(a) Licensees granted commercial nationwide authorizations will be required to construct base stations and placed those base stations in operation as follows:
(1) In at least 10 percent of the geographic areas designated in the application within two years of initial license grant, including base stations in at least seven urban areas listed in Sec. 90.741 of this part;
(2) In at least 40 percent of the geographic areas designated in the application within four years of initial license grant, including base stations in at least 28 urban areas listed in Sec. 90.741 of this part;
(3) In at least 70 percent of the geographic areas designated in the application within six years of initial license grant, including base stations in at least 28 urban areas listed in Sec. 90.741 of this part;
(4) In all geographic areas designated in the application within ten years of initial license grant, including base stations in at least 28 urban areas listed in Sec. 90.741 of this part.
(b) Licensees not meeting the two and four year criteria shall lose the entire authorization, but will be permitted a six month period to convert the system to non-nationwide channels, if such channels are available.
(c) Licensees not meeting the six and ten year criteria shall lose the authorizations for the facilities not constructed, but will retain exclusivity for constructed facilities.
(d) Each commercial nationwide licensee must file a system progress report on or before the anniversary date of the grant of its license after 2, 4, 6 and 10 years, demonstrating compliance with the relevant construction benchmark criteria.
(1) An overall status report of the system, that must include, but need not be limited to:
(i) A list of all sites at which base stations have been constructed, with antenna heights and effective radiated power specified for each site;
(ii) A list of all other known base station sites at which construction has not been completed; and
(iii) A construction and operational schedule for the next five-year period, including any known changes to the plan for construction and operation submitted with the licensee's original application for the system.
(2) An analysis of the system's compliance with the requirements of paragraph (a) of this section, with documentation to support representations of completed construction, including, but not limited to:
(i) Equipment purchase orders and contracts;
(ii) Lease or purchase contracts relating to antenna site arrangements;
(iii) Equipment and antenna identification (serial) numbers; and
(iv) Service agreements and visits.
(e) Beginning with its second license term, each nationwide licensee must file a progress report once every five years on the anniversary date of the grant of the first renewal of its authorization, including the information required by paragraph (d)(1) of this section.
(f) Licensees authorized Phase I non-nationwide systems, or authorized on Channels 161 through 170 or Channels 181 through 185, must construct their systems (i.e., have all specified base stations constructed with all channels) and place their systems in operation, or commence service in accordance with the provisions of Sec. 90.167, within twelve months of the initial license grant date. Authorizations for systems not constructed and placed in operation, or having commenced service, within twelve months from the date of initial license grant cancel automatically.
(g) A licensee that loses authorization for some or all of its channels due to failure to meet construction deadlines or benchmarks may not reapply for nationwide channels in the same category or for non-nationwide channels in the same category in the same geographic area for one year from the date the Commission takes final action affirming that those channels have been cancelled.
(h) The requirements and conditions of paragraphs (a) through (e) and paragraph (g) of this section apply to nationwide licensees that construct and operate stations for fixed or paging operations on a primary basis instead of, or in addition to, stations for land mobile operations on a primary basis except that, in satisfying the base station construction and placed in operation requirements of paragraph (a) of this section and the system progress report requirements of paragraphs (d) and (e) of this section, licensees operating stations for fixed operation on a primary basis instead of, or in addition to, stations for land mobile or paging operations on a primary basis in a given geographic area may demonstrate how such fixed stations are providing substantial service to the public in those geographic areas. [56 FR 19603, Apr. 29, 1991, as amended at 56 FR 32517, July 17, 1991; 57 FR 32450, July 22, 1992; 58 FR 36363, July 7, 1993; 62 FR 15996, Apr. 3, 1997; 63 FR 49295, Sept. 15, 1998]