FCC Seeks Comment on 800 MHz Rebanding Along Mexican Border
The FCC Public Safety Bureau sought comment on proposals for implementing a reconfigured 800 MHz band plan along the U.S.-Mexico border. The bureau said its proposed plan could help address 800 MHz congestion in Southern California. Use of the 800 MHz band along the border had been dictated by a bilateral protocol signed in 1994. But in June, the U.S. and Mexico agreed to an amended protocol, which takes into account the FCC’s 2004 800 MHz rebanding order. The signing of the protocol was a key step so the U.S. could wrap up reconfiguration of the 800 MHz band, a process which has been stalled along the border (CD June 7 p7). Comments are due Oct. 1, replies Oct. 15.
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"With the adoption of the Amended Protocol, the Bureau may now implement band reconfiguration in the NPSPAC [National Public Safety Planning Advisory Committee] regions bordering Mexico, i.e., Southern California (NPSPAC Region 5), Arizona (NPSPAC Region 3), New Mexico (NPSPAC Region 29), Texas-El Paso (NPSPAC Region 50) and Texas-San Antonio (NPSPAC Region 53),” the bureau said (http://xrl.us/bnnvmz). “Consequently, we propose a channel plan specific to U.S. licensees that operate in all of these NPSPAC regions within the Sharing Zone, i.e., within 110 kilometers of the border. We also propose a channel plan for licensees operating in the portions of these NPSPAC regions that are outside the Sharing Zone.” The bureau warned that due to limitations on spectrum use in the border zone, the FCC likely has little flexibility. “Nonetheless, we seek comment on any alternatives to our proposals,” the notice said.
A key proposal is adoption of “standard channel centers” for the 800 MHz Sharing Zone. The changes in the band plan “provide us with new flexibility to eliminate offset channel centers and allow U.S. licensees to operate on standard channel centers in the Sharing Zone,” the notice said. “We believe we can resolve the spectrum congestion issues in Southern California more effectively under the Amended Protocol by making maximum use, particularly in Los Angeles and Orange Counties, of channels newly established as primary to Mexico (812.25-818.5/857.25-863.5 MHz), which are sparsely used in San Diego County but which may be used without restriction outside the Sharing Zone."
NPSPAC Region 5 is the most congested of all along the border, the bureau said. But two-thirds of the region, taking in “most of Los Angeles and Orange Counties, is outside the Sharing Zone.”
The bureau proposes that the rebanding along the border, which has lagged the rest of the U.S., be required to be done quickly. Under a proposed timetable, border area licenses that plan to seek reimbursement for rebanding from Sprint Nextel, would have 60 days to submit a Request for Planning Funding to the carrier, after which the licensee and Sprint would have 30 days to negotiate a Planning Funding Agreement. The clock would start once the FCC releases its final channel plan. Under the proposal, “the planning, negotiation, and mediation process for licensees along the U.S.-Mexico border would take approximately seven to eight months. This would leave Mexican border licensees approximately 22 to 23 months -- within the 30-month transition timetable we propose -- to implement the retuning of their systems to replacement channels assigned by the [800 MHz Transition Administrator]."
The bureau proposes a two-step process for retuning. Business, industrial and land transportation (B/ILT), non-cellular specialized mobile radio (SMR) and public safety licenses on pool channels would retune first during Stage 1, and NPSPAC licensees would retune later during Stage 2.
In doing a cost-benefit analysis of the plan, the bureau said rebanding along the border is critical. “The homeland security obligations of the Nation’s public safety agencies make it imperative that their communications systems are robust and highly reliable,” the bureau said. “The changes proposed herein will further that goal by separating -- to the greatest extent possible -- public safety and other non-cellular licensees from licensees in the band that employ cellular technology. Furthermore, Sprint, the major commercial provider in the band, will benefit from the changes proposed herein by obtaining contiguous spectrum at the end of the program on which it will be able to transition to advanced wireless technologies.”