Enterprise Wireless Insider, Vol. 10, No. 2

We had to ask! FCC Provides Post-Narrowband Guidance

On January 13, 2016, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) responded to the November 4, 2015 letter from the Land Mobile Communications Council (LMCC) asking for clarification of the intent of FCC Rule Section 90.187(d)(ii)(1)(D) with a multi-page Public Notice (PN) offering additional, post-narrowbanding guidance. Key points in the PN are as follows. 

• Effective February 16, 2016, unless the licensee has a waiver or meets the efficiency equivalency standard, the FCC will: 
  • Dismiss all applications that list only wideband emission designators, including assignments and transfers of control; and 
  • Return all applications that include both wideband and narrowband emission designators unless the application requests removal of wideband emissions. 
• The FCC will continue to accept applications to delete wideband emissions as well as those that replace wideband with narrowband emissions through its ULS narrowband tool without requiring coordination or a filing fee as long as no other technical parameters are changed. The PN provides guidance regarding how to file these changes.  
• Licensees operating compliant narrowband systems whose licenses continue to show only wideband emissions ARE entitled to protection under Rule Section 90.187. Such licensees can be ignored only if they are still operating wideband systems. Frequency coordinators are “encouraged” to contact wideband-only licensees to determine whether they qualify as “affected” and are entitled to protection. 
• The Wireless Telecommunications Bureau and Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau “in the near future” will email wideband-only licensees and “urge them to update their license information to reflect compliance with the narrowbanding requirement.” 

On January 19, EWA sent a bulletin regarding this matter to its members. If you did not receive it, please contact Customer Service by email or by phone at 800-482-8282.

EWA Meets With AFTRCC on MBAN Concurrence Process

Last week, EWA President Mark Crosby met with representatives of the Aerospace & Flight Test Radio Coordinating Council (AFTRCC) to discuss necessary concurrence processes for medical body area networks (MBANs). MBANS are networks of devices worn on the human body that communicate physiological parameters and other patient information using a wireless communications link. The FCC allows MBANS to operate in the 2360-2390 MHz frequency band on a secondary basis. MBANs may not cause interference to the primary users of the band, represented by AFTRCC, specifically aeronautical mobile telemetry (AMT). 

IMSA Appoints Aiken as Executive Director

The Board of Directors of the International Municipal Signal Association (IMSA) has appointed Chief Douglas M. Aiken as its Executive Director. Chief Aiken has served as IMSA Deputy Executive Director since May 2011.  Prior to joining the IMSA staff he held elected offices as a member of IMSA including Chairman of the Board of Directors for three years.  Aiken is a 35-year veteran of the fire service and served in several public safety leadership positions at the national level.

PCIA Reiterates Stance

In an ex parte letter to the FCC, PCIA reiterated its opposition to the LMCC Petition to allow incumbent 800 MHz licensees an opportunity to acquire Expansion Band and Guard Band spectrum for system expansion before accepting applications from new entities. It argued that the approach proposed by the LMCC would delay or foreclose opportunities for new entrants to provide valuable service to the public. In the same filing, PCIA reaffirmed its support for the M2M Petition for Rulemaking to allow licensees for 900 MHz B/ILT channels to provide commercial service to B/ILT entities without having to establish independent eligibility for the spectrum. The letter states that this change would promote more intensive use of the spectrum.