Was It Anything We Said?

Was It Anything We Said?

Noting that the T-Band incumbent only filing window of December 19 was fast approaching without resolution of a host of issues affecting frequency coordination, licensing requirements and rule interpretations, the Land Mobile Communications Council (LMCC) filed a request to extend the filing window until next June. Extending the date doesn’t necessarily assist incumbent licensees except perhaps those forced to accept less than optimal system parameters to get a grant at all, but it does give the WTB and PSHSB Licensing Divisions time to develop critical T-Band spectrum access policies that deserve attention before the Commission permits new entities to enter the band. On December 17, the Commission extended the filing window until April 1, 2022, noting that the extension was in the public interest while the staff “continues working on ways to improve the orderly resumption of the application and licensing processes for the T-Band.” Sounds great, but why not note in the announcement that the LMCC filed a request to extend the deadline. It would have cost the FCC nothing to do so. I don’t get it, we are not adversaries. And I would like to know what are they working on to “improve the orderly resumption of licensing” since the process is bollixed up over the requirement to protect a number of TV stations that aren’t operational, operate on a different channel assignment altogether, or were granted approval to operate at locations that appear to be in violation of the FCC’s own separation rules. It’s certainly no secret. I sure would like to hope that the FCC will indeed arrive at a solution that makes sense over the next 90 plus days. If not, extend another 90 days.   … Mark