Assn. of Public-Safety Communications Officials International (AP...
Assn. of Public-Safety Communications Officials International (APCO) urged public safety agencies to respond to FCC spectrum audit for land mobile radio licenses below 512 MHz. Audit covers construction and operational status of those licensees to update Wireless Bureau licensing…
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database. Without responding, agencies could “suffer some serious consequences,” said Ron Haraseth, dir.-APCO automated frequency coordination. FCC has been auditing spectrum below 512 MHz to assess who is using licenses and where spectrum is lying fallow and should be returned to Commission. In first wave of letters to licensees, FCC sent out 266,000 requests for information, with responses requested by mid-March. “Failure to respond within the specified time frame may eventually subject you to administrative action such as a forfeiture or license cancellation,” said Haraseth, who said FCC was expected to be flexible with compliance dates. One concern cited by APCO is that many public safety agencies haven’t maintained current contact information on police, fire, ambulance or other radio authorization license with FCC. Each licensee is responsible for maintaining such information and can lose license if they fail to respond, APCO said. Licensees can verify whether their stations are included in audit by checking Wireless Bureau database at www.fcc.gov/wtb/plmrs/audit.html. APCO said 128,034 licensees had responded and 139,833 hadn’t yet.