Sec. 101.75  Involuntary relocation procedures.

    (a) If no agreement is reached during either the voluntary or 
mandatory negotiation period, an ET licensee may initiate involuntary 
relocation procedures under the Commission's rules. ET licensees are 
obligated to pay to relocate only the specific microwave links to which 
their systems pose an interference problem. Under involuntary 
relocation, the FMS licensee is required to relocate, provided that the 
ET licensee:
    (1) Guarantees payment of relocation costs, including all 
engineering, equipment, site and FCC fees, as well as any legitimate and 
prudent transaction expenses incurred by the FMS licensee

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that are directly attributable to an involuntary relocation, subject to 
a cap of two percent of the hard costs involved. Hard costs are defined 
as the actual costs associated with providing a replacement system, such 
as equipment and engineering expenses. ET licensees are not required to 
pay FMS licensees for internal resources devoted to the relocation 
process. ET licensees are not required to pay for transaction costs 
incurred by FMS licensees during the voluntary or mandatory periods once 
the involuntary period is initiated, or for fees that cannot be 
legitimately tied to the provision of comparable facilities;
    (2) Completes all activities necessary for implementing the 
replacement facilities, including engineering and cost analysis of the 
relocation procedure and, if radio facilities are used, identifying and 
obtaining, on the incumbents' behalf, new microwave frequencies and 
frequency coordination; and
    (3) Builds the replacement system and tests it for comparability 
with the existing 2 GHz system.
    (b) Comparable facilities. The replacement system provided to an 
incumbent during an involuntary relocation must be at least equivalent 
to the existing FMS system with respect to the following three factors:
    (1) Throughput. Communications throughput is the amount of 
information transferred within a system in a given amount of time. If 
analog facilities are being replaced with analog, the ET licensee is 
required to provide the FMS licensee with an equivalent number of 4 kHz 
voice channels. If digital facilities are being replaced with digital, 
the ET licensee must provide the FMS licensee with equivalent data 
loading bits per second (bps). ET licensees must provide FMS licensees 
with enough throughput to satisfy the FMS licensee's system use at the 
time of relocation, not match the total capacity of the FMS system.
    (2) Reliability. System reliability is the degree to which 
information is transferred accurately within a system. ET licensees must 
provide FMS licensees with reliability equal to the overall reliability 
of their system. For digital data systems, reliability is measured by 
the percent of time the bit error rate (BER) exceeds a desired value, 
and for analog or digital voice transmissions, it is measured by the 
percent of time that audio signal quality meets an established 
threshold. If an analog voice system is replaced with a digital voice 
system, only the resulting frequency response, harmonic distortion, 
signal-to-noise ratio and its reliability will be considered in 
determining comparable reliability.
    (3) Operating costs. Operating costs are the cost to operate and 
maintain the FMS system. ET licensees must compensate FMS licensees for 
any increased recurring costs associated with the replacement facilities 
(e.g., additional rental payments, increased utility fees) for five 
years after relocation. ET licensees may satisfy this obligation by 
making a lump-sum payment based on present value using current interest 
rates. Additionally, the maintenance costs to the FMS licensee must be 
equivalent to the 2 GHz system in order for the replacement system to be 
considered comparable.
    (c) The FMS licensee is not required to relocate until the 
alternative facilities are available to it for a reasonable time to make 
adjustments, determine comparability, and ensure a seamless handoff.
    (d) Twelve-month trial period. If, within one year after the 
relocation to new facilities, the FMS licensee demonstrates that the new 
facilities are not comparable to the former facilities, the ET licensee 
must remedy the defects or pay to relocate the microwave licensee to one 
of the following: its former or equivalent 2 GHz channels, another 
comparable frequency band, a land-line system, or any other facility 
that satisfies the requirements specified in paragraph (b) of this 
section. This trial period commences on the date that the FMS licensee 
begins full operation of the replacement link. If the FMS licensee has 
retained its 2 GHz authorization during the trial period, it must return 
the license to the Commission at the end of the twelve months.
[ 61 FR 29694 , June 12, 1996]

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