Future Development of Paging Systems and Implementation of Section 309(j) of the Communications Act; Competitive Bidding

In this First Report and Order in WT Docket No. 96-18 and PP Docket No. 93-253, the Commission modifies the interim measures imposed in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in this docket. In the NPRM, the Commission addressed how paging applications should be treated during the pendency of this rulemaking, and imposed an across- the-board freeze on new applications for paging licenses with an exception for Common Carrier Paging (CCP) and Private Carrier Paging (PCP) licensees with nationwide exclusivity. The Commission is modifying the interim freeze imposed in the NPRM by allowing all incumbent paging licensees subject to the interim freeze to apply for additional transmission sites on the same channel, on a primary basis, within 65 kilometers (40 miles) of an operating transmission site. An application must be accompanied by a certification that the applicant is an incumbent paging licensee, and the proposed site is within 65 kilometers (40 miles) of an authorized transmission site that was licensed to the same applicant on the same channel on or before February 8, 1996 and which is operational as of the date the application for the additional transmitter site is filed. All applications filed by CCP incumbent licensees and 929 MHz PCP incumbent licensees on exclusive channels will be put on Public Notice to allow for competing applications to be filed. The Commission resumes processing all pending non-mutually exclusive applications that were filed by incumbents with the Commission on or before February 8, 1996. The February 8, 1996 freeze interrupted the 30 or 60 day filing window in some cases. Therefore, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau will release a Public Notice with attached copies of the prior Public Notices containing the pending paging applications. All pending applications filed by incumbents on or before February 8, 1996 that were not on Public Notice for the required 30 or 60 days, will be deemed to continue to be on Public Notice for the r