See § 101.147(n) for licensing of DEMS facilities in the 10.6 GHz band. Applications for new facilities using the 18 GHz band are no longer being accepted. Any entity, other than one precluded by § 101.7, is eligible for authorization to provide 24 GHz Service under this subpart.

10.6 GHz DEMS Nodal Stations may be authorized only as a part of an integrated communication system wherein 10.6 GHz DEMS User Stations associated therewith also are licensed to the 10.6 GHz DEMS Nodal Station licensee. Applications for 10.6 GHz DEMS Nodal Station licenses should specify the maximum number of 10.6 GHz DEMS User Stations to be served by that nodal station. Any increase in that number must be applied for pursuant to § 1.913 of this chapter.

Frequencies, and the conditions on which they are available, for DEMS operations are contained in this subpart as well as in § 101.147(m), (n), and (r)(9).

The frequency stability in the 10,550-10,680 MHz band must be ±0.0001% for each DEMS Nodal Station transmitter and ±0.0003% for each DEMS User Station transmitter. The frequency stability in the 24,250-25,250 MHz bands must be ±0.001% for each Nodal Station transmitter and ±0.003% for each User Station transmitter.

(a) As a condition for use of frequencies in this service each licensee is required to:

(1) Engineer the system to be reasonably compatible with adjacent and co-channel operations in the same or adjacent areas on all frequencies; and

(2) Cooperate fully and in good faith to resolve whatever potential interference and transmission security problems may be present in adjacent and co-channel operations.

(b) All harmful interference to other users of co-channel and adjacent channel use in the same or adjacent geographical area are prohibited. In areas where Economic Areas are in close proximity, careful consideration should be given to minimum power requirements and to the location, height, and radiation pattern of the transmitting and receiving antennas. Licensees are expected to cooperate fully in attempting to resolve problems of potential interference before bringing the matter to the attention of the Commission.

(c) Licensee shall coordinate their facilities whenever the facilities have optical line-of-sight into other licensees' areas or are within the same geographic area. Licensees are encouraged to develop operational agreements with relevant licensees in the same or adjacent areas. Incumbent SMSA licensee(s) shall retain exclusive rights to its channel(s) within its SMSA and must be protected.

(d) Licensees shall comply with the appropriate coordination agreements between the United States and Canada and the United States and Mexico concerning cross-border sharing and use of the 24 GHz bands which may require using channels pairs in accordance with the table in § 101.147(r)(9).

(e) The Commission recommends that coordination is not necessary if the power flux density (pfd) at the boundary of the relevant adjacent area is lower than −114 dBW/m 2 in any 1 MHz. This value can be changed and agreed upon by both coordinating parties. Licensees should be able to deploy with a pfd up to −94 dBW/m 2 in any 1 MHz at the boundary of the relevant adjacent area without negatively affecting the successful operations of the adjacent area licensee.

(a) Authorizations for stations in the 24 GHz Service will be granted to provide services on a common carrier basis or a non-common carrier basis or on both a common carrier and non-common carrier basis in a single authorization.

(b) Stations may render any kind of digital communications service consistent with the Commission's rules and the regulatory status of the station to provide services on a common carrier or non-common carrier basis.

(c) An applicant or licensee may submit a petition at any time requesting clarification of the regulatory status required to provide a specific communications service.

The transmitter power will be governed by § 101.113. Further, each application must contain an analysis demonstrating compliance with § 101.113(a).

Different types of emissions may be authorized if the applicant describes fully the modulation and bandwidth desired, and demonstrates that the bandwidth desired is no wider than needed to provide the intended service. In no event, however, may the necessary or occupied bandwidth exceed the specified channel width of the assigned pair.

(a) Transmitting antennas may be omnidirectional or directional, consistent with coverage and interference requirements.

(b) The use of horizontal or vertical plane wave polarization, or right hand or left hand rotating elliptical polarization must be used to minimize harmful interference between stations.

(c) Directive antennas must be used at all DEMS User Stations and may be elevated no higher than necessary to assure adequate service. Antenna structures requiring FAA notification under part 17 of this chapter must be registered with the Commission. The structure owner is responsible for registering, painting, and lighting the structure if applicable. Requests for such authorization must show the inclusive dates of the proposed operation.

(a) All DEMS licensees must make available to the public all information necessary to allow the manufacture of user equipment that will be compatible with the licensee's network.

(b) All DEMS licensees must make available to the public all information necessary to allow interconnection of DEMS networks.

All applicants for DEMS frequencies in the 10.6 GHz band must submit as part of the original application a detailed plan indicating how the bandwidth requested will be utilized. In particular the application must contain detailed descriptions of the modulation method, the channel time sharing method, any error detecting and/or correcting codes, any spatial frequency reuse system and the total data throughput capacity in each of the links in the system. Further, the application must include a separate analysis of the spectral efficiency including both information bits per unit bandwidth and the total bits per unit bandwidth.

(a) The service areas for 24 GHz are Economic Areas (EAs) as defined in this paragraph (a). The Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce, organized the 50 States and the District of Columbia into 172 EAs. See 60 FR 13114 (March 10, 1995). Additionally, there are four FCC-created EA-like areas:

(1) Guam and Northern Mariana Islands;

(2) Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands;

(3) American Samoa, and

(4) The Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf of Mexico EA extends from 12 nautical miles off the U.S. Gulf coast outward into the Gulf. See 62 FR 9636 (March 3, 1997), in which the Commission created an additional four economic area-like areas for a total of 176 EA service areas. Maps of the EAs and the Federal Register Notice that established the 172 Economic Areas (EAs) are available for public inspection through the Federal Communications Commission's Reference Information Center. These maps and data are also available on the FCC website at www.fcc.gov/oet/info/maps/areas/. These maps and data are also available on the FCC Web site at www.fcc.gov/oet/info/maps/areas/.

(b) Where an incumbent SMSA license area in the 24 GHz band occupies only a portion of an EA available for application under the competitive bidding rules, the SMSA portion will be excluded from auction and the incumbent licensee will retain the exclusive right to those channels within the SMSA.

(a) A licensee using the 24 GHz band may construct and operate any number of fixed stations anywhere within the area authorized to serve without prior authorization, except as follows:

(1) A station would be required to be individually licensed if:

(i) International agreements require coordination;

(ii) Submission of an Environmental Assessment is required under § 1.1307 of this chapter;

(iii) The station would affect areas identified in § 1.924 of this chapter.

(2) Any antenna structure that requires notification to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) must be registered with the Commission prior to construction under § 17.4 of this chapter.

(b) Whenever a licensee constructs or makes system changes as described in paragraph (a)(1) of this section, the licensee is required to notify the Commission within 30 days of the change under § 1.947 of this chapter and include a statement of the technical parameters of the changed station.

The license term for stations licensed under this subpart is ten years from the date of license grant or license renewal for incumbent licensees.

(a) Each licensee must make a showing of “substantial service” within ten years of its license grant. “Substantial service” is a service which is sound, favorable, and substantially above a level of mediocre service which just might minimally warrant renewal during its past license term. Until January 1, 2023, “substantial service” assessment will be made at renewal pursuant to the provisions and procedures set forth in § 1.949 of this chapter.

(b) Until January 1, 2023, each licensee must, at a minimum file:

(1) A report, maps and other supporting documents describing its current service in terms of geographic coverage and population served to the Commission. The report must also contain a description of the licensees' investments in its operations. The report must be labeled as an attachment to the renewal application; and

(2) Copies of all FCC orders finding the licensee to have violated the Communications Act or any FCC rule or policy; and a list of any pending proceedings that relate to any matter described in this paragraph (b)(2).

(c) Failure to demonstrate that substantial service is being provided in the service area will result in forfeiture of the license, and the licensee will be unable to regain it.

(d) The frequencies associated with incumbent authorizations, licensed on a SMSA basis, that have cancelled automatically or otherwise been recovered by the Commission will automatically revert to the applicable EA licensee.

(a) Initial applications. An applicant for a 24 GHz license must specify on FCC Form 601 if it is requesting authorization to provide services on a common carrier basis, a non-common carrier basis, or on both a common carrier and non-common carrier basis.

(b) Amendment of pending applications. Any pending application may be amended to:

(1) Change the carrier status requested; or

(2) Add to the pending request in order to obtain both common carrier and non-common carrier status in a single license.

(c) Modification of license. A licensee may modify a license to:

(1) Change the carrier status authorized; or

(2) Add to the status authorized in order to obtain both common carrier and non-common carrier status in a single license.

(a) Eligibility. (1) 24 GHz 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. 24 GHz licensees may aggregate or disaggregate their licensed spectrum at any time following the grant of a license.

(2) Any existing frequency coordination agreements shall convey with the assignment of the geographic area or spectrum, and shall remain in effect unless new agreements are reached.

(b) Technical standards—(1) Aggregation. There is no limitation on the amount of spectrum that a 24 GHz licensee may aggregate.

(2) 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).

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

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

(c) 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 § 101.526.

Mutually exclusive initial applications for 24 GHz band licenses are subject to competitive bidding. The general competitive bidding procedures set forth in part 1, subpart Q of this chapter will apply unless otherwise provided in this subpart.

(a) Eligibility for small business provisions. (1) A very small business is an entity that, together with its controlling interests and affiliates, has average gross revenues not exceeding $3 million for the preceding three years.

(2) A small business is an entity that, together with its controlling interests and affiliates, has average gross revenues not exceeding $15 million for the preceding three years.

(3) An entrepreneur is an entity that, together with its controlling interests and affiliates, has average gross revenues not exceeding $40 million for the preceding three years.

(b) Bidding credits. A winning bidder that qualifies as a very small business, as defined in this section, or a consortium of very small businesses may use the bidding credit specified in § 1.2110(f)(2)(i) of this chapter. A winning bidder that qualifies as a small business, as defined in this section, or a consortium of small businesses may use the bidding credit specified in § 1.2110(f)(2)(ii) of this chapter. A winning bidder that qualifies as an entrepreneur, as defined in this section, or a consortium of entrepreneurs may use the bidding credit specified in § 1.2110(f)(2)(iii) of this chapter.