**DA 01-1674**

July 13, 2001

WIRELESS TELECOMMUNICATIONS BUREAU SEEKS COMMENT ON

SUMMIT WIRELESS' REQUEST FOR LIMITED WAIVER AND

EXTENSION OF TIME TO CONSTRUCT

**Comment Date: July 27, 2001**

**Reply Comment Date: August 3, 2001**

Pursuant to section 1.925(c) of the Commission's rules, 47 C.F.R. §
1.925(c), the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau seeks comment on the
Request for Limited Waiver and Extension of Time to Construct filed on
June 26, 2001, by Summit Wireless, LLC, Summit Wireless WOW, LLC, and
Summit Wireless Billings, LLC (collectively, "Summit").[^1]

Summit requests waiver of section 24.203(a) of the Commission's rules,
47 C.F.R. § 24.203(a), to extend the time period to meet the requisite
coverage for five C-block broadband Personal Communication Service
("PCS") licenses it recently acquired through assignment. Section
24.203(a) provides that a broadband PCS licensee of a 30 MHz block must
serve with a signal level sufficient to provide adequate service to at
least one-third of the population in its licensed area within five years
of original grant and two-thirds of the population in its licensed area
within ten years of original grant. The five-year construction deadline
for the five licenses that are the subject of Summit's waiver request is
September 17, 2001.

Summit specifically requests an additional seven months (*i.e*., until
April 17, 2001)[^2] to meet the coverage requirements for each of the
five markets.[^3] Summit states that it plans to provide PCS service to
underserved rural areas in these markets. In its request, Summit sets
forth steps it has taken to date to meet the specific coverage
requirements, but states that it would not be able to provide
commercially viable service to these five markets as of September 2001.
Summit, therefore, requests the additional seven months to meet the
specific coverage requirements for each of the five markets.

We seek comment on whether granting Summit's waiver request would
further the public interest. Commenters should address the sufficiency
of the showing made in support of the waiver in light of the
requirements of section 1.925 of the Commission's rules and any other
public interest considerations. Interested parties wishing to file
comments must do so on or before **July 27, 2001**. Parties interested
in submitting reply comments must do so on or before **August 3, 2001**.
All comments should reference Summit's waiver request, indicate in the
caption that this matter is before the Wireless Telecommunications
Bureau, Commercial Wireless Division, Policy and Rules Branch, and
include the DA number of this Public Notice, DA 01-1674.

Comments should be filed with the Office of the Secretary, Federal
Communications Commission, 445 12^th^ Street, SW, Washington, DC 20554.
In addition, parties should send one paper copy to: (1) Scott A.
Mackoul, Federal Communications Commission, Wireless Telecommunications
Bureau, Commercial Wireless Division, Policy and Rules Branch, 445
12^th^ Street, SW, Room 4-A361, Washington, DC 20554; (2) Public
Reference Room, Federal Communications Commission, 445 12^th^ Street,
SW, Washington, DC 20554; and (3) ITS, 445 12^th^ Street, SW, Room
CY-B400, Washington, DC 20554 (include one diskette copy for ITS).

By this Public Notice, we announce, pursuant to section 1.1200(a) of the
Commission's rules, 47 C.F.R. § 1.1200(a), that this proceeding will be
governed by permit-but-disclose *ex parte* procedures that are
applicable to nonrestricted proceedings under section 1.1206 of the
Commission's rules. 47 C.F.R. § 1.1206. We believe the public interest
will best be served by applying permit-but-disclose *ex parte*
procedures in this case, because this proceeding involves broad public
policy issues. Persons making oral *ex parte* presentations are reminded
that memoranda summarizing the presentations must contain summaries of
the substance of the presentations and not merely a listing of the
subject discussed. More than a one or two sentence description of the
views and arguments presented is generally required. *See* 47 C.F.R. §
1.1206(b). Other rules pertaining to oral and written *ex parte*
presentations in permit-but-disclose proceedings are set forth in
section 1.1206(b) of the Commission's rules, 47 C.F.R. § 1.1206(b).

Summit's waiver request is also available for public inspection and
copying in the FCC's Reference Center, 445 12^th^ Street, SW, Room
CY-A257, Washington, DC 20554. Copies of the waiver request are also
available for ITS at 1231 20^th^ Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036 or by
calling (202)857-3800.

For further information, contact Scott A. Mackoul at (202) 418-7498 or
smackoul@fcc.gov.

By the Chief, Commercial Wireless Division, Wireless Telecommunications
Bureau.

[^1]: *See* File Nos. 0000501254 and 0000501256. Summit filed a third
    application for three of the five licenses as part of the same
    request for waiver/extension, but was unable to file the request on
    the Commission's Universal Licensing System (ULS) because ULS had
    not yet reflected the updated information on the three licenses that
    Summit had recently acquired.

[^2]: We note that Summit filed an amendment to two of its three
    applications on July 3, 2001 clarifying that the requested extension
    be for seven months (*i.e*., until April 17, 2001). Summit likewise
    filed a letter on July 9, 2001 making the same clarification for the
    manually-filed, third application.

[^3]: The five markets include the following Basic Trading Areas
    ("BTAs"): Billings, MT (BTA041); Clarksburg-Elkins, WV (BTA082);
    Coos Bay-North Bend, OR (BTA097); Klamath Falls, OR (BTA231); and
    Kennewick-Pasco-Richland, WA (BTA228).