**FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION**

**Washington, DC 20054**

March 27, 2001

**DA 01-763**

**In Reply Refer to**: 2000C1-RSN

Jay Kitchen, President

Personal Communication Industry Association

500 Montgomery Street, Suite 700

Alexandria, VA 22314-1561

Laura Smith, President and CEO

Industrial Telecommunications Association

1110 North Glebe Road, Suite 500

Arlington, VA 22201

Dear Mr. Kitchen and Ms. Smith:

This responds to your March 16, 2001, "Joint Request for Waiver"
(request) of Section 1.913(b) of the Commission's Rules, 47 C.F.R. §
1.913(b), to extend the Universal Licensing System (ULS) mandatory
deadline for electronically filing Land Mobile Phase I applications
requiring frequency coordination from March 20, 2001, until September
20, 2001. For the reasons described below, we are granting a short
extension of the deadline to ITA and PCIA, until April 20, 2001, so that
the Bureau may fully consider the issues set forth in your request
without causing undue disruption to the application filing process.

In your request you claim that two technical issues associated with the
implementation of ULS necessitate a waiver. First, you state that
problems with "Taxpayer Identification Number" (TIN) mismatches will
result in an increased number of returned applications. You point out
that an increase in returns is a drain on coordinator resources and has
the potential to interfere with coordinator responsibilities. Second,
you ask that we establish a "SuperUser Account" for frequency
coordinators. You claim that, without a SuperUser Account capability,
ULS only provides a partial benefit to the application process.

Section 1.913 requires that applications submitted by a frequency
coordinator on behalf of an applicant be filed electronically effective
July 1, 1999, or six months after the Commission begins use of ULS to
process applications in a particular radio service, whichever is later.
The Commission began use of ULS for the Land Mobile Phase I radio
services on September 19, 2000. As a result, mandatory electronic filing
went into effect for the following radio services on March 20, 2001: 220
MHz (excluding non-nationwide public safety/mutual aid), 929-930 MHz
Paging Site-Specific Channels, Location and Monitoring Service (LMS),
Specialized Mobile Radio (SMR), and 218-219 MHz (previously IVDS). Note
that for the remaining Land Mobile Phase I radio services (220 MHz
non-nationwide public safety/mutual aid and Broadcast Auxiliary)
individual applicants are not subject to mandatory electronic filing.
Further, license applications for the Land Mobile Phase I services
submitted by frequency coordinators on behalf of applicants on or after
March 20, 2001, must be filed electronically.

The issues raised in your request require detailed discussion in order
to determine their scope, effect, and merits. In the meantime, strict
application of 1.913(b) in this instance could result in dismissal of
applications filed by applicants through PCIA and ITA in good faith.
Therefore, we find good cause to temporarily waive the rule in this
instance. Accordingly, Section 1.913 is waived to permit ITA and PCIA to
continue filing applications involving the Land Mobile Phase I radio
services manually until

Mr. Jay Kitchen and Ms. Laura Smith Page 2

April 19, 2001. In addition, we waive Section 1.913(b) of the
Commission's Rules insofar as it applies to any manually submitted Land
Mobile Phase I radio service applications filed by PCIA and ITA between
March 20, 2001, and the date of this letter which have not otherwise
been acted on by the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau.

In this connection, we note that this waiver does not extend the
mandatory electronic filing deadline for other frequency coordinators or
for Land Mobile Phase I applicants. Further, this waiver does not extend
the deadline for mandatory use of FCC Forms 601 and 603 for any party.

This action is taken pursuant to the authority delegated in sections
0.131 and 0.331 of the Commission\'s Rules, 47 C.F.R. §§ 0.131, 0.331.

Sincerely,

Roger S. Noel

Chief, Licensing and Technical Analysis Branch

Commercial Wireless Division

Wireless Telecommunications Bureau