The National Public Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC) last week asked the FCC to stay certain interim narrowbanding deadlines, although the council said it fully supports the commission’s Jan. 1, 2013, overall deadline.
Part 90 licensees operating in the VHF and UHF bands must convert to technologies that meet a spectrum efficiency standard of one voice channel per 12.5 kilohertz of channel bandwidth by 2013. “NPSTC believes certain interim deadlines effective Jan. 1, 2011, will hamper public-safety interoperability during the final two years of the transition and will unnecessarily raise costs for public-safety users.”
The 2011 interim deadlines include the following:
• Licensees can no longer apply for new or modification license applications that exceed 12.5 kilohertz or equivalent efficiency.
• Single-mode and multimode transmitters that operate at an efficiency mode exceeding
12.5 kilohertz can no longer be manufactured in or imported into the United States.
• Manufacturer applications for Part 90 certifications must include a spectrum efficiency standard of one voice path per 6.25 kilohertz of channel bandwidth.
The NPSTIC filling said a stay of the first two items is needed to address user operational requirements during the transition. A stay of the third item is needed to minimize unnecessary costs because numerous state, county and city governments are dealing with current economic constraints.
NPSTC emphasized that a stay of these dates does not prevent or deter licensee implementation of narrowbanded technology prior to the 2013 deadline, nor does it prevent manufacturers from voluntarily including 6.25-kilohertz efficiency in single mode or multimode equipment.
NPSTC provided examples to illustrate the practical effect of the interim cutoff of availability of dual-mode 25-/12.5-kilohertz efficiency equipment and why the FCC should issue a stay to allow continued availability of such dual-mode equipment until the end of the transition Jan. 1, 2013. The examples included the state of California and San Diego County. “We urge the Commission to allow individual public-safety licensees to develop the timetable that best fits their interoperability requirements both within their entity or agency and with other entities or agencies with whom they need to interoperate to ensure a workable migration plan for achieving 12.5-kilohertz efficiency by Jan. 1, 2013,” the council said.
Section 90.203(j)(4) requires applications for Part 90 certification of VHF and UHF transmitters received on or after Jan. 1, 2011, to include capability to operate with a 6.25-kilohertz efficiency mode. “But interoperability across multiple public-safety agencies using 6.25-kilohertz efficiency technology requires the completion of the Project 25 (P25) Phase 2 standard,” NPSTC said.
The P25 Phase 2 trunked standard is targeted for publication in the second half of 2010. There currently is no Phase 2 standard under development for conventional systems, and the Project 25 User Needs Committee is just starting to actively discuss the options. The conventional standard issue is especially critical in the VHF and UHF bands.
“Without the commission granting a stay of the implementation of Section 90.203(j)(4) and 90.203(j)(5), manufacturers will likely be forced to develop two sets of 6.25-kilohertz efficiency equipment — one set that includes today’s 6.25-kilohertz efficiency technology just to comply with the commission’s Jan. 1, 2011, certification deadline, and then a second set that meets the P25 Phase 2 standards once the trunked and conventional standards are completed,” the filing said.
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