WASHINGTON-The Land Mobile Communications Council has weighed in as a group in favor of transferring 60 megahertz of “long-unused prime spectrum from the television broadcast allocation” in UHF channels 60-69 to public-safety, private industrial/business and commercial mobile radio users.
In a March 14 letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Reed Hundt, Larry Miller, LMCC president, and Mark Crosby, secretary/treasurer, forwarded five provisions that would ensure “an orderly transition” of these channels, including: a minimization of digital television activities in the channels; an allocation of 24 megahertz to public safety, a need quantified by the Public Safety Wireless Advisory Committee; and apportioning the other 36 megahertz to private carriers for internal and commercial uses.
LMCC, made up of 17 associations, also proposed that either spectrum leases or competitive bidding be used to assign the 36 megahertz equitably and to put some cash toward deficit reduction. “The overwhelming majority of LMCC’s membership supports the use of spectrum leases in assigning frequencies in any new spectrum allocated for internal-use industrial/business systems,” Miller and Crosby wrote.
The council would like the FCC to adopt a digital TV allotment plan by April 1 that designates spectrum to public-safety and private wireless interests. By May 1, notices of proposed rulemaking regarding the reallocation along with new licensing and services rules should be adopted; and a final report and order on the transition should be finished by Aug. 1, LMCC wrote, and on the service rules by Dec. 31 at the latest.
