What is the Transition? The Transition is the process by which EBS and BRS licensees will move from operating under the existing band plan and set of technical rules to operating under a new band plan and set of technical rules. In its 2004 decision, the FCC created the new band plan for the 2.5 GHz EBS and BRS band. The FCC added 4 MHz to the band (2496 – 2500 MHz), helping to make room for moving old MDS channels 1 and 2 into the band (they were relocated from the 2150 MHz band). The FCC reorganized the rest of the band to create three band segments – a middle band segment (MBS) for continued high power downstream (typically video) transmissions, and a lower band segment (LBS) and upper band segment (UBS) for low power cellular two-way transmissions. The FCC eliminated the I band (currently the 4 MHz at the top of the band containing the seldom used 125 kHz audio response channels associated with each ITFS channel.) The new band plan is as follows: Lower Band Segment (LBS) BRS 1 2496-2502 MHz (old MDS 1) A1 2502-2507.5 A2 2507.5-2513 A3 2513-2518.5 B1 2518.5-2524 B2 2524-2529.5 B3 2529.5-2535 C1 2535-2540.5 C2 2540.5-2546 C3 2546-2551.5 D1 2551.5-2557 D2 2557-2562.5 D3 2562.5-2568 Guard Band J 2568-2572 Mid Band Segment (MBS) A4 2572-2578 B4 2578-2584 C4 2584-2590 D4 2590-2596 G4 2596-2602 F4 2602-2608 E4 2608-2614 Guard Band K 2614-2618 Upper Band Segment (UBS)
BRS 2 E1 E2 E3 F1 F2 F3 H1 H2 H3 G1 G2 G3
2618-2624 (old MDS 2) 2624-2629.5 2629.5-2635 2635-2640.5 2640.5-2646 2646-2651.5 2651.5-2657 2657-2662.5 2662.5-2668 2668-2673.5 2673.5-2679 2679-2684.5 2684.5-2690
What is a Proponent? Under the new rules, the Transition for any given area (a Basic Trading Area, or BTA) will be planned, initiated and coordinated by a “proponent” who will also be responsible, at its cost, to relocate EBS video operations to the MBS and to replace all down converters at EBS receive sites. It is likely that proponents will be commercial wireless broadband operators. There are 493 BTA(s) that cover all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and there are also BTA-like areas including San Juan Puerto Rico, Mayaguez/AguadillaPonce Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. A BTA map is available on the FCC’s website at http://wireless.fcc.gov/auctions/data/maps/bta.pdf. If a given EBS station’s GSA is located in more than one BTA, the primary responsibility for transitioning that EBS station falls to the proponent in the BTA where the geographic center point of the GSA is located, including receive sites in the other BTA(s) if those BTA(s) are not being transitioned. If adjacent BTA(s) have proponents as well, these proponents are to reach agreement about their respective responsibilities for the transition of that EBS station. A proponent in any given BTA must be a BRS licensee or lessee or an EBS licensee or lessee in that BTA. In the event of multiple potential proponents, the first one who files an Initiation Plan for the BTA will be the officially designated proponent. What can an EBS Licensee Expect to Happen in the Transition Process? The transition process may be preceded by informal communications to licensees from prospective proponents. These communications may include an invitation to attend a meeting in the market where the process will be more fully explained.
Formally, however, the process starts when a prospective proponent sends a Pretransition Data Request (PTDR) to licensees within the BTA to be transitioned. Proponents will use contact information for licensees contained in the FCC’s Universal Licensing System (ULS). Licensees are required to respond to PTDR(s) within 45 days of receipt. In the event that a licensee fails to respond, the FCC may access penalties on a case-by-case basis, such as requiring the non-responsive EBS licensee to forfeit its right to object to the eventual Transition Plan if the delay has caused harm to the proponent or delayed the transition. In response to PTDR(s), EBS licensees are required to provide the following information: licensee’s full name, postal mailing address, contact person, email address and phone and fax numbers. Operators of existing wireless cable services must also inform the proponent if they are seeking “opt out” waivers (i.e., a waiver of the transition requirement to permit them to continue to use the old band plan and rules). Also, for any licensees seeking to have video operations transitioned from their current channels to the new MBS video channel, they must also provide information with respect to their existing technical facilities. For those EBS licensees with no facilities on the air, or any desire or right to have video services transitioned, no technical information will be required. EBS licensees have the right to have video services transitioned that were on the air during the period July 1, 2002 through December 31, 2002. Down converter replacement for EBS receive sites is limited to those sites that are within the new GSA of any particular station. For EBS licensees with receive sites outside of their GSA(s), they will presumably have to obtain new down converters themselves. Those EBS licensees providing technical responses will have to provide the information listed below. Prospective proponents will probably ask for other information as well, and it may be in all parties’ interests to provide as much information as is available, to assist the proponents in developing their transition plans. The information required by FCC rules is: -- the location (street address and geographic coordinates) of the main station or booster serving each EBS receive site entitled to protection (i.e., those in the GSA); -- the make and model number of the antenna for the main station or booster, along with radiation pattern (in not in the FCC’s database); -- the ground elevation AMSL of the building or tower structure on which the antenna is installed, the height AGL of the center of radiation of the antenna, the orientation of the main lobe, and any beam tilt; -- the bandwidth, emission type and EIRP of each channel or sub channel; -- the make and model number of the antenna at each receive site.
The FCC urges the use of a standard format and electronic communications in responding to PTDR(s), and both major operators, Sprint Nextel and Clearwire, are developing standardized formats and web-based tools to facilitate responses. Following the collection of information in response to PTDR(s), prospective proponents will decide whether they do in fact want to transition particular markets, and if so, they will send a Transition Notice to licensees providing information on the proponent, other licensees involved in that BTA transition, and certifying that it has funds available to complete the transition process. The Proponent also files an Initiation Plan with FCC providing details on the Proponent, the licensees to be transitioned, certain engineering information, and the timing of the process. The filing of the Initiation Plan initiates a 90 day Transition Planning Period during which the parties work out the details of the transition. Within 60 days after the start of the Transition Planning Period, the proponent is to send its Transition Plan to licensees. The Transition Plan will list, among other things, the licenses to be transitioned, the specific channels each licensee will receive, the specific receive sites to get new down converters, the technical configuration of the MBS transmission facilities that will carry video services going forward, the number of programming tracks each licensee will be enabled to transmit on these facilities, and timing of the process. The Transition Plan must also provide for an escrow or other financial mechanism to ensure that the transition will be completed. Within 20 days after the Transition Plan is sent (or, more precisely, no later than 10 days prior to the end of the Transition Planning Period), EBS licensees may submit counterproposals if they believe the Transition Plan is not reasonable. The proponent may accept a counterproposal, modify the Transition Plan and proceed with the transition, or invoke dispute resolution and then either proceed with the transition subject to the results or hold up until the dispute is resolved. It is unclear what the “dispute resolution” procedures will be. The FCC has declined to adopt financial penalties in connection with disputes in the transition process. Thus, EBS licensees can object to transition plans if necessary, without fear that they will be financially penalized if the plan is ultimately determined to be reasonable. The FCC believes that parties can resolve disputes without mandated penalties, and urges parties to act in good faith. The FCC adopted several “safe harbors” to assist parties in determining what is “reasonable” in various transition circumstances. Generally, in the case of a typical fourchannel EBS licensee, plans will be reasonable if they provide for video facilities on the licensee’s assigned MBS channel substantially similar to the facilities that are currently being used by a given licensee to transmit video services.
However, there is also a safe harbor relating to situations where more than one EBS licensee shares a channel group, and both need video tracks in the MBS. The proponent can either secure an MBS channel for both licensees through channel swaps, or segment and digitize the MBS channel normally associated with the channel group so that both licensees’ video can be transmitted on that channel. Finally, there is safe harbor for EBS stations that are currently used for studiotransmitter links. The proponent can use the EBS channels (either in the LBS/UBS or the MBS to provide the necessary links), or can replace the EBS links on other bands using microwave equipment offering comparable facilities. The FCC has made clear that, in the transition process, licensees (both EBS and BRS) can engage in channel swaps without violating EBS eligibility restrictions. Educational eligibility and use requirements will apply to the channels ending up in the hands of the EBS licensee. Following the Transition Planning Period, proponents have 18 months to complete the transition. As part of that process, the proponent will have to convert video operations to the new MBS channel(s) assigned to the licensee and provide new down converters for its receive sites. Old band plan operations will ultimately be terminated and operations under the new band plan begun (the FCC permits a Proponent to have an EBS station’s transmissions interrupted for up to 7 days during this time). At the conclusion of the transition, the Proponent and affected licensees will file a “Post-Transition Notification” with the FCC, which will then issue each licensee a new license that reflects its final post-transition channels. What is the Timing for Transitions? Transitions must be under way (by the filing of an Initiation Plan with the FCC) in all BTA(s) by January 19, 2009. If the process plays out as contemplated above, the transition in each BTA needs to be completed about 21 months thereafter (assuming that disputes don’t bog the process down). This would mean the transition of the entire country to the new band plan is to be completed no later than approximately October 19, 2010. If a transition has not been initiated in any BTA by the deadline, that BTA will apparently be subject to some “alternative process” yet to be determined for forcing a transition. This may include the termination of all existing licenses in the BTA, giving incumbents “bidding credits” supposedly equal in value to the value of their terminated licenses, and forcing everyone to go to auction for channels under the new band plan. In such an event, there would be no guarantee that any given licensee will be able to acquire back its previous channels, or any channels at all.
Therefore, the FCC will allow EBS licensees in that BTA to engage in “Self-Transitions” in order to avoid any potential loss of licenses. Licensees proposing to avail themselves of this approach will have to notify the FCC within 90 days following the due date for Initiation Plans (i.e., by April 19, 2009). They must also notify all other licensees in the BTA and any other licensees with overlapping GSA(s). Finally, these licensees will have to file modification applications with the FCC, presumably to specify their post-transition spectrum positions and operations. They’ll have to complete their transitions within 21 months following the due date for Initiation Plans (thus, presumably, by about October 19, 2010). In the event of self-transitions by EBS licensees, their costs will be reimbursed by BRS licensees and lessees, EBS lessees, and commercial EBS licensees in their BTA(s).