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Overview of 800 Mhz Reconfiguration:
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What Are Other Reconfiguration Options?
What Are Other Reconfiguration Options?
As part of the 800 MHz reconfiguration, some licensees will have the option to relocate while some others will be required to make elections for moving to specific areas of the 800 MHz Band. Sprint Nextel will fund all required relocations.
Non-Enhanced Specialized Mobile Radio (ESMR) Economic Area (EA) Licensees: The FCC's 800 MHz Supplemental Order allows all non-ESMR EA licensees to elect to relocate to the ESMR portion of the 800 MHz Band (817-824 MHz/862-869 MHz) or to the Guard Band. EA licensees may also relocate certain associated site-based facilities that were part of the licensee's integrated communications system (as defined in the Memorandum Opinion and Order), as of November 22, 2004. EA licensees must contact the TA if they wish to relocate to or remain in the ESMR Band. As required by the Memorandum Opinion and Order, the TA opened a 20-day filing window, beginning on January 18, 2006 and ending on February 6, 2006, for new elections and modifications to existing elections to relocate to or remain in the ESMR Band. The TA announced the opening of the 20-day filing window in a January 11, 2006 Press Release.
A non-ESMR EA licensee electing to move to the ESMR Band will:
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Receive only its "white area" spectrum (i.e., the same unencumbered area that it had before it relocated). |
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Be entitled only to reasonable transactional costs associated with reconfiguration for relocating its EA licenses, but must pay all expenses (hard costs and transactional costs) associated with relocating site-based facilities to the ESMR Band. |
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Be required to convert its systems, including any associated site-based facilities, to ESMR technology and to provide ESMR service by the end of its EA license term. |
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Be required to certify, no later than the expiration date of its EA license, that it has converted its entire system, including any associated site-based facilities, to ESMR technology and is offering service to customers. |
Expansion Band: The new Expansion Band is located at 815-816 MHz/860-861 MHz (812.5-813.5 MHz/857.5-858.5 MHz in the Southeastern U.S. and 813-813.5 MHz/858-858.5 MHz within a 70-mile radius of Atlanta), and is meant to serve as a buffer between cellular and non-cellular communications.
Public safety entities currently located in the Expansion Band must make an election
if they wish to remain in the Expansion Band. Public Safety licensees electing to
remain in the Expansion Band should notify the TA of their election by completing
and submitting an Expansion Band Election Form, available on the TA's website
(Forms).
This Form may be submitted via email to elections@800TA.org
or by fax to 866-432-8317 (this is a voicemail service that automatically will accept faxes).
As of the publication of this version of the Handbook, the deadlines by which the TA requested
that Expansion Band Elections are submitted have all passed. The TA has recieved Expansion Band
Elections after these deadlines and reviews them for impact to the reconfiguration program. In most
cases, the TA has accepted them. In the event that licensees still wish to elect to remain in the
Expansion Band, the TA strongly encourages them to submit and Expansion Band Election Form
as soon as possible. The TA will review the election, but cannot provide assurance that it will be accepted.
Public safety entities that do not make an election to stay in the Expansion Band will be relocated at Sprint
Nextel's expense to the 809-815 MHz/854-860 MHz Band (809-812.5 MHz/854-857.5 MHz in the
Southeastern U.S.).
Please note that:
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Licensees who elect to remain in the Expansion Band are entitled to full interference protection, which is the same interference protection received by licensees relocating out of the Expansion Band. Specific guidance regarding interference protection in the Expansion Band is available in the R&O (http://wireless.fcc.gov/publicsafety/800MHz/bandreconfiguration/downloads/FCC-04-168A1.pdf) |
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The Expansion Band channels from which Public Safety licensees reconfigure will be available to commercial Specialized Mobile Radio (SMR) operators after reconfiguration and will no longer be Public Safety Pool channels. |
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Relocations related to licenses within, or affected by, the Canadian and
Mexican border areas will be deferred until border area frequency plans are
adopted. |
Guard Band: The new Guard Band is located at 816-817 MHz/861-862 MHz (except in the Southeastern U.S. where there is no Guard Band) and serves to separate cellular communications from Public Safety entities.
Incumbent licensees currently operating on frequencies between 806-809 MHz/851-854 MHz may elect
to relocate to the Guard Band. Pursuant to the R&O, the TA established and announced Guard Band
Elections in a June 29, 2005 Press Release
(Link). Licensees with Channels
1-120 electing to relocate to the Guard Band should notify the TA of their election by completing
and submitting a Guard Band Election Form, available on the TA's website
(Forms). This Form may be
submitted via email to elections@800TA.org or by fax to
866-432-8317 (this is a voicemail service that automatically will accept faxes). The following
table summarizes the deadlines for Guard Band Elections: (Please Note: As of the publication of this version of the Handbook, the deadlines by which the TA requested that Guard Band Elections be submitted have all passed.)
| Wave |
Guard Band Election Deadline |
| 1 |
July 20, 2005 |
| 2 |
October 3, 2005 |
| 3 |
January 3, 2006 |
| 4 |
July 3, 2006 |
Incumbent licensees currently operating on frequencies between 809-816 MHz/854-861
MHz may elect to relocate voluntarily to the Guard Band at their own expense.
Licensees requesting to relocate voluntarily to the Guard Band are not necessarily
guaranteed that they will be relocated because licensee requests for Guard
Band spectrum may exceed the available capacity. Since these relocations
are not required, their timing will be in accordance with sound spectrum
management policies and may not occur until after Sprint Nextel is no longer
using the spectrum. Licensees electing to relocate voluntarily to the Guard
Band should notify the TA of their election by completing and submitting
a Voluntary Guard Band Election Form, available on the TA's website (Forms),
via email to elections@800TA.org
or by fax to 866-432-8317 (this is a voicemail service that automatically
will accept faxes). As of the publication of this version of the Handbook, the deadlines by which the TA requested that Voluntary Guard Band Elections be submitted have all passed. The TA will accept Voluntary Guard Band Elections immediately
and is requesting all elections be submitted no later than March 1, 2006
for licensees in Waves 1-3 and July 3, 2006 for licensees in Wave 4.
Certain incumbent 800 MHz licensees in the Southeastern U.S. (specifically, certain
counties in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina,
South Carolina, and Tennessee) do not have the ability to relocate to the
Guard Band. Potentially affected licensees should consult the FCC's Second Erratum
to the R&O (PDF)
for additional information. Relocation requests related to licenses covering the Canadian
and Mexican border areas will be deferred until border area frequency plans are adopted.
Other Relocation Requests: Entities with other relocation requests should communicate their requests to the TA as soon as possible, and no later than the initiation of reconfiguration negotiations with Sprint Nextel.
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Non-NPSPAC public safety licensees may request to move into the Expansion Band. |
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In addition, the TA will consider other requests for voluntary relocation as spectrum limitations and sound spectrum policy permit. Such voluntary relocations will not be paid for by Sprint Nextel. |
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