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                            Before the
                Federal Communications Commission
                      Washington, D.C. 20554


In the Matter of                )
                                )
Request for Extension of Temporary )
Authority to Permit Continued Conditional )
Operation of Part 90 Facilities Reclassified)
as Commercial Mobile Radio Services as of)
August 10, 1996.                )


                              ORDER

        Adopted:  December 26, 1996               Released:  December 26, 1996

By the Chief, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau:

                         I.  INTRODUCTION

     1.  On December 6, 1996, the Personal Communications Industry Association (PCIA) filed
a request for an 180-day extension of the blanket special temporary authority (STA) previously
granted by the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau to former Private Mobile Radio Services
(PMRS) facilities operating under conditional authority that were reclassified as Commercial Mobile
Radio Services (CMRS) on August 10, 1996. For the following reasons, we grant a 120- day
extension of the STA.

                         II.  DISCUSSION

     2.  In the 1993 Budget Act, Congress created the CMRS regulatory classification and
mandated that licensees in certain Part 90 services be reclassified as CMRS.  The Budget Act also
provided that many of these reclassified licensees, including all private paging licensees, would
continue to be treated as PMRS until August 10, 1996, when they would be reclassified as CMRS
and be subject to CMRS rules.  In the STA Order, we allowed PMRS applicants who had
commenced conditional operation under Section 90.159 prior to August 10, 1996 to continue
operations under an STA after reclassification took effect.  Although CMRS applicants are generally
prohibited from operating facilities prior to license grant, we concluded that the transition from
PMRS to CMRS constituted an extraordinary circumstance sufficient to justify an STA for facilities
that would otherwise be required to discontinue operation.  Accordingly, we granted a blanket STA
to permit continued operation of such facilities for 120 days while the Commission processed the
pending applications.

     3.  In its extension request, PCIA states that processing of the pending Part 90 applications
has not yet been completed by the Commission, and facilities currently being used to serve the
public will have to be turned off pending completion of processing unless the STA is extended.  As
we stated in the STA Order, we believed that 120 days was sufficient time to ensure that all pending
Part 90 applications would be processed.  However, because processing has taken longer than
anticipated, we are extending the blanket STA for an additional 120 days, which will allow for
processing to be completed.  The STA will apply only to applicants who commenced conditional
operations under Section 90.159 as of August 10, 1996.  Applicants who filed applications prior to
August 10, 1996 but who were not operating as of that date are not authorized to do so by this Order. 
  

                      III.  ORDERING CLAUSE

     4.  Accordingly, pursuant to authority delegated by Section 0.331 of the  Commission's rules,
47 C.F.R.  0.331, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Extension of Special Temporary Authority filed
by the Personal Communications Industry Association is hereby GRANTED to the extent stated
herein.


                         FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION


                         Michele C. Farquhar
                         Chief, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau