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If you need the complete document, download the WordPerfect version or Adobe Acrobat version, if available. ***************************************************************** Before the Federal Communications Commission Washington, D.C. 20554 In re Application of ) ) GTE Macro Communications Corporation, ) File No. 50002-CW-AL-96 Assignor, ) ) and ) ) 3 Rivers PCS, Inc., ) Assignee. ) ) Application for Partial Assignment of ) Broadband Personal Communications Service ) License, KNLF283, Market No. M042A - ) Spokane-Billings MTA ) ORDER Adopted: April 17, 1997 Released: April 17, 1997 By the Chief, Commercial Wireless Division, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau: I. INTRODUCTION 1. By this Order, we deny the Petition to Deny (Petition) filed by Mid-Rivers Telephone Cooperative, Inc. (Mid-Rivers) against the above-captioned application for partial assignment of the A Block Broadband Personal Communications Service (PCS) license of GTE Macro Communications Corporation (GTE) for the Spokane-Billings Major Trading Area (MTA) to 3 Rivers PCS, Inc. (3 Rivers). We conclude that Mid-Rivers has failed to demonstrate that granting the partial assignment application would be inconsistent with the public interest. Accordingly, we deny the Petition and grant the above-captioned application. II. BACKGROUND 2. On June 25, 1996, GTE and 3 Rivers filed the above-captioned application seeking to partition a portion of the Spokane-Billings A block PCS market from GTE to 3 Rivers. GTE seeks to assign to 3 Rivers that portion of its A block PCS market encompassed by the Great Falls, Billings, Bozeman, Helena, and Butte (expect for Powell County) Basic Trading Areas (BTAs). At the time of filing, Section 24.714(d)(2) of our rules required that partitioned PCS license areas include the wireline service area of the assignee, which was required to be a rural telephone company. The applicants submit that 3 Rivers is a rural telephone company; however, they acknowledge that a portion of the partitioned area is outside of 3 Rivers' local exchange telephone service area. Nonetheless, the applicants argue that they have satisfied the requirements of Section 24.714 because the area to be partitioned, when taken as a whole, encompasses 3 Rivers' entire local exchange telephone service area and the partitioning plan is reasonably related to 3 Rivers' entire local exchange telephone service area. III. DISCUSSION 3. In its Petition to Deny, Mid-Rivers argues that the proposed partitioning does not comply with the Commission's rules because the partitioned area includes the Billings BTA and 3 Rivers does not provide telephone service anywhere within the Billings BTA. Therefore, Mid-Rivers argues, the partial assignment does not comply with Section 24.714 and must be denied. 4. GTE and 3 Rivers respond that the Commission should examine the proposed partitioning plan as a whole and that, when examined as such, it is clear that the GTE-3 Rivers application meets the requirements of Section 24.714. GTE and 3 Rivers argue that the entire partitioned license area is reasonably related to the local exchange service area of 3 Rivers. 5. In its Reply, Mid-Rivers argues that GTE and 3 Rivers have not shown that 3 Rivers' telephone subscribers have any relationship with the Billings BTA. Mid-Rivers concludes that the Commission's partitioning policy would be distorted by grant of the GTE-3 Rivers application because 3 Rivers does not provide telephone service within the Billings BTA. 6. On December 20, 1996, the Commission released its Report and Order in WT Docket No. 96-148, wherein it modified the rules for broadband PCS partitioning. Under revised Section 24.714, partitioning of broadband PCS licenses is not limited to rural telephone companies. Similarly, the requirement that a partitioned license area conform to the wireline service area of a rural telephone company has been eliminated. Under Section 24.714, licensees in the A, B, D, and E blocks are free to partition to any entity that meets the Commission's minimum eligibility requirements. In addition, the parties are permitted to freely designate partitioned license areas, as long as they submit a description of the partitioned area to the Commission and a certification as to which party will be responsible for meeting the construction requirements for the partitioned area. On March 4, 1997, GTE and 3 Rivers amended their application by submitting the aforementioned description and certification. We therefore find that the issues raised by Mid-Rivers in its Petition to Deny are moot and that the amended application complies with the Commission's rules. IV. CONCLUSION 7. Having reviewed the application, the amendment, and the pleadings filed in this matter, we conclude that grant of the subject application, as amended, will serve the public interest, convenience, and necessity, and that Mid-Rivers has not sufficiently alleged facts establishing that grant of the application would be inconsistent with the public interest, convenience, and necessity. Therefore, we deny Mid-Rivers's Petition and grant the above-captioned application. V. ORDERING CLAUSES 8. Accordingly, pursuant to our authority under Sections 4(i) and 309(d)(2) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C.  154(i) and 309(d)(2), and Sections 24.830 and 24.839 of the Commission's rules, 47 C.F.R.  24.830 and 24.839, IT IS ORDERED that the Petition to Deny filed by Mid-Rivers Telephone Cooperative, Inc. IS DENIED and that the application for partial assignment of the A Block Broadband Personal Communications Service License of GTE Macro Communications Corporation for the Spokane-Billings Major Trading Area to 3 Rivers PCS, Inc., IS GRANTED. 9. This action is taken pursuant to delegated authority as set forth in Section 0.331 of the Commission's rules, 47 C.F.R.  0.331. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION David L. Furth Chief, Commercial Wireless Division