The policy question before the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau is whether the North Carolina State Highway Patrol (NCSHP), a public safety applicant, may be permitted to integrate two 800 MHz Specialized Mobile Radio (SMR) channels within its statewide system pursuant to a waiver despite the availability of alternative business and public safety channels. Complicating this application is an attachment stating no alternative channels are available because “they or the interstitials fail short spacing, and they do not meet the applicant’s legacy system requirements.” The short answer is yes, but, as stated in comments filed by the Enterprise Wireless Alliance (EWA), the NCSHP will need an additional waiver to do so as technical requirements alone do not provide unhindered access to SMR channels when alternative channels are readily available to NCSHP.
EWA used this opportunity to support once again its Petition for Rule Making that would remove administrative encumbrances such as this case by reclassifying all spectrum between 854-862 MHz outside the southeastern United States as General Category. Technical and eligibility issues would become a thing of the past, and access to available 800 MHz spectrum would result without being harried by outdated 800 MHz assignment regulations such as in the case of NCSHP.
