The Wireless Telecommunications Bureau released a Public Notice seeking comment regarding request for relief of certain Wireless Communications Services (WCS) construction requirements.
On March 29, 2016, AT&T filed a Petition for Limited Waiver of Interim Performance Requirement for WCS C and D Block Licenses, requesting that the Commission waive the interim performance requirement for the 2.3 GHz WCS and D Blocks in section 27.14(p)(1)-(2) of the Commission’s Rules. AT&T then filed a Supplement to its Petition to propose an alternative construction schedule and alternative metric by which AT&T’s planned smart grid deployment will satisfy the WCS construction requirements. AT&T noted in its Supplement that the Commission has previously instructed licensees deploying “hybrid or nontraditional operations” to seek guidance regarding the appropriate construction benchmarks. The original Petition was later withdrawn at the direction of the Commission, but is incorporated by reference in the attached Supplement.
Specifically, AT&T proposes:
- The September 13, 2019 final performance requirement deadline should be extended until September 13, 2021, and the requirement should be set at 30 links per million persons.
- The March 13, 2017 interim performance requirement should be replaced with a semiannual report on AT&T’s progress – in particular, the number of links deployed in each REAG as of each June 30 or December 31 (as applicable) – starting on January 31, 2018.
The Commission seeks comment on AT&T’s Petition and Supplement.
Comments are due June 22, 2016.Reply Comments are due July 5, 2016.
Please contact us with any questions.