Few Systems in Compliance with Narrowbanding Mandate, NPSTC Official Warns

FCC rules require all public safety and industrial/business land mobile radio systems in the 150-174 MHz and 421-512 MHz bands to migrate from 25 kHz channel bandwidth to 12.5 kHz or narrower technology by Jan. 1, 2013. The FCC is highlighting the approaching deadline with a box on the top of its webpage.

FCC Public Safety Bureau Chief Jamie Barnett opened the workshop with a warning that many licensees don’t seem ready to carry out the FCC’s mandate. “The significance of the 2013 narrowbanding deadline should not come as a surprise to anyone,” he said. “The commission paved the way for land mobile radio licensees to begin the narrowbanding process in the 1990s, and set the January 2013 deadline in 2004 -- seven years ago.” The commission is unlikely to extend the deadline and waivers won’t be granted “routinely,” Barnett said. “Make no mistake: The task ahead of us in the next two years is enormous, and time is of the essence.”

Those who don’t move to narrow channels won’t be in compliance with FCC rules, Mussenden said. “That means that they don’t receive interference protection,” he said. “There is the real possibility of enforcement action.” Having to deal with an investigation by the Enforcement Bureau requires many hours on the part of alleged violators, Mussenden warned. “You are spending time, energy and resources on interaction with the FCC.” The Enforcement Bureau looks at mitigating factors in assessing penalties, he added. “Willful noncompliance with the agency’s rules is probably not going to be viewed very favorably. Let’s just leave it at that."

Many licensees are taking the view that if they don’t narrowband, the FCC won’t take any steps to force them to do so, said Ralph Haller, representing the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council. “That’s an issue that needs to be discussed -- what is the commission going to do if agencies … simply don’t narrowband? What’s going to be the penalty other than just saying you're not operating in compliance with your license?” Licensees lack a clear view of how narrowbanding would work on other issues as well, Haller said. “One misconception is that `I'm going to get twice the number of channels if I narrowband,'” he said. “Another major misconception is I will become secondary if I don’t narrowband.”

Many NPSTC members said their systems can be converted to narrowbanding, “but they're still operating on the wideband mode for a number of reasons, including interoperability with adjoining jurisdictions,” Haller said. “Repeaters and base stations pose a very big problem even if the mobiles and portables are ready,” he said. “The fixed infrastructure is there for years and years and that needs to be replaced.” Few systems have been completely converted, he said, with some estimates that doing so will cost millions of dollars. Haller said NPSTC still fields “troubling” questions from members, like, “How would I know if I'm narrowband?” The narrowbanding deadline is mentioned at every NPSTC meeting and on the group’s website, he noted. “We think it’s important to try to get the word out."

The smallest, most rural systems appear to have made the least progress on narrowbanding, said Jeffrey Johnson, representing the International Association of Fire Chiefs. “We're running out of time.” Some small systems are likely to miss the deadline, Johnson said. “They believe either it wasn’t going to apply to them or they would have grant money available or, possibly, the enforcement action would be delayed.” Some also are waiting for neighboring systems to narrowband their systems so as to not “mess up” interoperability, he said.

Manufacturers have been making narrowband-capable equipment since 1997, Motorola Vice President Chuck Jackson noted. “We've been providing equipment for 13, 14 years,” he said. “All of the manufacturers have done a lot to try to get the word out. … Any time we have a chance to talk about it we do.” Jackson said 160,000 call signs need to be rebranded, divided almost equally between public safety, industrial and business licensees.

Motorola surveyed 2,500 systems still using wideband channels, Jackson said. “Twenty-five percent said we're narrowbanded and we just haven’t modified the license,” he said. “Forty-four percent said we have plans in place and we know what we're going to do.” Another 15 percent said they knew about the deadline but hadn’t taken and steps, while 16 percent, mostly business or industrial users, were unaware of the FCC deadline, he said.

Many seem to believe that in 2013 with narrowbanding there will be more channels available, said Farokh Latif, director of The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials’ Spectrum Management Division. “That is not true by any means.”