Sec.  90.631   Trunked systems loading, construction and authorization
requirements.

   (a) Non-SMR trunked systems will be authorized on the basis of a loading
   criteria of one hundred (100) mobile stations per channel. For purposes of
   determining compliance with trunked system loading requirements under this
   subpart, the term “mobile station” includes vehicular and portable mobile
   units and control stations.

   (b) Each applicant for a non-SMR trunked system must certify that a minimum
   of seventy (70) mobiles for each channel authorized will be placed into
   operation within five (5) years of the initial license grant.

   (c) Except for SMR applicants and as provided in paragraph (d) of this
   section, an applicant seeking to expand a trunked system by requesting
   additional channels from the Commission, or through intercategory sharing,
   or through an assignment, must have a loading level of seventy (70) mobiles
   per channel on the existing system that is the subject of the expansion
   request.

   (d) In rural areas, a licensee of a trunked system may request to increase
   its system capacity by five more channels than it has constructed without
   meeting the loading requirements specified in paragraphs (b) and (c) of this
   section. A rural area is defined for purposes of this section as being
   beyond a 100-mile radius of the designated centers of the following
   urbanized areas: New York, NY; Los Angeles, CA; Chicago, IL; Philadelphia,
   PA: San Francisco, CA; Detroit, MI; Boston, MA; Houston, TX; Washington, DC;
   Dallas-Fort Worth, TX; Miami, FL; Cleveland, OH; St. Louis, MO; Atlanta, GA;
   Pittsburgh, PA; Baltimore, MD; Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN; Seattle, WA; San
   Diego, CA; and Tampa-St. Petersburg, FL. The coordinates for the centers of
   these areas are those referenced in  Sec. 90.635, except that the coordinates
   (referenced to North American Datum 1983 (NAD83)) for Tampa-St. Petersburg
   are latitude 28 °00'1.1" N, longitude 82 °26'59.3" W.

   (e) Except as provided in  Sec. 90.629, licensees of trunked facilities must
   complete construction within one year.

   (f) If a station is not placed in permanent operation, in accordance with
   the technical parameters of the station authorization, within one year,
   except as provided in  Sec. 90.629, its license cancels automatically. For
   purposes of this section, a base station is not considered to be placed in
   operation unless at least two associated mobile stations, or one control
   station and one mobile station, are also placed in operation. An SMR
   licensee with facilities that have discontinued operations for 90 continuous
   days is presumed to have permanently discontinued operations, unless the
   licensee notifies the Commission otherwise, using FCC Form 601, prior to the
   end of the 90 day period and provides a date on which operation will resume,
   which date must not be in excess of 30 additional days.

   (g) Wide area systems may be authorized to persons eligible for licensing
   under subparts B or C of this part upon an appropriate showing of need.
   Remote or satellite stations of wide area systems in the Public Safety,
   Special Emergency, Telephone Maintenance, and Power Radio Services may be
   authorized on a primary basis if such stations are the first to be
   authorized in their area of operation on the frequency or group of
   frequencies. Remote or satellite stations of wide area systems in all other
   services will be authorized only on a secondary, non-interference basis to
   cochannel licensees. To determine system loading, the total number of mobile
   units and control stations operating in the wide-area system shall be
   counted with respect to the total number of base station frequencies
   assigned to the system.

   (h) Regional, statewide, or ribbon configuration systems may be authorized
   to persons eligible for licensing under subparts B or C of this part upon an
   appropriate showing of need. In a ribbon, regional or statewide system, a
   mobile station will be counted for channel loading purposes only for the
   base station facility in the geographic area in which it primarily operates.
   If this cannot be determined, it will be counted fractionally over the
   number of base station facilities with which it communicates regularly.

   [ 47 FR 41032 , Sept. 16, 1982, as amended at  48 FR 51929 , Nov. 15, 1983;  49 FR 36377 , Sept. 17, 1984;  53 FR 12157 , Apr. 13, 1988;  57 FR 37731 , Aug. 20,
   1992;  58 FR 12177 , Mar. 3, 1993;  59 FR 59966 , Nov. 21, 1994;  60 FR 21991 ,
   May 4, 1995;  60 FR 48918 , Sept. 21, 1995;  61 FR 6157 , Feb. 16, 1996;  61 FR 6577 , Feb. 21, 1996;  62 FR 18935 , Apr. 17, 1997;  63 FR 68969 , Dec. 14, 1998;
    69 FR 67849 , Nov. 22, 2004;  70 FR 61061 , Oct. 20, 2005]