§ 101.1331   Treatment of incumbents.

   (a) Any MAS station licensed by the Commission prior to July 1, 1999 in the
   928.0-928.85  MHz/952.0-952.85  MHz/956.25-956.45 MHz and 928.85-929.0
   MHz/959.85-960.0 MHz bands, as well as assignments or transfers of such
   stations approved by the Commission and consummated as of January 19, 2000,
   shall be considered incumbent.

   (b)   Incumbent   operators   in   the  928.0-928.85  MHz/952.0-952.85
   MHz/956.25-956.45 MHz bands are grandfathered as of January 19, 2000, and
   may  continue  to  operate  and  expand  their systems pursuant to the
   interference  protection  and co-channel spacing criteria contained in
   § 101.105.

   (1) MAS operators are prohibited from acquiring additional frequencies in
   the  928.0-928.85 MHz/952.0-952.85 MHz/956.25-956.45 MHz bands and the
   932.25625-932.49375 MHz/941.25625-941.49375 MHz bands for the purpose of
   expanding  private  carrier service and from changing the use of their
   frequencies in any manner that is inconsistent with this part. Refer to
   § 101.147 for designated uses.

   (2)   Incumbent   operators   in   the  928.0-928.85  MHz/952.0-952.85
   MHz/956.25-956.45  MHz  bands  will  include  incumbents as defined in
   § 101.1331(a),  as  well as, their transferees and/or assignees and the
   successors  of  the  transferees  and/or  assignees  and  retain their
   grandfathered status, provided that the use of the MAS frequencies remains
   unchanged from that of the transferor and/or assignor of the license.

   (c) Incumbent operators in the 928.85-929.0/959.85-960.0 MHz bands are
   grandfathered as of January 19, 2000, and may expand their systems provided
   that the signal level of the additional transmitter(s) does not increase the
   composite contour that occurs at a 40.2 kilometer (25-mile) radius from the
   center of each master station transmitter site. Incumbent operators and
   geographic area licensees may negotiate alternative criteria.

   (d) The frequencies associated with incumbent authorizations in the 928/959
   MHz bands that have cancelled automatically or otherwise been recovered by
   the Commission will automatically revert to the applicable EA licensee.

   (e)  The  frequencies  associated with incumbent authorizations in the
   928/952/956 MHz bands that have cancelled automatically will revert to the
   Commission.

   [ 65 FR 17450 , Apr. 3, 2000, as amended at  66 FR 35111 , July 3, 2001]

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