Three Big Cities Get Narrowbanding Compliance Relief with Key Deadline Pending
The FCC’s Public Safety and Wireless bureaus approved New York City’s request for a waiver of the FCC’s Jan. 1 VHF/UHF narrowbanding deadline for many of the radio systems operated by city agencies. With a key deadline a few days away, waiver applications continue to be filed at the agency. FCC officials have warned that many licensees haven’t moved their systems and haven’t sought waivers, which could lead to FCC penalties down the road. The FCC also granted narrowbanding compliance waiver requests this week sought by Philadelphia and Chicago, addressing waiver requests by two other big systems that have struggled to make the changes required by the agency.
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The narrowbanding deadline requires private land mobile radio licensees in the 150-174 MHz and 421-512 MHz bands to operate using channel bandwidth of no more than 12.5 kHz by Jan. 1, a requirement aimed at forcing systems to use spectrum more efficiently. FCC officials have long acknowledged that many licensees may not make the deadline (CD Sept 28 p3). With many staffers out Thursday due to the holidays, the commission did not have an update on compliance as of this week.
"Cities like New York had put [narrowbanding] off because they just didn’t want to do it,” a public safety official said of the deadline. “Some systems haven’t gotten their acts together enough to comply and then there may be some licensees in the database that aren’t active anymore,” a second official said. The FCC warned licensees in a Nov. 30 public notice that as of Jan. 1 they are not allowed to operate in the 150-174 MHz and 421-512 MHz bands with wideband channels “even if the license still lists a wideband emission designator.” Licensees that do so without a waiver face “admonishments, license revocation, and/or monetary forfeitures of up to $16,000 for each such violation or each day of a continuing violation and up to $112,500 for any single act or failure to act,” the FCC said (http://xrl.us/bn77uu).
New York sought a waiver in June, on behalf of the New York Police Department (NYPD), Fire Department (FDNY), Department of Corrections (DOC), Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), and Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications. The bureaus gave the city much of what it asked for.
The FCC previously approved a waiver for public safety T-band operations nationwide and the city asked that the NYPD and FDNY be given that same waiver for non-T-band radios. “We modify the waiver requested by the City in one respect,” the order said (http://xrl.us/bn77qh). “The City asks for an extension of the narrowbanding deadline until two years after the Commission completes the competitive bidding process required by ... the Public Safety Spectrum Act for public safety frequencies in the T-Band. We decline to do so, as this date has not yet been determined.” The order also granted the city’s request for an extension of the narrowband deadline for FDNY VHF dispatch and UHF medical telemetry channels and the channels used by DOC until December 31, 2014. But it gave DEP a waiver only until May 1. “We note that the DEP states that under its current schedule it will complete its narrowbanding transition by May 1, 2013,” the order said. “We have requested licensees to demonstrate the amount of time for which a waiver is requested is no more than is reasonably necessary to complete the narrowbanding process. The record is silent as to why DEP requires an additional 19 months of wideband operation after the conclusion of its narrowbanding transition."
The FCC gave Chicago the two-year extension it sought in May. “In light of the record, we find that Chicago warrants waiver relief because it has demonstrated that in view of its unique or unusual factual circumstances of the instant case, strict application of the narrowbanding would be contrary to the public interest,” the bureaus said in an order (http://xrl.us/bn77ss). “The record shows that Chicago has taken concrete steps to meet the Commission’s January 1, 2013, narrowbanding deadline, including narrowbanding a large portion of its current system and securing funding for the remainder of the transition process. Based on these facts, including Chicago’s assertion that no co-dependent, interdependent, or neighboring users will be adversely affected by granting the waiver, we find that strict enforcement of the narrowbanding deadline under these circumstances would not serve the underlying purpose of the rule."
Philadelphia in September sought an 18-month extension until July 1, 2014. The bureaus granted an extension through Feb. 1, 2014. “We believe that the City can immediately begin undertaking those narrowbanding steps that will not affect the operational status of [its] UHF/VHF operations,” the order said (http://xrl.us/bn77s6). “Under Philadelphia’s proposed schedule, this process will take seven months, which takes Philadelphia past its proposed June 2013 date for testing and acceptance of its 800 MHz system. This will satisfy the City’s need to only modify one communications system at a time. We then anticipate Philadelphia taking an additional six months to perform the actual narrowbanding of those systems that will not transition to the new 800 MHz system, and thus completing their narrowbanding efforts by February 1, 2014."
Meanwhile, waiver requests continue to trickle in at the FCC. The Hampden County, Mass., Sheriff’s Department and Valley Telephone Cooperative, in South Texas, filed waiver requests at the FCC Wednesday. Washoe County, Nev., filed a request last week.