a
   primary basis instead of, or in addition to, stations for land mobile
   operations on a primary basis except that, in satisfying the base
   station construction and placed in operation requirements of paragraph
   (a) of this section and the system progress report requirements of
   paragraphs (d) and (e) of this section, licensees operating stations
   for fixed operation on a primary basis instead of, or in addition to,
   stations for land mobile or paging operations on a primary basis in a
   given geographic area may demonstrate how such fixed stations are
   providing substantial service to the public in those geographic areas.

   [ 56 FR 19603 , Apr. 29, 1991, as amended at  56 FR 32517 , July 17, 1991;
    57 FR 32450 , July 22, 1992;  58 FR 36363 , July 7, 1993;  62 FR 15996 ,
   Apr. 3, 1997;  63 FR 49295 , Sept. 15, 1998]

   return arrow Back to Top