The PCS industry spent more than $750 million to relocate about 3...
The PCS industry spent more than $750 million to relocate about 3,600 microwave links from the 1850-1990 MHz band, PCIA said Wed. The association’s Microwave Clearinghouse cost-sharing activities for microwave relocation officially sunset April 5. The FCC in 1996…
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designated PCIA, along with Industrial Telecom Assn. (ITA), to administer the Commission’s cost-sharing plan for microwave relocation. The plan aimed to assure that when more than one PCS company benefited from relocating a particular microwave user, PCS companies shared those costs. “For the carriers who initially cleared the spectrum at their own expense, the cost-sharing process identified more than $400 million of reimbursement opportunities to be paid by subsequent benefiting licensees in the PCS band,” said PCIA Microwave Clearinghouse Mgr.-Operations Chris Holt. He said PCIA’s clearinghouse procedures “expedited deployment of more than 150,000 PCS base stations.” PCIA Pres. Mike Fitch called the association’s Microwave Clearinghouse “a world- class example of a non-profit, non-governmental entity helping execute equitable and efficient transitions for licensees occupying valuable spectrum.” PCIA said 6 other countries have studied its Microwave Clearinghouse as a possible model for spectrum relocation solutions.