Narrowbanding – History and Background

I. Summary
Narrowbanding is defined as the effort by the Federal Communications Commission to promote more efficient use of spectrum. Part 90 of the Commission’s Rules and Regulations requires private land mobile licensees operating in the VHF (150 – 174 MHz) and UHF (421-512 MHz) bands licensed to reduce their radio operations from 25 kHz bandwidth channels to 12.5 kHz or less (or equivalent efficiency, discussed later) by January 1, 2013, While the Commission recommends direct migration to 6.25 kHz efficiency, it has not set any date by which licensees must operate on 6.25 kHz bandwidth channels (or equivalent efficiency, discussed later). To promote narrowband migration, the Commission also set interim deadline requirements on licensees and manufacturers.

The Part 90 narrowbanding initiative is not optional for licensees in the impacted bands. Licensees failing to narrowband their operations (except on certain paging-only frequencies) face license revocation and/or fine by the FCC. Narrowbanding impacts a wide variety of radio users, including: police agencies; fire departments; utilities; airlines; messenger companies; taxicabs and others.

II. Background
In 1988, the FCC began what was then called its “refarming” proceeding. Since then, the Commission issued a number of rule and deadline dates changes for Part 90 VHF and UHF licensees.

A. First Report & Order – June 1995
In June 1995, the FCC’s Report & Order sought to encourage narrowbanding through the equipment certification process. The Commission did not set a mandatory user migration date in this proceeding. Thus, the Commission elected to ban the certification for new equipment with only a 25 kHz bandwidth as of February 1, 1997. In this manner, equipment which was type certified prior to February 1, 1997 could continue to be manufactured. New type certification was permitted after February 1, 1997 for multi-mode equipment (i.e. with a 25 kHz bandwidth mode, and a 12.5 kHz bandwidth mode).

In the same proceeding, the Commission originally decided that there would be no new type certifications for 12.5 kHz-only equipment as of January 1, 2005. Again, multi-mode equipment was excluded, and equipment with certifications before January 1, 2005 could continue to be manufactured.

Other FCC actions in this portion of the proceeding incuded: (1) consolidation of twenty Private Radio Services; (2) the ability to trunk these frequencies and obtain some level of exclusivity; and (2) created low-power frequencies to be coordinated by the Frequency Advisory Committees.

Unfortunately, voluntary narrowband migration did not proceed at a rate acceptable to the FCC. As a result, the FCC opened a new proceeding in 1999 (WT Docket No. 99-87) to review whether a mandatory user migration date needed to be set.

B. Second Report & Order – March, 2003
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-03-34A1.pdf

In March of 2003, the Commission issued a Second Report & Order in WT Docket No. 99-87. In that Report & Order, the FCC stated that applications for new 25 kHz systems would be prohibited six months after the publication of the Report & Order in the Federal Register (making the deadline January 13, 2004). Modification applications to expand existing wideband systems would be prohibited at that time, too.

The Commission’s Order also prohibited the certification of equipment capable of operating only one voice path per 25 kHz beginning January 1, 2005. In addition, the Order prohibited the manufacture or importation of such equipment beginning January 1, 2008. This Order eliminated the further certification of multi-mode equipment beginning January 1, 2005.

Most importantly, the Second Report & Order adopted mandatory user migration dates for users. For non-public safety users, a mandatory user migration of January 1, 2013 was established. A mandatory user migration date of January 1, 2018 for public safety users was also established. The Commission also sought comments on a mandatory 6.25 kHz user conversion date.

Several Petitions for Reconsideration of these dates were filed, and the FCC issued an Order staying the dates while it reviewed the Petitions.

C. Third Memorandum Opinion & Order – December 2004
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-04-292A1.pdf

The Commission’s Third MO&O, issued in December of 2004, significantly altered the mandatory migration date for public safety licensees. The Commission moved the public safety date to January 1, 2013, the same date as non-public safety licensees. Several parties had asked for this change, including the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO).

It should also be noted that the Commission adopted a Shulman Rogers concept of “equivalent efficiency.” Specifically, the narrowbanding rules from this point forward, “narrowbanding” would also consist of systems which have two voice paths for every 25 kHz bandwidth, or 4800 bits per second per 6.25 kHz for data systems. This is an important consideration when reviewing potential equipment options.

The Commission’s December, 2004 Order also did the following:

1. Set January 1, 2011 as a deadline for acceptance of applications for new operations using 25 kHz channels (without equivalent efficiency equipment);
2. Set January 1, 2011 as a deadline for acceptance of applications for expansion of existing 25 kHz bandwidth operations (without equivalent efficiency equipment);
3. Set January 1, 2011 as a deadline for the manufacture and importation of equipment operating on a channel bandwidth of 25 kHz (without equivalent efficiency);
4. Stayed the requirements of Sections 90.203(j)(4)-(5), which had mandated 6.25 kHz efficiency for newly certified equipment as of January 1, 2005.

D. Third Report & Order – March 2007
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-07-39A1.pdf

The most recent FCC Order on narrowbanding was issued in March of 2007. The most important decisions made by the Commission in this Order were as follows:

1. Maintain the January 1, 2013 mandatory user 12.5 kHz narrowbanding date for all users;
2. No mandatory transition to 6.25 kHz at this time (although the Commission recommended that users skip the 12.5 kHz step and go right to 6.25 kHz efficiency);
3. Change the implementation date for 6.25 kHz equipment capability, as specified in Section 90.203(j)(4)(5), from January 1, 2005 to January 1, 2011.

E. Public Notice – December 2009
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-09-2589A1.pdf

The FCC issued a Public Notice in December of 2009 to provide some clarification on narrowbanding procedures that the FCC will use. Important items in this Public Notice include:

1. The FCC specified procedures for narrowbanding applications;
2. The FCC stated that new, renewed and modified licenses will now have special conditions reminding licensees of the deadlines;
3. The FCC reiterated that wideband licensees may not operate on a secondary basis after January 1, 2013. Licensees failing to narrowband “… may subject licensees to enforcement action, including admonishments, monetary forfeitures, and/or license revocation, as appropriate.”
4. The FCC stated that equipment that was previously certified as multimode may continue to be manufactured and imported after January 1, 2011, provided that modes of operation are enabled primarily through software rather than firmware or hardware, and users are not provided with the programming software necessary to activate the wideband 25 kHz mode.

F. Order - June 30, 2010

http://www.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2010/db0630/FCC-10-119A1.pdf

The FCC issued an Order, in response to a Petition from NPSTC, changed the deadline for manufacturing of wideband radios until January 1, 2013. The FCC kept the original deadline of January 1, 2011 for new wideband system applications, or expansions of existing systems.

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