Goto Section: 90.693 | 90.701 | Table of Contents
FCC 90.699
Revised as of December 4, 2012
Goto Year:2011 |
2013
§ 90.699 Transition of the upper 200 channels in the 800 MHz band to EA
licensing.
In order to facilitate provision of service throughout an EA, an EA
licensee may relocate incumbent licensees in its EA by providing
“comparable facilities” on other frequencies in the 800 MHz band. Such
relocation is subject to the following provisions:
(a)-(c) [Reserved]
(d) Comparable facilities. The replacement system provided to an
incumbent during an involuntary relocation must be at least equivalent
to the existing 800 MHz system with respect to the following four
factors:
(1) System. System is defined functionally from the end user's point of
view ( i.e., a system is comprised of base station facilities that
operate on an integrated basis to provide service to a common end user,
and all mobile units associated with those base stations). A system may
include multiple-licensed facilities that share a common switch or are
otherwise operated as a unitary system, provided that the end user has
the ability to access all such facilities. A system may cover more than
one EA if its existing geographic coverage extends beyond the EA
borders.
(2) Capacity. To meet the comparable facilities requirement, an EA
licensee must relocate the incumbent to facilities that provide
equivalent channel capacity. We define channel capacity as the same
number of channels with the same bandwidth that is currently available
to the end user. For example, if an incumbent's system consists of five
50 kHz (two 25 kHz paired frequencies) channels, the replacement system
must also have five 50 kHz channels. If a different channel
configuration is used, it must have the same overall capacity as the
original configuration. Comparable channel capacity requires equivalent
signaling capability, baud rate, and access time. In addition, the
geographic coverage of the channels must be coextensive with that of
the original system.
(3) Quality of service. Comparable facilities must provide the same
quality of service as the facilities being replaced. Quality of service
is defined to mean that the end user enjoys the same level of
interference protection on the new system as on the old system. In
addition, where voice service is provided, the voice quality on the new
system must be equal to the current system. Finally, reliability of
service is considered to be integral to defining quality of service.
Reliability is the degree to which information is transferred
accurately within the system. Reliability is a function of equipment
failures ( e.g., transmitters, feed lines, antennas, receivers, battery
back-up power, etc.) and the availability of the frequency channel due
to propagation characteristics ( e.g ., frequency, terrain, atmospheric
conditions, radio-frequency noise, etc.) For digital data systems, this
will be measured by the percent of time the bit error rate exceeds the
desired value. For analog or digital voice transmissions, this will be
measured by the percent of time that audio signal quality meets an
established threshold. If analog voice system is replaced with a
digital voice system the resulting frequency response, harmonic
distortion, signal-to-noise ratio, and reliability will be considered.
(4) Operating costs. Operating costs are those costs that affect the
delivery of services to the end user. If the EA licensee provides
facilities that entail higher operating cost than the incumbent's
previous system, and the cost increase is a direct result of the
relocation, the EA licensee must compensate the incumbent for the
difference. Costs associated with the relocation process can fall into
several categories. First, the incumbent must be compensated for any
increased recurring costs associated with the replacement facilitates (
e.g., additional rental payments, increased utility fees). Second,
increased maintenance costs must be taken into consideration when
determining whether operating costs are comparable. For example,
maintenance costs associated with analog systems may be higher than the
costs of digital equipment because manufacturers are producing mostly
digital equipment and analog replacement parts can be difficult to
find. An EA licensee's obligation to pay increased operating costs will
end five years after relocation has occurred.
(e)-(f) [Reserved]
[ 62 FR 41217 , July 31, 1997, as amended at 77 FR 28798 , May 16, 2012]
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Subpart T—Regulations Governing Licensing and Use of Frequencies in the
220-222 MHz Band
Source: 56 FR 19603 , Apr. 29, 1991, unless otherwise noted.
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Goto Section: 90.693 | 90.701
Goto Year: 2011 |
2013
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