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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 the Matter of ) ) Public Notice -- Wireless Telecommunications) Bureau Announces Antenna Registration Software) Compatible With Windows95, Requires) Registrations With New Software Beginning) Monday, June 1; Flat File to be Eliminated) ORDER Adopted: September 23, 1998 Released: September 23, 1998 By the Chief, Public Safety and Private Wireless Division, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau: 1. By this Order, we address the petition for reconsideration filed by AirTouch Communications ("Air Touch") on June 30, 1998, in the above-captioned matter. AirTouch asks us to reconsider, in part, the changes to the electronic registration procedures for the Commission's antenna structure registration program announced on May 29, 1998, by Public Notice. Specifically, AirTouch requests that we retain the "flat file" electronic filing option. For the reasons discussed herein, we grant AirTouch's reconsideration petition. 2. Background. Part 17 of the Commission's Rules sets forth procedures for construction, marking and lighting of certain antenna structures (generally those structures that may pose a hazard to air navigation) and outlines the process for registering those structures with the Commission. As part of its streamlining of the antenna structure clearance procedure in WT Docket No. 95-5, the Commission began permitting antenna structure owners to register electronically. Owners have been able to use the Commission's interactive electronic filing system to submit electronic registrations from their own computers by downloading and using free software from the Commission's Antenna Homepage on the Internet (http://www.fcc.gov/wtb/antenna). Until July 1, 1998, we also allowed owners to submit registrations via electronic mail, referred to as the "flat file." This "flat file" filing option was eliminated, effective June 30, 1998, at by the Public Notice. In its Petition for Reconsideration of the action taken in the Public Notice, AirTouch specifically asks that we retain this "flat file" electronic filing option. 3. Discussion. The scheduled discontinuance of the "flat file" option coincided with the end of a two- year filing window for "existing" antenna structures (i.e., those constructed before July 1, 1996) that was adopted in WT Docket No. 95-5, in which the Commission began permitting electronic filing. In the Public Notice, we observed that "flat file" is particularly useful for the simultaneous submission of multiple registrations, noted the large number of antenna structures that were required to be registered by June 30, 1998, and concluded that the "flat file" option would no longer be needed after that date. 4. While AirTouch does not dispute our conclusion that "flat file" has been useful for the registration of "existing" antenna structures, it describes industry uses for "flat file" submissions that we did not anticipate when we issued the Public Notice. Specifically, it notes that "flat file" and the electronic filing software work on a technically different basis, and that AirTouch has incorporated internal processes that allow it to quickly and automatically generate "flat file" submissions for changes to its antenna structures -- particularly for ownership or name changes, which require the submission of multiple registrations. These processes, it claims, are incompatible with the electronic filing software. Further, it notes that we have not stated previously that "flat file" was specifically intended for the registration of existing antenna structures, and it has relied on the availability of "flat file" for all electronic filings in developing its internal systems. 5. Because the antenna structure registration program furthers our statutory responsibility of ensuring that antenna structures do not present a hazard to air safety, it is in the public interest for us to provide an effective and efficient means for antenna structure owners to register their structures as quickly and easily as possible. We are persuaded by AirTouch's comments that the discontinuance of "flat file" will run counter to that goal, and that providing the filing software as a sole electronic filing option may delay or frustrate antenna structure owners' efforts to comply with our rules. Accordingly, we grant AirTouch's petition and reinstate the "flat file" option effectively immediately. Because these actions make AirTouch's motion for stay that accompanied its petition for reconsideration moot and we have not taken any adverse action on any flat-file submissions, we dismiss the motion. Further, because AirTouch did not seek reconsideration of the release and use of the revised filing software, we do not modify that portion of the Public Notice. As a result, owners may continue to download and use the Windows95-compatible software for their antenna structure registrations. 6. As AirTouch notes, the Commission's adoption of the Universal Licensing Service ("ULS") and associated consolidation, revision, and streamlining of the Commission's rules governing applications for radio services licensed by the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau may affect the manner by which we collect antenna structure registration information in the future. Although the ULS proceeding does not affect the antenna structure registration requirements under Part 17, the Commission is developing the software necessary to make the Antenna Structure Registration program compatible with ULS. Therefore, antenna structure owners should be aware that the "flat file" procedure is subject to modification or replacement as part of the implementation of ULS. 7. Finally, we note that "flat file" submissions that are incomplete or that do not follow the prescribed format will be dismissed in their entirety. This action is consistent with previous public notices describing the "flat file" process. 8. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED pursuant to Sections 4 (i) and 303 (q) and (r) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C.  154 (i) and 303 (q) and (r), and Section 1.106 of the Commission's Rules, 47 C.F.R.  1.106, that AirTouch's petition for reconsideration is GRANTED. 9. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that AirTouch's motion for stay is DISMISSED. 10. This action is taken under delegated authority pursuant to Section 0.331 of the Commission's Rules, 47 C.F.R.  0.331. 11. For further information concerning this Order, contact Jamison Prime or Bert Weintraub, Policy and Rules Branch, Public Safety and Private Wireless Division, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, at (202) 418-0680, or by e-mail, jprime@fcc.gov or bweintra@fcc.gov. Additional information about the Commission's Antenna Structure Registration program is available at the Antenna Homepage on the Internet: http://www.fcc.gov/wtb/antenna. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION D'wana R. Terry, Chief Public Safety and Private Wireless Division Wireless Telecommunications Bureau