Federal Communications Commission DA 14-624
Before the
Federal Communications Commission
Washington, D.C. 20554
In the Matter of
Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council
Licensee of Private Land Mobile Radio Stations,
Call Signs WQVD879, WQDV880
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WT Docket No. 02-55
Adopted:  May 9, 2014 Released: May 9, 2014
ORDER
By the Deputy Chief, Policy and Licensing Division, Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau
I. INTRODUCTION
1. Under consideration is the May 7, 2014 Request for Waiver to Provide Additional Time for 
Completing Planning and Submitting a Cost Estimate to Sprint Nextel and the 800 MHz Transition Administrator 
(Request) filed by the Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council (Council) seeking an extension of time 
until June 30, 2014 to submit a cost estimate for the reconfiguration of the Council’s 800 MHz communications 
system.  For the reasons set out below, we grant the Council’s request.
II. DISCUSSION
2. The Council represents that it has been unable timely to submit a cost estimate for the rebanding of 
its 800 MHz system because of several factors involved in the planning process.  Among those factors is the fact 
that subscriber units in the system are owned by 46 jurisdictions, such that inventorying the units and 
coordinating their rebanding has proven to be a “complex undertaking.”1 Also, the Council states that, to 
eliminate downtime on the system, it will be necessary to install a system of back-to-back repeaters, a process 
that will be complicated by the fact that the system already includes “back-to-back linkers” that connect the 
system to VHF systems.2 Additionally, the Council claims, its infrastructure is composed of multiple vendors’ 
equipment, configured in a “unique and undocumented” fashion.3 It also contends that there are space constraints 
at its sites and that some of the sites are leased from commercial owners with which the Council must negotiate 
for the installation of additional equipment for the back-to-back system.4
  
1 Request at 2.
2 Id. at 4.
3 Id. at 3.
4 Id.
Federal Communications Commission DA 14-624
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3. Section 1.46(a) of the Commission’s rules5 states that [i]t is the policy of the Commission that 
extensions of time shall not be routinely granted.  The “import of that rule is especially relevant to 800 MHz 
rebanding where delay in rebanding by one licensee can cause a ‘domino effect’ delay in the rebanding efforts of 
other licensees that have met the Commission’s 800 MHz band reconfiguration deadlines with a consequent 
delay of the overall program. We therefore afford a high degree of scrutiny to the reasons licensees advance for 
extensions of time.”6
III. DECISION
4. We have applied the requisite high degree of scrutiny to the Council’s Request and find that the 
County has exercised diligence in the preparation of a cost estimate.  In particular, we credit the Council for 
initiating contact, in advance, with Sprint Corporation to discuss the necessary methodology for reconfiguration 
on the Council’s system.  We also find that the length of the requested extension is no more than necessary for 
the Council to prepare and submit its cost estimate.  
IV. ORDERING CLAUSE
5. Accordingly IT IS ORDERED that that Request for Extension of Time filed May 7, 2014 by the 
Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council IS GRANTED.
6. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council shall file its cost 
estimate with Sprint Corporation and the 800 MHz Transition Administrator on or before June 30, 2014.
7. This action is taken under delegated authority pursuant to Sections 0.191 and 0.392 of the 
Commission’s rules, 47 C.F.R. §§ 0.191, 0.392.
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION 
Michael J. Wilhelm
Deputy Chief, Policy and Licensing Division
Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau 
  
5 47 C.F.R. § 1.46(a).
6 Regents of the University of California, Order, 28 FCC Rcd 15920, 15921 (PSHSB 2013).