§ 27.1252   Involuntary Relocation Procedures.

   (a) If no agreement is reached during the mandatory negotiation period, an
   AWS  licensee may initiate involuntary relocation procedures under the
   Commission's rules. AWS licensees are obligated to pay to relocate BRS
   systems  to  which the AWS system poses an interference problem. Under
   involuntary relocation, the BRS licensee is required to relocate, provided
   that the AWS licensee:

   (1) Guarantees payment of relocation costs, including all engineering,
   equipment,  site  and  FCC fees, as well as any legitimate and prudent
   transaction  expenses  incurred  by the BRS licensee that are directly
   attributable to an involuntary relocation, subject to a cap of two percent
   of the “hard” costs involved. Hard costs are defined as the actual costs
   associated  with providing a replacement system, such as equipment and
   engineering expenses. There is no cap on the actual costs of relocation. AWS
   licensees are not required to pay BRS licensees for internal resources
   devoted to the relocation process. AWS licensees are not required to pay for
   transaction costs incurred by BRS licensees during the mandatory period once
   the involuntary period is initiated, or for fees that cannot be legitimately
   tied to the provision of comparable facilities; and

   (2) Completes all activities necessary for implementing the replacement
   facilities,  including engineering and cost analysis of the relocation
   procedure and, if radio facilities are used, identifying and obtaining, on
   the  incumbents'  behalf,  new  microwave  frequencies  and  frequency
   coordination.

   (b) Comparable facilities. The replacement system provided to an incumbent
   during an involuntary relocation must be at least equivalent to the existing
   BRS system with respect to the following three factors:

   (1) Throughput. Communications throughput is the amount of information
   transferred within a system in a given amount of time. System is defined as
   a base station and all end user units served by that base station. If analog
   facilities are being replaced with analog, the AWS licensee is required to
   provide the BRS licensee with a comparable number of channels. If digital
   facilities are being replaced with digital, the AWS licensee must provide
   the BRS licensee with equivalent data loading bits per second (bps). AWS
   licensees must provide BRS licensees with enough throughput to satisfy the
   BRS licensee's system use at the time of relocation, not match the total
   capacity of the BRS system.

   (2) Reliability. System reliability is the degree to which information is
   transferred accurately within a system. AWS licensees must provide BRS
   licensees with reliability equal to the overall reliability of their system.
   For digital data systems, reliability is measured by the percent of time the
   bit error rate (BER) exceeds a desired value, and for analog or digital
   video transmissions, it is measured by whether the end-to-end transmission
   delay is within the required delay bound.

   (3) Operating costs. Operating costs are the cost to operate and maintain
   the  BRS  system.  AWS licensees must compensate BRS licensees for any
   increased recurring costs associated with the replacement facilities (e.g.,
   additional rental payments, increased utility fees) for five years after
   relocation. AWS licensees may satisfy this obligation by making a lump-sum
   payment based on present value using current interest rates. Additionally,
   the maintenance costs to the BRS licensee must be equivalent to the replaced
   system in order for the replacement system to be considered comparable.

   (c) AWS licensees are responsible for the relocation costs of end user units
   served by the BRS base station that is being relocated. If a lessee is
   operating under a BRS license, the AWS licensee shall on the throughput,
   reliability, and operating costs of facilities in use by a lessee at the
   time of relocation in determining comparable facilities for involuntary
   relocation purposes.

   (d) Twelve-month trial period. If, within one year after the relocation to
   new facilities, the BRS licensee demonstrates that the new facilities are
   not comparable to the former facilities, the AWS licensee must remedy the
   defects or pay to relocate the BRS licensee to one of the following: Its
   former or equivalent 2 GHz channels, another comparable frequency band, a
   land-line system, or any other facility that satisfies the requirements
   specified in paragraph (b) of this section. This trial period commences on
   the date that the BRS licensee begins full operation of the replacement
   system. If the BRS licensee has retained its 2 GHz authorization during the
   trial period, it must return the license to the Commission at the end of the
   twelve months.

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