§ 101.1323   Spectrum aggregation, disaggregation, and partitioning.

   (a) Eligibility. (1) Parties seeking approval for partitioning and
   disaggregation shall request from the Commission an authorization for
   partial assignment of license. Geographic area licensees may
   participate in aggregation, disaggregation, and partitioning within the
   bands licensed on a geographic area basis. Site-based licensees may
   aggregate spectrum in any MAS bands, but may not disaggregate their
   licensed spectrum or partition their licensed sites.

   (2) Eligible MAS licensees may apply to the Commission to partition
   their licensed geographic service areas to eligible entities and are
   free to determine the portion of their service areas to be partitioned.
   Eligible MAS licensees may aggregate or disaggregate their licensed
   spectrum at any time following the grant of a license.

   (b) Technical standards--(1) Aggregation. (i) There is no limitation on
   the amount of spectrum that an MAS licensee may aggregate.

   (ii) Spectrum licensed to MAS licensees does not count toward the CMRS
   spectrum cap discussed in § 20.6 of this chapter.

   (2) Disaggregation. Spectrum may be disaggregated in any amount. A
   licensee need not retain a minimum amount of spectrum.

   (3) Partitioning. In the case of partitioning, applicants and licensees
   must file FCC Form 603 pursuant to § 1.948 of this chapter and list the
   partitioned service area on a schedule to the application. 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).

   (4) Combined partitioning and disaggregation. The Commission will
   consider requests from geographic area licensees for partial assignment
   of licenses that propose combinations of partitioning and
   disaggregation.

   (c) Construction requirements--(1) 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 § 101.1325 for the geographic service area. If parties choose
   this option and either party fails to meet the applicable construction
   requirements, both licenses would be subject to forfeiture at renewal.
   The second option allows the parties to agree that either the
   disaggregator or disaggregatee would be responsible for meeting the
   requirements in § 101.1325 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.

   (2) 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 § 101.1325 for their respective partitioned
   areas. If either licensee fails to meet its requirement in § 101.1325,
   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 § 101.1325 for the entire
   market. If the partitionor fails to meet the requirement in § 101.1325,
   however, only its license would be subject to forfeiture at renewal.

   (3) All applications requesting partial assignments of license for
   partitioning or disaggregation must certify in the appropriate portion
   of the application which construction option is selected.

   (4) Responsible parties must submit supporting documents showing
   compliance with the respective construction requirements within the
   appropriate construction benchmarks set forth in § 101.1325.

   (d) License term. The license term for a partitioned license area and
   for disaggregated spectrum shall be the remainder of the original
   licensee's license term as provided for in § 101.1313.

   [ 65 FR 17450 , Apr. 3, 2000, as amended at  67 FR 45380 , July 9, 2002]

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