Following extensive discussion between the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and private industry on competing personal communication system (PCS) technologies and regulatory policies, the FCC took a concrete step to address, in a notice of proposed rulemaking released in February 1992, the most critical issue to PCS development: spectrum allocation. The FCC targeted 220 MHz of spectrum, located between 1.85 and 2.20 GHz, to be reserved for a variety of emerging technologies. Specifically, the FCC proposes to dedicate the 1850-1990, 2110-2150, and 2160-2200 MHz bands to emerging technologies. The proposal also establishes an unprecedented migration plan to encourage the fixed microwave users currently assigned to these bands to relocate to other fixed microwave bands above 3 GHz or to alternative media such as fiber optics or satellites. The events leading to these proposals and the tasks they create for the FCC are outlined. >