The narrowbanding deadline imposed by the Federal Communications Commission on licensees in the UHF/VHF bands is coming up in less than three weeks. Good news for licensees: They can meet the FCC’s application requirements by filing the application by Dec. 31, even if it is not processed until next year.

Both the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications and Homeland Security & Public Safety bureaus informed the Land Mobile Communications Council (LMCC) that “licensees that have completed narrowbanding, or will complete narrowbanding by the January 1, 2013, deadline, but have not yet had their applications coordinated and will not have had their applications coordinated and submitted to the commission by the deadline, will not be regarded as being in violation of the deadline.”

Frequency coordinators expect an influx of applications as the narrowbanding deadline nears, so the LMCC had asked the FCC for clarification. The LMCC’s recommendation to the FCC is that frequency advisory committees prepare a list of all applications they receive on or before Dec. 31 that had not yet been filed with the FCC. These lists will be submitted to the FCC and to all frequency coordinators by Jan. 3.

The FCC approved this recommended procedure, which should benefit all parties involved with the narrowbanding effort.

Attached is the letter from the Land Mobile Communications Council to the FCC recommending this procedure. LMCC Late Filed NB Apps ex parte 110912