Senior officials of the United States–Mexico High Level Consultative Commission on Telecommunications (HLCC) on June 8 signed major amendments to two existing bilateral agreements between the United States and Mexico to allow for the elimination of interference to the communications of first responders and to enable compatible operations for Sprint’s deployment of high-speed wireless broadband service in the U.S.-Mexico common border area.

The amendment for eliminating interference to first responders and public safety organizations reconfigures the channeling in a key radio band (800 MHz) to separate public safety channels from commercial channels. The amendment involving Sprint adds two sub-bands to the 1995 U.S.-Mexico Agreement for Personal Communications Services in which Sprint holds FCC licenses nationwide and may now deploy networks compatibly under those licenses along the common border area.

More information regarding the HLCC and the texts of the amendments can be found at http://www.state.gov/e/eb/cip/.

For further information, please contact Hal Grigsby at the U.S. State Department at 202-647-2723.