§ 101.1323 - Spectrum aggregation, disaggregation, and partitioning.

§ 101.1323 Spectrum aggregation, disaggregation, and partitioning.

Cross Reference

Link to an amendment published at 82 FR 41549, Sept. 1, 2017.

(a) Eligibility.

(1) Parties seeking approval for partitioning and disaggregation shall request from the Commission an authorization for partial assignment of license. Geographic area licensees may participate in aggregation, disaggregation, and partitioning within the bands licensed on a geographic area basis. Site-based licensees may aggregate spectrum in any MAS bands, but may not disaggregate their licensed spectrum or partition their licensed sites.

(2) Eligible MAS licensees may apply to the Commission to partition their licensed geographic service areas to eligible entities and are free to determine the portion of their service areas to be partitioned. Eligible MAS licensees may aggregate or disaggregate their licensed spectrum at any time following the grant of a license.

(b) Technical standards -

(1) Aggregation.

(i) There is no limitation on the amount of spectrum that an MAS licensee may aggregate.

(ii) Spectrum licensed to MAS licensees does not count toward the CMRS spectrum cap discussed in § 20.6 of this chapter.

(2) Disaggregation. Spectrum may be disaggregated in any amount. A licensee need not retain a minimum amount of spectrum.

(3) Partitioning. In the case of partitioning, applicants and licensees must file FCC Form 603 pursuant to § 1.948 of this chapter and list the partitioned service area on a schedule to the application. The geographic coordinates must be specified in degrees, minutes, and seconds to the nearest second of latitude and longitude, and must be based upon the 1983 North American Datum (NAD83).

(4) Combined partitioning and disaggregation. The Commission will consider requests from geographic area licensees for partial assignment of licenses that propose combinations of partitioning and disaggregation.

(c) Construction requirements -

(1) Disaggregation

.

Partial assignors and assignees for license disaggregation have two options to meet construction requirements. Under the first option, the disaggregator and disaggregatee would certify that they each will share responsibility for meeting the applicable construction requirements set forth in § 101.1325 for the geographic service area. If parties choose this option and either party fails to meet the applicable construction requirements, both licenses would be subject to forfeiture at renewal. The second option allows the parties to agree that either the disaggregator or disaggregatee would be responsible for meeting the requirements in § 101.1325 for the geographic service area. If parties choose this option, and the party responsible for meeting the construction requirement fails to do so, only the license of the non-performing party would be subject to forfeiture at renewal.

(2) Partitioning. Partial assignors and assignees for license partitioning have two options to meet construction requirements. Under the first option, the partitionor and partitionee would each certify that they will independently satisfy the applicable construction requirements set forth in § 101.1325 for their respective partitioned areas. If either licensee fails to meet its requirement in § 101.1325, only the non-performing licensee's renewal application would be subject to dismissal. Under the second option, the partitionor certifies that it has met or will meet the requirement in § 101.1325 for the entire market. If the partitionor fails to meet the requirement in § 101.1325, however, only its license would be subject to forfeiture at renewal.

(3) All applications requesting partial assignments of license for partitioning or disaggregation must certify in the appropriate portion of the application which construction option is selected.

(4)

Responsible parties must submit supporting documents showing compliance with the respective construction requirements within the appropriate construction benchmarks set forth in § 101.1325.

(d) License term. The license term for a partitioned license area and for disaggregated spectrum shall be the remainder of the original licensee's license term as provided for in § 101.1313.

[65 FR 17450, Apr. 3, 2000, as amended at 67 FR 45380, July 9, 2002; 82 FR 41549, Sept. 1, 2017]