Federal Communications Commission Washington, D.C. 20554 DA 14-1643 November 12, 2014 Russell H. Fox, Esq. Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, PC 701 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20004 James B. Goldstein, Esq. Senior Counsel Sprint Corporation 12502 Sunrise Valley Drive Reston, VA 20196 REF: Notification of Long-Term Discontinuance Dear Counsel: On November 7, 2014, Sprint Corporation, together with Third District Enterprises, Telephone Connection and 3KFA (Licensees) (collectively the Parties), licensees of 800 MHz communications facilities listed in the Appendix to this letter, filed with the Commission a Notification of Long-Term Discontinuance (Notification). In the Notification, the Parties observed that Section 90.677 of the Commission’s rules1 provides that “during band reconfiguration the provisions of Section 90.157 will not apply to Nextel and non-Nextel stations that have been shut down in order to accommodate our rebanding plan. See 47 C.F.R. § 90.157.”2 Section 90.157 of the Commission’s rules3 provides that “[a]n authorization shall cancel automatically upon permanent discontinuance of operations. Unless stated otherwise in this part or in a station authorization, for the purposes of this section, any station which has not operated for one year or more is considered to have been permanently discontinued.” The Parties question whether the language of Section 90.677 was intended to apply only to discrete channels that were implicated in rebanding or to entire 800 MHz communications systems affected by rebanding. They submit that construing the language to apply only to discrete channels would be an unjustifiably narrow construction that would be “harmful” because the licensees listed in the Appendix are prepared to undertake long-term discontinuance of their entire system until rebanding is complete in the region. The Notification asserts several benefits to the rebanding program as a consequence of the licensees listed in the Appendix discontinuing operation of their systems until rebanding is complete. Thus, for example, the Parties point out that the licensees’ current operations block 15 public safety jurisdictions from retuning their facilities to replacement channels.4 Conversely, the Parties represent that 1 47 C.F.R. § 90.677. 2 Notification at 3. 3 47 C.F.R. § 90.157. 4 Notification at 2 n.3. there are 7 licensees blocking the Licensees from retuning to the Licensees’ replacement channels.5 Allowing the stations listed in the Appendix to discontinue operation, the Parties submit, will eliminate this “blocking” and thus facilitate rebanding in the region. We agree with the Parties that the proposed discontinuance of operation will advance the rebanding program in the Mexico border region. We also agree with the Parties’ claim that “the limited value to the public of having the Licensees operate systems only with non-rebanding channels is outweighed by the benefit that can be achieved by the Licensees’ willingness to immediately suspend operations on rebanding channels for an indefinite period.”6 Accordingly, we will not require the licensees to maintain service on the relatively few channels in their systems that are not implicated in rebanding. We do not, however, believe it necessary to interpret Section 90.677 of the Commission’s rules, supra, in the manner requested by the Parties. Instead, for good cause shown, and pursuant to Section 1.925 of the Commission’s rules,7 we waive Section 90.157 of the Commission’s rules as it otherwise would apply to the Licensees listed in the Appendix. Our waiver of the rule is conditioned on (1) the Licensees discontinuing operation of their facilities no later than a date to be set by the 800 MHz Transition Administrator; and (2) the Licensees reactivating their facilities on their replacement frequencies within one-year following the date they receive replacement frequencies from the 800 MHz Transition Administrator. So ordered. This action is taken under delegated authority pursuant to Sections 0.191(a) and 0.392 of the Commission's Rules, 47 C.F.R. §§ 0.191(a), 0.392. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Michael J. Wilhelm Deputy Chief – Policy and Licensing Division Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau 5 Id. n.4. 6 Id. at 3. 7 47 C.F.R. § 1.925. APPENDIX CHANNEL REBAND CHANNEL WILL BE REBANDED? LICENSEE(S) CALL SIGN PRIMARY SITES 851.1125 857.4125 YES TCLLC KRR904 SANTIAGO PEAK 851.2875 860.6875 YES TCLLC KWH855/WYK281 MT. LUKENS, ONYX PEAK/SANTIAGO PEAK 851.7125 861.2375 YES TCLLC WNXG637 SKYLAND PEAK 852.1125 860.8625 YES TCLLC WGI554 SANTIAGO PEAK 852.1375 860.0625 YES TCLLC WNXG598 SKYLAND PEAK 852.4125 859.0375 YES TCLLC WNXG582 SKYLAND PEAK 852.6875 858.0625 YES TCLLC WNXG570 SKYLAND PEAK 853.5625 857.6375 YES TCLLC KRT844 SANTIAGO PEAK 855.0625 861.1875 YES TCLLC WPZZ380 PALVIKA PEAK, SANTIAGO PEAK, MT. LUKENS, and OAT MTN 856.4125 861.2125 YES TCLLC KNHA498/WPGZ423 MT. WILSON, PINE COVE 856.1875 856.1875 NO TCLLC WQTB890 MT. LUKENS 859.3375 859.3375 NO 3KFA WQJL231 SOUTH MTN 859.3375 859.3375 NO 3KFA KNJH490 MT. WILSON 855.8875 860.6625 YES 3KFA KNJH406 SUNSET, MODJESKA and OAT 857.3375 857.3375 NO 3KFA KNJH406 SUNSET, MODJESKA and OAT 851.8625 861.0125 YES TDE WNXS451 HEAPS PEAK 851.8875 854.4875 YES TDE KKV815 MT. LUKENS 852.5125 860.1875 YES TDE WNWQ646 HOLLYWOOD HILLS 852.7875 861.2625 YES TDE WPHU589 HOLLYWOOD HILLS 852.0875 860.9125 YES TDE WQDA740 RUNNING SPRINGS 851.5625 858.5125 YES TDE WNGC552 MT. LUKENS 851.4875 859.0875 YES TDE WNWB345/WQDA729 MT. LUKENS/SNOW PEAK 851.5125 854.6125 YES TDE WPFP295 HEAPS PEAK 854.8875 861.3125 YES TDE KNIV764 SANTIAGO PEAK 854.1125 859.2875 YES TDE WYA205 MT. LUKENS/SANTIAGO PEAK 855.3125 861.0625 YES TDE WYA205 SANTIAGO PEAK 852.6875 858.0625 YES TDE WNPP680 SADDLE PEAK 853.4875 858.8625 YES TDE WNVQ272 SANTIAGO PEAK 854.3875 854.3875 NO TDE WNXS439 HEAPS PEAK 858.9125 858.9125 NO TDE WPXE724/WPYH567 SADDLE PEAK/PALVIKA PEAK