FCC Review of State Opt-Out Requests from FirstNet, et al.

This Report and Order and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking addresses the 758-769/788-799 MHz band, which the Federal Communications Commission licensed to the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) on a nationwide basis pursuant to the provisions of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012. The Report and Order adopts rules intended to resolve the remaining questions posed in the 2013 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in these dockets. The FCC provides a mechanism to facilitate the relocation of the public safety narrowband incumbents currently operating on FirstNet’s spectrum. The FCC also affirmatively declines at this time to impose specific build-out requirements on FirstNet as a condition of renewal of its license. Rather, the FCC finds that the build-out obligations and specifications of the Act, coupled with the specifications of FirstNet’s recently released Request for Proposal (Final RFP), provide adequate milestones to ensure rural coverage while also providing both FirstNet and the states flexibility in terms of planning for optimal network coverage. The FCC will continue to monitor FirstNet’s buildout progress against these milestones, and expect that existing reporting obligations will be sufficient to allow the FCC to carry out its license renewal responsibilities.

In the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the FCC opens a new proceeding to seek comment on proposed procedures for administering the state opt-out process as provided under the Public Safety Spectrum Act, as well as on its implementation of the specific statutory standards by which the FCC is obligated to evaluate state opt-out applications.