December 22, 2016 (Herndon, VA) — In Reply Comments filed today, the Land Mobile
Communications Council (LMCC) noted the broad support within the Private Land Mobile Radio (PLMR) community for the proposals made by the FCC in WP Docket 16-261, to improve access to PLMR spectrum. The only area of significant controversy in the industry involves the rules governing priority access to the 800 MHz Expansion Band (EB) and Guard Band (GB) spectrum. The LMCC urged the FCC to revisit its 800 MHz EB/GB proposal which is more restricted than the LMCC’s original proposal.

While not all members supported the proposal, particularly with respect to SMRs, the LMCC’s Reply Comments nevertheless recommended that all existing 800 MHz incumbents, whether Business/Industrial Land Transportation (B/ILT), Public Safety or Specialized Mobile Radio (SMR) should be afforded time-limited priority access to available channels within the EB/GB. Other recommendations confirmed by the LMCC in its Reply Comments included:

• The LMCC offers to work with the FCC in developing protocols that would support the
  efficient use of all the UHF spectrum under consideration in the NPRM. “UHF spectrum that can be assigned on an exclusive basis is simply too scarce to be sequestered, unused by any entity, if effective coordination procedures would permit its deployment,” the LMCC commented; and
• The LMCC recommends adoption of the Central Station Alarm Association proposal,
  which represents a balance between the future spectrum needs of the central station
  alarm monitoring providers and those of other PLMR constituencies.

The LMCC Reply Comments may be viewed at www.lmcc.org.

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