The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted a Report and Order and Memorandum Opinion and Order reallocating 27 MHz of spectrum transferred from federal government use for new flexible services. The Order reallocates a number of small spectrum blocks transferred pursuant to the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 and the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. The 27 MHz of reallocated spectrum is in the 216-220 MHz, 1390-1395 MHz, 1427-1429 MHz, 1429-1432 MHz, 1432-1435 MHz, 1670-1675 MHz, and 2385-2390 MHz bands transferred from government to non-government use.

Article Tools

• 

These actions will benefit consumers, the FCC said, by permitting and encouraging the introduction of new and innovative wireless technologies while at the same time preserving the primary status of wireless medical telemetry services and elevating low power radio services in the 216-217 MHz band, which include auditory assistance and law enforcement applications, to primary status.

This proceeding continues the implementation of the Commission's November 1999 Order, which, among other things, identified a preliminary allocation plan for this spectrum and articulated a number of goals for sound spectrum policy. Many of the actions taken in this Order will be further implemented with a forthcoming Notice of Proposed Rule Making on appropriate service rules for the reallocated frequency bands, some of which must be licensed by auction by September 2002.