The FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau has denied a request by SAL Spectrum LLC, a subsidiary of ATN International, Inc., for a waiver to give it additional time to meet the interim construction requirement for a lower 700 megahertz B-block license. The Commission found that granting SAL’s initial waiver request would not the serve the Commission’s goal of ensuring intensive spectrum use via its construction rules. Further, granting the initial waiver request would frustrate the purpose of the Commission’s construction rules for the 700 MHz band, which are intended to promote rapid service to the public and, in certain circumstances,provide an opportunity for additional licensees to serve smaller license areas not served by the original licensee. The Bureau also found that grant of its alternative request for extra time to meet the accelerated end-of-license term construction was not warranted under the Commission’s general standards for considering waiver requests and denied that request.
