[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 135 (Thursday, July 13, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Page 43349]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-17668]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

[WT Docket No 95-5; FCC 00-76]


Streamlining the Commission's Antenna Structure Clearance 
Procedure

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In this document, the Commission responds to filings in WT 
Docket 95-5. We dismiss as moot a petition for partial reconsideration 
filed by the Wireless Cable Association International, Inc., deny a 
petition for partial reconsideration filed by Comp Comm, Inc., and 
grant in part and deny in part a petition for declaratory ruling filed 
by Teletech, Inc. In doing so, we conclude that the antenna structure 
registration procedures adopted in 1996 effectively allow us to meet 
our statutory responsibilities. In response to the petition for 
declaratory ruling, we provide clarification with respect to situations 
in which two or more parties locate facilities on the same tower. The 
effect is to retain in their entirety the rules adopted in a previous 
final rule.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jamison Prime, Wireless 
Telecommunications Bureau, Public Safety and Private Wireless Division, 
(202) 418-0680.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Memorandum Opinion and Order and Order 
on Reconsideration was adopted March 1 and released March 8, 2000. The 
document is available, in its entirety, for inspection and copying 
during normal business hours in the FCC Reference Center, (Room CY-
A257), 445 12th Street, SW, Washington, DC 20554. It may also be 
purchased from the Commission's copy contractor, International 
Transcription Services, Inc. (ITS, Inc.), 1231 20th Street, NW, 
Washington, DC 20036, (202) 857-3800. In addition, it is available on 
the Commission's website at http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Wireless/Orders/2000/fcc00076.pdf.

Summary of the Memorandum Opinion and Order and Order on 
Reconsideration

    1. Section 303(q) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 
vests in the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) authority to 
require painting and/or lighting of antenna structures that might 
constitute a hazard to air navigation. Part 17 of the Commission's 
Rules contains the procedures the FCC uses to identify structures which 
might pose an air safety hazard and by which owners register their 
antenna structures with the FCC.
    2. The Memorandum Opinion and Order and Order on Reconsideration 
addresses several filings the FCC received in response to the original 
Report and Order issued in WT Docket 95-5; a petition for declaratory 
ruling and a separate petition for partial reconsideration both 
requesting that the Commission establish a specific accuracy standard 
for obtaining antenna structure data to be filed with the FCC; a 
petition for partial reconsideration requesting that the Commission 
adopt relaxed procedures for Multipoint Distribution Service (MDS) and 
Instructional Television Fixed Service (ITFS) licensees whose licensing 
data differ from data submitted by antenna structure owners on whose 
structures the MDS and ITFS licensees are located; and a petition 
requesting clarification of the FCC's registration requirements in 
circumstances involving multiple antenna structures on building 
rooftops and concerning cases of two or more parties located on the 
same antenna tower.
    3. We conclude that a specific accuracy standard is unnecessary 
because the requirement that antenna structure owners first obtain a 
study from the Federal Aviation Administration ensures reliability of 
the antenna structure site data and promotes air safety. Additionally, 
we find that the request that the FCC adopt relaxed license correction 
procedures for MDS and ITFS licensees whose licensing data differ from 
data submitted by antenna structure owners on whose structures the MDS 
and ITFS licensees are located is moot, and therefore we do not modify 
these procedures. Any discrepancies between licensing data and antenna 
structure registration data would have occurred when owners of existing 
antenna structures (including those structures on which MDS and ITFS 
licensees were sited) registered with the FCC. The time period for 
registering these existing structures ended on June 30, 1998.
    4. We uphold the procedures adopted in 1995 that require all 
antenna structures meeting the registration criteria--including 
multiple structures atop the same rooftop--to be individually 
registered. Because the Commission's rules require a single 
registration for each antenna tower, we clarify that in those 
situations in which an owner of a supporting tower structure permits a 
third party to add a surmounting antenna, we will consider the owner of 
the supporting tower remains the ``owner'' for purposes of the FCC's 
antenna structure registration purposes. Thus, we grant the petition 
that requested this clarification.
    5. Accordingly, it is ordered that, pursuant to sections 4(i) and 
303(q) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 154(i) 
and 303(q), and sections 1.2, 1.3 and 1.429 of the Commission's Rules, 
47 CFR 1.2, 1.3 and 1.429, that the petitions filed in WT Docket 95-5 
are granted in part and dismissed in part.

Federal Communications Commission.
Magalie Roman Salas,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 00-17668 Filed 7-12-00; 8:45 am]
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