Sec. 90.725   Construction requirements for Phase I licensees.

    (a) Licensees granted commercial nationwide authorizations will be 
required to construct base stations having a minimum of five assigned 
nationwide channels and place 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

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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]