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Before the
               Federal Communications Commission
                     Washington, D.C. 20554

In the Matter of                     )
                                     )
FEDERAL EXPRESS CORPORATION         )        File No. D066388
                                     )
Application for Five 900 MHz Business Category         )
Channels in the Boston, Massachusetts area        )
And Associated Request for                  )
Waiver of the Commission's Rules            )


                  MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

     Adopted:  February 22, 2000        Released:  February 25, 2000


By the Chief, Public Safety and Private Wireless Division, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau:

     I.   INTRODUCTION
1.   On January 11, 1999, Federal Express Corporation (FedEx) filed a Petition for
Reconsideration of the December 11, 1998 action by the Licensing and Technical Analysis Branch (Branch)
of the Public Safety and Private Wireless Division dismissing the above-captioned application. We deny the
petition for the reasons set forth below.
     II.  BACKGROUND
2.   FedEx was authorized, under Call Sign WNXJ987, to operate a trunked private land mobile
radio (PLMR) system in the vicinity of Logan International Airport, Boston, Massachusetts, (Logan Airport)
using five 900 MHz Business Category channels.  The license for Call Sign WNXJ987 carried a five-year term
that was scheduled to expire on September 25, 1996.  FedEx states that it mailed a renewal application to the
Commission on August 15, 1996, but our licensing records do not reflect the receipt of any such application. 
Consequently, the license for Call Sign WNXJ987 was deemed to have expired as of September 26, 1996, and
was deleted from the FCC's automated licensing database on December 13, 1996.
3.   FedEx states that it discovered the deletion of Call Sign WNXJ987 on December 19, 1996,
and thereupon contacted the Chief of the Special Facilities Section of the Land Mobile Branch of the former
Licensing Division and faxed her a copy of the application mailed to the FCC in August.  FedEx states that
she told it on December 23, 1996, to file another application because she could not locate any renewal
application.
4.   On December 23, 1996, Hub Folding Box, Fischbach & Moore, Perini Corp., and Industrial
Communications & Electronics, Inc., (referred to collectively as "the Four Applicants") submitted a set of five
applications (referred to collectively as "the Five Applications") to the Personal Communications Industry
Association, Inc. (PCIA), the Commission-certified frequency coordinator for 900 MHz Business Category
channels.  The Four Applicants proposed to operate a trunked community repeater on four of the five channels
formerly licensed to Call Sign WNXJ987, at a location 21.7 miles from FedEx's Logan Airport facility.
5.   FedEx submitted the above-captioned application to reinstate the license for Call Sign
WNXJ987 on December 24, 1996, almost 90 days after the date on which the license for Station WNXJ987
expired.  The application was not coordinated.
6.   PCIA subsequently certified the Five Applications.  PCIA forwarded them to the Commission
between January 15, 1997, and February 5, 1997.
7.   The Branch returned FedEx's December 24 application on April 30, 1997, for correction and
resubmittal on the grounds that, because it was submitted more than 30 days after the license expired, it was
a new application that required frequency coordination rather than a reinstatement application which did not. 
FedEx then asked PCIA to provide a frequency coordination request for the operations proposed in the
December 24 application, but PCIA declined to do so because FedEx's Logan Airport site with less than 55
miles from the facility proposed in the previously-coordinated Five Applications.  FedEx resubmitted its
application on May 30, 1997, along with a request for waiver of the frequency coordination requirement.  The
Four Applicants opposed FedEx's application.
8.   By letter dated December 11, 1998, the Branch denied FedEx's Waiver Request and
dismissed the above-captioned application.  The Branch concluded that FedEx had not demonstrated unique
circumstances or a lack of reasonable alternatives justifying a waiver of the Commission's Rules. The Branch
also found that FedEx had not demonstrated that it would serve the public interest to waive the Rules to allow
FedEx's defective application to be processed because this would in turn cause dismissal of the Five
Applications, which were properly coordinated and filed in accordance with the Commission's Rules.  The
Branch stated that it would continue to process the Five Applications.  FedEx filed a petition for
reconsideration of the Branch Letter on January 11, 1999.
9.   FedEx has continued to operate former Station WNXJ987 pursuant to special temporary
authority.  FedEx states that the facility is critical to its package delivery network because Logan Airport is
FedEx's northeast regional sort facility, one of only 14 regional sorting operations worldwide.  FedEx states
that it uses the five channels for security, maintenance, loading and offloading of aircraft, and other safety-
related requirements at Logan Airport.  With regard to alternatives, FedEx states that it holds approximately
750 Commission licenses and routinely assesses whether to contract out its radio communications operations,
but has concluded that maintaining its own private radio system is still the best option for it.  Moreover,
FedEx states that it contacted other entities licensed in the Logan Airport vicinity and found that they cannot
provide the access or capacity that FedEx requires for its business operations.
     III. discussion
10.  FedEx requested a waiver of the Commission's Rules to permit the reinstatement of its license
for Station WNXJ987 without new frequency coordination, even though the application was filed more than
30 days after the license expired.  Former Section 90.151 of the Commission's Rules required that waiver
requests demonstrate that unique circumstances are involved and that no reasonable alternative is available. 
We agree with the Branch that this standard has not been met.
11.  FedEx contends on reconsideration that the Branch erred in concluding that the Waiver
Request failed to satisfy the elements necessary to obtain the relief requested.  Specifically, FedEx states that
the circumstances of this case are unique because it maintains approximately 750 Commission licenses, and
it filed the renewal for Station WNXJ987 using the same procedures it routinely used for its other licenses. 
FedEx contends that it had no reason to suspect that the renewal application would simply "disappear" and that
it demonstrated diligence by monitoring the database and immediately reacting upon learning of the deletion. 
It also contends that, given its operational needs, it has no reasonable alternative to the continued operation of
its Logan Airport facility.  FedEx further contends that we should therefore reconsider the Branch Letter and
grant the Waiver Request as well as the above-captioned application.
12.  The Four Applicants respond that the Branch correctly determined that the circumstances
herein are not sufficiently unusual to support a waiver.  Moreover, they contend that FedEx was not
reasonably diligent in meeting its responsibility to ensure that its license was renewed.  Finally, the Four
Applicants argue that FedEx also failed to show that reasonable, even if less than ideal, communication
alternatives are unavailable to support its Logan Airport operations or that it has considered acquiring
replacement spectrum from an existing licensee.
13.  We agree with the Four Applicants that FedEx has not demonstrated that it diligently
prosecuted its renewal application.  Even assuming arguendo that FedEx mailed the application   we
nonetheless note that the record in this proceeding only establishes that the application was prepared and
placed in a mail tray in FedEx's office   FedEx failed to follow through adequately.  For example, under the
Rules applicants have the option to receive a date-stamped copy indicating FCC receipt of an application. 
FedEx either did not avail itself of this option, or failed to timely note that it did not receive its date-stamped
copy from the Commission.  Also, it appears that FedEx failed to keep track of whether the check for the
renewal fee was deposited.  Further, we are not persuaded by FedEx's contention that it had no reason to
suspect anything was amiss with the August 1996 application until Station WNXJ987 was deleted from the
database.  We do not believe that monitoring the database is a highly effective method of determining the
status of one's renewal application given that the deletion of a license from the database would not occur until
the 30-day reinstatement period expired.
14.  We also note the Commission's strong interest in preserving the clarity of when other
applicants may permissibly file for expired PLMR licenses.  We believe that granting FedEx's Waiver
Request and reinstating its canceled license, under the circumstances presented here, would frustrate the goal
of providing a date certain upon which other PLMR eligibles may file an application for the channel and area
covered by an expired license.
15.  Finally, we note that Fed Ex does not offer specific, supported claims of erroneous
conclusions of fact or law that would require reversal of the Branch Letter.  In this connection, we
acknowledge FedEx's contention that the Commission retained discretion to waive the reinstatement/late-
filed renewal rules when warranted by particular circumstances such as those presented in New York City
Transit.  Briefly, in New York City Transit the Commission waived the reinstatement/late-filed renewal rules
over the objection of a potential applicant for the channels involved after finding that:
          [T]he proposed system is a unique one, involving the safety of millions of
          passengers on thousands of buses, and it is totally dependent on retention of
          the 20 channels at issue.  The safe and efficient operation of the urban mass
          transportation system for the largest city in the United States would be
          seriously compromised by cancellation of these licenses.
          
16.  This precedent does not assist FedEx because the present case does not involve the
extraordinary public interest considerations found in New York City Transit.  We also note that FedEx's Waiver
Request was opposed by other pending applicants who filed applications at a time when the channels in
question were available for reassignment.  By contrast, the waiver request in New York City Transit was
opposed by a potential applicant; moreover, the channels involved in New York City Transit had not been
made available for reassignment to other applicants. 
     IV.  CONCLUSION
17.  In sum, FedEx's license expired; thus, it retained no authorization to operate on the five
channels after such expiration except for the special temporary authority that it has received to do so.  We are
not persuaded that FedEx's contention that it did not discover that its renewal application was lost in the mail
until after the license had expired and was deleted from the Commission's licensing database justifies a waiver
of the frequency coordination rules.  We find no error with the Branch's denial of the Waiver Request.
     V.   ORDERING CLAUSES
18.  Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED, pursuant to Section 4(i) of the Communications Act of 1934,
as amended, 47 U.S.C.  154(i), and Section 1.106 of the Commission's Rules, 47 C.F.R.  1.106, that the
Petition for Reconsideration filed by Federal Express Corporation on January 11, 1999, IS DENIED.
19.  IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Emergency Motion for Stay Pending Reconsideration
filed by Federal Express Corporation on December 31, 1998, IS DISMISSED AS MOOT.
20.  IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the special temporary authority for Federal Express
Corporation to operate on the subject 900 MHz Business Category Channels in the Boston, Massachusetts area
under Call Sign WNXJ987 is terminated as of 30 days from the release of this Memorandum Opinion and
Order.
21.  This action is taken under delegated authority pursuant to Sections 0.131 and 0.331 of the
Commission's Rules, 47 C.F.R.  0.131, 0.331.
                         FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION




                         D'wana R. Terry
                         Chief, Public Safety and Private Wireless Division
                         Wireless Telecommunications Bureau