Federal Communications Commission DA 09-1440 
Before the
Federal Communications Commission
Washington, D.C. 20554
In the matter of
NEXTLINK WIRELESS, INC.
Notifications of Completion of Construction of 
Local Multipoint Distribution Service Stations 
WPOH953 (Dallas-Fort Worth, TX), WPOH967 
(Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, FL), WPOH965 (Tampa-
St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL), and WPOH963 
(Atlanta, GA)
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File Nos. 0003362519, 0003362528, 
0003362532, and 0003362540
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
Adopted:  June 25, 2009 Released:  June 26, 2009
By the Chief, Broadband Division, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau:
I. INTRODUCTION
1. On March 14, 2008, Nextlink Wireless, Inc. (Nextlink) filed the above-captioned 
notifications of completion of construction of Local Multipoint Distribution Service (LMDS) Stations 
WPOH953 (Dallas-Fort Worth, TX),1 WPOH967 (Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, FL),2 WPOH965 (Tampa-St. 
Petersburg-Clearwater, FL),3 and WPOH963 (Atlanta, GA).4 For the reasons stated below, we conclude 
that Nextlink has demonstrated substantial service for the stations in question and accept the 
Notifications.
II. BACKGROUND
2. LMDS licensees may provide any service consistent with the Commission’s Rules and their 
regulatory status,5 subject to a ten-year term from the initial license grant date.6 At the end of the ten-year 
period, licensees are required to submit an acceptable showing to the Commission demonstrating that they 
  
1 File No. 0003362519 (filed Mar. 14, 2008) (Dallas Notification).
2 File No. 0003362528 (filed Mar. 14, 2008) (Miami Notification).
3 File No. 0003362532 (filed Mar. 14, 2008) (Tampa Notification).
4 File No. 0003362540 (filed Mar. 14, 2008) (Atlanta Notification).  The four filings will be collectively referred to as 
the Notifications.
5 See 47 C.F.R. § 101.1013(b).  
6 See Rulemaking to Amend Parts 1, 2, 21, and 25 of the Commission’s Rules to Redesignate the 27.5 GHz 
Frequency Band, to Reallocate the 29.5-30.0 GHz Frequency Band, to Establish Rules and Policies For Local 
Multipoint Distribution Service and For Fixed Satellite Services, CC Docket No. 92-297, Second Report and Order, 
Order on Reconsideration and Fifth Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 12 FCC Rcd 12545, 12656-12657 ¶ 259 
(1997) (”Second LMDS Report and Order”).  Pursuant to 47 C.F.R. § 101.67, LMDS licenses are issued for a period 
not to exceed ten years.         
Federal Communications Commission DA 09-1440 
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are providing “substantial service” in each licensed area.7 The Commission defined “substantial service” 
as “service that is sound, favorable, and substantially above a level of mediocre service that just might 
minimally warrant renewal.”8 The purpose of the substantial service showing is to “promote efficient use 
of the spectrum, encourage the provision of service to rural, remote, and insular areas, and prevent the 
warehousing of spectrum.”9 Failure by any licensee to meet this requirement will result in forfeiture of 
the license and the licensee will be ineligible to regain it.10
3. The Commission elaborated on what may constitute “substantial service” for LMDS by 
offering some specific examples, which are sometimes referred to as “safe harbors,” to provide LMDS 
licensees with a degree of certainty as to how to comply with the substantial service requirement by the 
end of the initial license term.11 The Commission explained that an LMDS licensee that chooses to offer 
fixed, point-to-point services may fall within a “safe harbor” by constructing four permanent links per one 
million people in its licensed service area.12 The Commission also elaborated that an LMDS licensee 
electing to deploy point-to-multipoint services may fall within a “safe harbor” by demonstrating coverage 
to 20 percent of the population in the licensed BTA.13 The “safe harbors” only serve as examples of what 
may constitute substantial service, and the Commission reviews licensees’ showings on a case-by-case 
basis.14
4. On March 14, 2008, Nextlink filed the Notifications.  Nextlink is using each of the stations in 
question to provide both point-to-point links and point-to-multipoint services such as wireless Ethernet, 
private line access, and high-speed, wide-area networking to customers.15 In the Dallas-Fort Worth BTA 
(population 5,571,828), Nextlink is providing nine point-to-point links, and its point-to-multipoint 
services cover a geographic area encompassing 1,059,663 people.16 Nextlink began providing service in 
the Dallas-Fort Worth market in May 2006.17 In the Miami-Fort Lauderdale BTA (population 3,955,969), 
Nextlink is providing eight point-to-point links, and its point-to-multipoint services cover a geographic
area encompassing 479,418 people.18 Nextlink began providing service in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale 
market in November 2005.19 In the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater BTA (population 2,628,386), 
Nextlink is providing four point-to-point links, and its point-to-multipoint services cover a geographic
area encompassing 453,809 people.20 Nextlink began providing service in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-
  
7 See 47 C.F.R. § 101.1011(a); see also Second LMDS Report and Order, 12 FCC Rcd at 12658 ¶¶ 261-262.  
8 Second LMDS Report and Order, 12 FCC Rcd at 12658 ¶ 261; see also id. at 12660 ¶ 269.    
9 Second LMDS Report and Order, 12 FCC Rcd at 12659 ¶ 266.
10 See 47 C.F.R. § 101.1011(a).       
11 See Second LMDS Report and Order, 12 FCC Rcd at 12660-12661 ¶¶ 269-270.     
12 See Second LMDS Report and Order, 12 FCC Rcd at 12660 ¶ 270.
13 See Second LMDS Report and Order, 12 FCC Rcd at 12660 ¶ 270.
14 See Second LMDS Report and Order, 12 FCC Rcd at 12660-12661 ¶ 270.  For example, the Commission may 
also consider such factors as whether the licensee is offering a specialized or technologically sophisticated service 
that does not require a high level of coverage to be of benefit to customers, and whether the licensees operations 
serve niche markets or focus on serving populations outside of areas served by other licensees.  See Second LMDS 
Report and Order, 12 FCC Rcd at 12660 ¶ 270.
15 Notifications at 1.
16 Dallas Notification at 1.
17 Id.
18 Miami Notification at 1.
19 Id.
Federal Communications Commission DA 09-1440 
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Clearwater market in December 2005.21 Finally, in the Atlanta BTA (population 4,406,826), Nextlink is 
providing six point-to-point links, and its point-to-multipoint services cover a geographic area 
encompassing 689,058 people.22 Nextlink began providing service in the Atlanta market in July 2006.23  
III. DISCUSSION
5. Nextlink argues that for each of the stations in question, it has demonstrated that it has 
provided substantial service by meeting a combination of the point-to-point and point-to-multipoint safe 
harbors.24 It uses the following methodology to reach that conclusion.  It takes the number of point-to-
point links that are providing service and multiplies that figure by 250,000 (based on the four links per 
million safe harbor) to provide a figure for the population that receives substantial service from the point-
to-point links.25 For its point-to-multipoint service, Nextlink takes the population covered by those 
services, and then subtracts the population that it estimates receives substantial service from the point-to-
point links from the total population in the BTA.26 Nextlink concludes that each of the stations in 
question provides substantial service because the population covered by its point-to-multipoint services is 
greater than 20 per cent of the population that does not receive attributable service from the point-to-point 
links.27
6. We reject Nextlink’s attempt to mathematically combine the point-to-point safe harbor and 
point-to-multipoint safe harbor in a manner that would guarantee a conclusion that it provided substantial 
service.  Nextlink cites no precedent that would support its approach.  Furthermore, adopting such an 
approach could allow licensees to meet a substantial service test by providing minimal levels of multiple 
services that, by themselves, would not meet the underlying purposes of the substantial service 
requirement.  Accordingly, we reject Nextlink’s argument that it has demonstrated substantial service by 
means of its mathematical formula.
7. As noted above, however, the Commission’s “safe harbors” only serve as examples of what 
may constitute substantial service, and the Commission reviews licensees’ showings on a case-by-case 
basis.28 In this case, while Nextlink’s showing does not meet the safe harbors established by the 
  
(...continued from previous page)
20 Tampa Notification at 1.
21 Id.
22 Atlanta Notification at 1.
23 Id.
24 Notifications at 1.
25 Id.
26 Id.
27 Id. For example, in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater BTA, where the total population is 2,628,386, Nextlink 
claims that 1,000,000 people (four links X 250,000 people for each link) receive substantial service from its point-
to-point links.  It then subtracts those 1,000,000 people from the total BTA population and concludes that it provides 
substantial service because the 453,809 people encompassed by its point-to-multipoint services is greater than 20 per 
cent of the remaining population in the BTA (1,628,386).  Tampa Notification at 1.
28 See Second LMDS Report and Order, 12 FCC Rcd at 12660-12661 ¶ 270.  For example, the Commission may 
also consider such factors as whether the licensee is offering a specialized or technologically sophisticated service 
that does not require a high level of coverage to be of benefit to customers, and whether the licensee’s operations 
serve niche markets or focus on serving populations outside of areas served by other licensees.  See Second LMDS 
Report and Order, 12 FCC Rcd at 12660 ¶ 270.  The substantial service requirements may also be met in other 
ways.  Id.
Federal Communications Commission DA 09-1440 
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Commission for point-to-multipoint service or for point-to-point service, we find that Nextlink has 
demonstrated substantial service based on a number of factors.
8. Nextel’s provision of point-to-multipoint service approaches the level needed to be 
considered substantial.  In Dallas-Fort Worth, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, and Atlanta, Nextlink 
covers over 15% of the population, which is over three-quarters of the way towards meeting the 20 
percent coverage safe harbor. 29 Nextlink covers over 12% of the population in Miami.  Nextlink’s level 
of point-to-multipoint service must also be evaluated in light of the challenges that all LMDS licensees 
faced in endeavoring to deploy point-to-multipoint service.  We recently granted extensions of time to 
demonstrate substantial service to multiple LMDS licensees, based on the fact that those licensees “faced 
factors beyond their control, including difficulties in obtaining viable, affordable equipment” that 
prevented them from being able to deploy service.30 The history, propagation characteristics and 
technical limitations of LMDS spectrum make it fundamentally different from lower frequency bands.31  
We believe Nextlink’s level of point-to-multipoint coverage must be favorably considered in light of the 
unique nature and history of LMDS.
9. In addition to its point-to-multipoint service, Nextlink’s provision of between four and nine 
links in each market is significant.  When we add the number of point-to-point links Nextlink has 
provided to the amount of point-to-multipoint population coverage that Nextlink has demonstrated and 
the unique nature and history of LMDS, we conclude that Nextlink’s service, while not sufficient to meet 
the Commission’s articulated safe harbors, is “substantially above a level of mediocre service.”  In taking 
into account all of the factors noted above, we find that Nextlink has demonstrated that it is using this 
spectrum to provide service to the public, in keeping with the Commission’s policy objectives for 
adopting construction requirements in this band – promoting efficient use of spectrum, encouraging the 
provision of service and preventing spectrum warehousing.32
10. Our conclusion that Nextlink has demonstrated substantial service is not based upon any 
single factor.  It is based on our review of the record as a whole, including the level of point-to-multipoint 
coverage, the number of point-to-point links, the unique nature and history of LMDS, and our review of 
the services and markets in question.  We therefore accept Nextlink’s construction notifications.
IV. CONCLUSION AND ORDERING CLAUSES
11. Based upon our review of a record as a whole, we conclude that Nextlink has demonstrated 
that LMDS Stations WPOH953, WPOH967, WPOH965, and WPOH963 are providing substantial 
service.  We therefore accept the construction notifications Nextlink has filed for those stations.
12. Accordingly IT IS ORDERED that pursuant to Sections 4(i) and 309 of the Communications 
Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. §§ 154(i), 309, and Sections 1.946(d) and 101.1011(a) of the 
Commission’s Rules, 47 C.F.R. §§ 1.946(d), 101.1011(a), that the construction notifications filed by 
Nextlink Wireless, Inc. on March 14, 2008 (File Nos. 0003362519, 0003362528, 0003362532, and 
  
29 The numbers in these markets are Dallas-Fort Worth (19 percent), Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater (17.3%), and 
Atlanta (15.6%).
30 See Applications filed by Licensees in the Local  Multipoint Distribution Service (LMDS) Seeking Waivers of 
Section 101.1011 of the Commission’s Rules and Extensions of Time to Construct and Demonstrate Substantial 
Service, Memorandum Opinion and Order, 23 FCC Rcd 5894, 5905 ¶ 24 (WTB 2008) (LMDS Extension Order).
31 For a detailed discussion of the characteristics and history of LMDS, see LMDS Coalition, Request for Waiver 
and Limited Extension of Deadline for Establishing Compliance with Section 101.1011(a) LMDS Substantial 
Service Requirements (filed Jun. 14, 2007) at 3-9.
32 Second LMDS Report and Order, 12 FCC Rcd at 12659 ¶ 266.
Federal Communications Commission DA 09-1440 
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0003362540) ARE ACCEPTED, and it IS FOUND that LMDS Stations WPOH953, WPOH967, 
WPOH965, and WPOH963 are providing substantial service.
13. This action is taken under delegated authority pursuant to Sections 0.131 and 0.331 of the 
Commission’s Rules, 47 C.F.R. §§ 0.131, 0.331.
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
Blaise A. Scinto
Chief, Broadband Division 
Wireless Telecommunications Bureau