FCC grants waiver to Denver allowing B/ILT channels in 800 PS band

The US Federal Communications Commissions (FCC) has now granted a waiver to the City and County of Denver, Colorado, that allows it to license two Business/Industrial/Land Transportation (B/ILT) channels in the 800 MHz band for public safety communications.

Denver currently operates a simulcast system on 63 private land mobile radio (PLMR) service frequencies in the 806–821/851–866 MHz band (the ‘800 MHz band’) at 11 sites throughout Denver serving a population of over 600,000 people.

The police, fire and EMS communications within the county boundaries rely on its simulcast system but are experiencing “coverage deficiencies” at various locations within its service area. In particular, Denver states that its fire department experiences both “in-building” and outdoor “coverage deficiencies”.

The FCC rules applicable to the 800 MHz spectrum originally allowed such inter-category sharing of the channels; however, because the FCC implemented a freeze on such inter-category sharing in 1995, Denver required a waiver grant to use these channels.

The FCC stated that “one of the underlying purposes of the freeze was to preserve channels from the Public Safety Pool which, at the time, were the subject of a dramatic increase in demand by B/ILT licensees”.

In support of its request, Denver noted that no 800 MHz Public Safety Pool channels are available for the proposed operation and that the addition of the two B/ILT channels to its system would provide needed coverage to the fire department and other governmental entities. They argued that its request for a waiver is in the public interest because the additional channels will help it resolve its fire department’s coverage issues while enhancing coverage for other public safety departments.

Denver also submitted a letter of concurrence from a co-channel licensee.

The FCC decision can be accessed here: http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2015/db1002/DA-15-1104A1.pdf.

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