The FCC has announced by Public Notice that the rules adopted in August of 2017, updating and consolidating service-specific renewal and permanent discontinuance rules, and establishing clear construction obligations for the transfer of portions of geographic licenses for Wireless Radio Services are now effective. While many rules became effective following the publication of the order in the Federal Register in September of 2017, certain amendments to the renewal rule in section 1.949, the discontinuance of service rule in 1.953, and the construction obligations for geographic partitioning and spectrum disaggregation rule in section 1.950, required approval by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). As OMB approval has been published in the Federal Register, the FCC states that licensees must now comply with all the requirements of the license renewal, discontinuance of service, and partitioning and disaggregation rules. Please note that while the renewal rule is now in effect, there are differing implementation dates for certain WRS.
