| Background: For the vast majority of 30 MHz PCS A & PCS B MTA licenses won at | ||||||||||
| FCC Auction 4 in 1995, the ten-year construction deadline is, as of the writing of | ||||||||||
| this piece, exactly two years & two days distant. If you are unfamiliar w/ the FCC's | ||||||||||
| Broadband PCS construction requirements, I have cited below from 47 C.F.R. § 24, | ||||||||||
| the FCC's rules & regulations governing Personal Communications Services (PCS). | ||||||||||
| --- | ||||||||||
| Sec. 24.203 Construction requirements. | ||||||||||
| (a) Licensees of 30 MHz blocks must serve with a signal level sufficient to | ||||||||||
| provide adequate service to at least one-third of the population in their licensed | ||||||||||
| area within five years of being licensed and two-thirds of the population in their | ||||||||||
| licensed area within 10 years of being licensed. Licensees may choose to define | ||||||||||
| population using the 1990 census or the 2000 census. Failure by any licensee to | ||||||||||
| meet these requirements will result in forfeiture or non-renewal of the license and | ||||||||||
| the licensee will be ineligible to regain it. | ||||||||||
| --- | ||||||||||
| (It should be noted that the figure of merit that SPCS has selected to define | ||||||||||
| adequate service is a forward-link RSSI of not less than -103 dBm.) | ||||||||||
| Of the numerous MTA-unit licenses held by SPCS, fully 30 of 34 have satisfied the | ||||||||||
| ten-year construction requirement, some as early as two years ago. But four MTAs | ||||||||||
| remain, w/ two years to meet the ten-year construction requirement or relinquish | ||||||||||
| the licenses forever. At the time of their five-year construction notifications | ||||||||||
| three years ago, the four licenses ranged from 35% to 54% POPs coverage. Two | ||||||||||
| of the licenses have undergone significant buildout since the filing of the five-year | ||||||||||
| notifications, such that they may have already met or exceeded the ten-year | ||||||||||
| benchmark, though no notifications have yet been filed w/ the FCC. But two | ||||||||||
| licenses yet demonstrate noticeable shortcomings in coverage buildout, such that | ||||||||||
| SPCS &/or its network partners will have to expand adequate service to | ||||||||||
| approximately 600,000 additional POPs in two sparsely populated western MTAs by | ||||||||||
| no later than June 23, 2005. | ||||||||||
| SPCS will of course continue to expand & refine coverage in those areas dictated by | ||||||||||
| economy, where the bulk of the nation lives & works & plays. But these four | ||||||||||
| outstanding MTAs may be the last great hinterland buildout SPCS shall be compelled | ||||||||||
| to complete. | ||||||||||
| Five-Year | Five-Year | Ten-Year | POPs to Satisfy | |||||||
| License | Five-Year | Construction | Construction | Ten-Year | Construction | Ten-Year | ||||
| & | Construction | Requirement | Notification | Construction | Requirement | Appreciable Buildout Since | Construction | |||
| Major Trading Area | Call Sign | Deadline | POPs % | POPs % | Deadline | POPs % | Five-Year Notification | Requirement | Potential Buildout Geographies | |
| Louisville-Lexington-Evansville MTA026 | PCS B | 6/23/2000 | 33% | 39% | 6/23/2005 | 67% | IN: Evansville, I-64 corridor; KY: | minimal | KY: London, Morehead, I-75 corridor, | |
| KNLF252 | Bowling Green, Owensboro, Paducah | US-62 corridor, Parkway corridors | ||||||||
| Little Rock MTA040 | PCS B | 6/23/2000 | 33% | 39% | 6/23/2005 | 67% | AR: Camden, El Dorado, Pine Bluff, | minimal | AR: Harrison, Jonesboro, Mountain Home, | |
| KNLF280 | Searcy, I-40 corridor | US-62 corridor | ||||||||
| Spokane-Billings MTA042 | PCS B | 6/23/2000 | 33% | 35% | 6/23/2005 | 67% | ID: Lewiston, Sandpoint; WA: Pullman, | ~ 450,000 | MT: Billings, Bozeman, Butte, Great Falls, | |
| KNLF284 | I-90 corridor | Helena, Kalispell, Missoula, West Yellowstone, | ||||||||
| I-15 corridor, I-90 corridor | ||||||||||
| Wichita MTA046 | PCS B | 6/23/2000 | 33% | 54% | 6/23/2005 | 67% | none | ~ 150,000 | KS: Arkansas City, Dodge City, Garden | |
| KNLF292 | City, Great Bend, Hays, Liberal, Winfield, | |||||||||
| I-70 corridor, US-50 corridor, US-54 corridor | ||||||||||