####### DA 04-2451 {#da-04-2451 .unnumbered}

####### August 3, 2004  {#august-3-2004 .unnumbered}

**REVISED INVENTORY FOR BROADBAND PCS SPECTRUM AUCTION**

**COMMENT SOUGHT**

**ON RESERVE PRICES OR MINIMUM OPENING BIDS AND**

**OTHER AUCTION PROCEDURES**

**Report No. AUC‑04-58-C (Auction No. 58)**

On June 18, 2004, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau ("Bureau")
announced the auction of 234 licenses in the broadband Personal
Communication Service scheduled to commence on January 12, 2005
("Auction No. 58").[^1] In the *Auction No. 58 Comment Public Notice*,
the Bureau sought comment on procedures for the auction of those
licenses. By this Public Notice, we revise the auction inventory to also
include the following eight D and E block broadband PCS licenses:[^2]

  -------- ----------------------- ------------- --------------------- ------------
  Market   Market Name             License       Frequencies           Frequency\
                                                                       Block

  BTA194   Houghton, MI            CW-BTA194-E   1885-1890/1965-1970   E

  BTA206   Iron Mountain, MI       CW-BTA206-E   1885-1890/1965-1970   E

  BTA207   Ironwood, MI            CW-BTA207-D   1865-1870/1945-1950   D

  BTA207   Ironwood, MI            CW-BTA207-E   1885-1890/1965-1970   E

  BTA279   Marinette,              CW-BTA279-E   1885-1890/1965-1970   E
           WI-Menominee, MI                                            

  BTA282   Marquette, MI           CW-BTA282-E   1885-1890/1965-1970   E

  BTA409   Sault Ste. Marie, MI    CW-BTA409-D   1865-1870/1945-1950   D

  BTA409   Sault Ste. Marie, MI    CW-BTA409-E   1885-1890/1965-1970   E
  -------- ----------------------- ------------- --------------------- ------------

Under the Commission's Part 24 rules, broadband PCS spectrum in the D
and E blocks is not subject to the entrepreneur eligibility
restrictions.[^3] Attachment A to this Public Notice provides a revised
complete list of licenses to be offered in Auction No. 58.[^4]

This Public Notice also seeks comment on the auction procedures for
these additional eight licenses. Parties that submitted comments and/or
reply comments in response to the *Auction No. 58* *Comment Public
Notice* should not resubmit those filings. Parties should submit
comments regarding the auction procedures only to the extent that they
relate to the new licenses included in the auction inventory.

# Reserve Price or Minimum Opening Bid

For the eight additional D and E block licenses offered in Auction No.
58, the Bureau proposes to use the same formula for calculating minimum
opening bids as proposed in the *Auction No. 58* *Comment Public
Notice*.[^5] Specifically, for Auction No. 58, the Bureau has proposed
to calculate minimum opening bids on a license-by-license basis using
formulas based on bandwidth and license area population.[^6]
Furthermore, the Bureau has proposed to differentiate these formulas
based on the population of each license area.[^7]

> Population ≥ 2,000,000: \$0.50 \* MHz \* License Area Population
>
> Population ≥ 500,000: \$0.25 \* MHz \* License Area Population
>
> Population \< 500,000: \$0.15 \* MHz \* License Area Population

The specific minimum opening bid for each license available in Auction
No. 58 is set forth in Attachment A of this Public Notice.[^8] We seek
comment on these proposals in the same manner as in the *Auction No. 58*
*Comment Public Notice*,[^9] but in this case, only as these proposals
relate to the eight licenses added to the auction inventory. As noted
above, parties that submitted comments and/or reply comments regarding
the reserve price or minimum opening bid in response to the *Auction No.
58* *Comment Public Notice* need not submit new comments unless it
relates to the addition of the eight licenses.

# Upfront Payments and Initial Maximum Eligibility for Each Bidder

For the eight additional D and E block licenses offered in Auction No.
58, the Bureau proposes to use the same formula for determining upfront
payments as previously proposed in the *Auction No. 58 Comment Public
Notice*.[^10] Specifically, for Auction No. 58, the Bureau has proposed
to calculate upfront payments on a license-by-license basis using a
formula based on bandwidth and license area population:[^11]

> \$0.05 \* MHz \* License Area Population

The specific proposed upfront payment for each license available in
Auction No. 58 is set forth in Attachment A.[^12] The Bureau further
proposed that the amount of the upfront payment submitted by a bidder
will determine the maximum number of bidding units on which a bidder may
place bids.[^13] This limit is a bidder's initial eligibility. Each
license is assigned a specific number of bidding units equal to the
upfront payment listed in Attachment A, on a bidding unit per dollar
basis. This number does not change as prices rise during the auction. A
bidder's upfront payment is not attributed to specific licenses. Rather,
a bidder may place bids on any combination of licenses as long as the
total number of bidding units associated with those licenses does not
exceed its current eligibility. Eligibility cannot be increased during
the auction. Thus, in calculating its upfront payment amount, an
applicant must determine the **maximum** number of bidding units it may
wish to bid on (or hold high bids on) in any single round, and submit an
upfront payment covering that number of bidding units. We seek comment
on these proposals as they relate to the eight licenses added to the
auction inventory.

# Other Auction Procedural Issues

In the *Auction No. 58 Comment Public Notice*, the Bureau also set forth
and sought comment on the following proposals relating to auction
structure and bidding procedures: (1) simultaneous multiple-round
auction design; (2) activity rules; (3) activity rule waivers and
reducing eligibility; (4) information relating to auction delay,
suspension or cancellation; (5) round structure; (6) minimum acceptable
bids and bid increments; (7) high bids and tied bids; (8) information
regarding bid withdrawal and bid removal; and (9) auction stopping rule.
For the additional licenses in Auction No. 58, we propose to use the
same auction structure and bidding procedures proposed in the *Auction
No. 58 Comment Public Notice*.[^14] We seek comment on these proposals
as they relate to the eight licenses added to the auction inventory.

# Conclusion

Comments are due on or before **August 10, 2004**, and reply comments
are due on or before **August 16, 2004**. Because of the disruption of
regular mail and other deliveries in Washington, DC, the Bureau requires
that all comments and reply comments be filed electronically. Comments
and reply comments must be sent by electronic mail to the following
address: [auction58@fcc.gov]{.underline}.[^15] The electronic mail
containing the comments or reply comments must include a subject or
caption referring to Auction No. 58 Comments and the name of the
commenting party. The Bureau requests that parties format any
attachments to electronic mail as Adobe^®^ Acrobat^®^ (pdf) or
Microsoft^®^ Word documents. Copies of comments and reply comments will
be available for public inspection during regular business hours in the
FCC Reference Information Center, Room CY-A257, 445 12th Street, SW,
Washington, DC 20554.

**In addition, the Bureau requests that commenters fax a courtesy copy
of their comments and reply comments to the attention of Kathryn Garland
at (717) 338-2850.**

This proceeding has been designated as a "permit‑but‑disclose"
proceeding in accordance with the Commission's *ex parte* rules.[^16]
Persons making oral *ex parte* presentations are reminded that memoranda
summarizing the presentations must contain summaries of the substance of
the presentations and not merely a listing of the subjects discussed.
More than a one or two sentence description of the views and arguments
presented is generally required.[^17] Other rules pertaining to oral and
written *ex parte* presentations in permit-but-disclose proceedings are
set forth in section 1.1206(b) of the Commission's rules.[^18]

For further information concerning this proceeding, contact the Auctions
and Spectrum Access Division, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, as
listed below:

For legal questions: Scott A. Mackoul or Audrey Bashkin at (202)
418-0660

For general auction questions: Jeff Crooks (202) 418-0660

Lisa Stover (717) 338-2888

For service rule questions, contact the Mobility Division, Wireless
Telecommunications Bureau, as follows: Erin McGrath, (202) 418-0620;
JoAnn Epps, (202) 418-1342; or Dwain Livingston, (202) 418‑1338.

**- FCC -**

[^1]: Broadband PCS Spectrum Auction Scheduled for January 12, 2005;
    Comment Sought on Reserve Prices or Minimum Opening Bids and Other
    Auction Procedures, *Public Notice*, DA 04-1639 (rel. Jun 18, 2004),
    69 FR 40632 (\"*Auction No. 58 Comment Public Notice*\"). An erratum
    to the *Auction No. 58 Comment Public Notice* corrected the formula
    for proposed upfront payments and proposed minimum opening bids.

[^2]: The spectrum recently became available as a result of license
    cancellation. We note that the license cancellations are
    uncontested.

[^3]: *See* 47 C.F.R. § 24.709.

[^4]: Attachment A to this Public Notice does not include Parts 2 and 3,
    which were included in Attachment A to the *Auction No. 58 Comment
    Public Notice*, because none of the additional eight licenses are
    for "partial" markets. Therefore, parties should reference the
    *Auction No. 58 Comment Public Notice* for detailed information on
    licenses listed in Attachment A that have "partial" markets.

[^5]: *Auction No. 58 Comment Public Notice* at Section II.B.

[^6]: All population figures are from the 2000 U.S. Census, U.S.
    Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. *See* Census 2000
    Summary File 1 (SF1) and July 3, 2001, News Releases covering the
    U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and
    American Samoa.

[^7]: For partial markets we will consider the population of the area
    covered. For Auction No. 58, the population covered by each license
    for partial markets falls within Tier 2.

[^8]: Results are rounded using our standard rounding procedure: results
    above \$10,000 are rounded to the nearest \$1,000; results below
    \$10,000 but above \$1,000 are rounded to the nearest \$100; and
    results below \$1,000 are rounded to the nearest \$10.

[^9]: *Auction No. 58 Comment Public Notice*, Section II.B.

[^10]: *Id*., Section I.B.

[^11]: All population figures are from the 2000 U.S. Census, U.S.
    Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. *See* Census 2000
    Summary File 1 (SF1) and July 3, 2001, News Releases covering the
    U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and
    American Samoa.

[^12]: Results are rounded using our standard rounding procedure:
    results above \$10,000 are rounded to the nearest \$1,000; results
    below \$10,000 but above \$1,000 are rounded to the nearest \$100;
    and results below \$1,000 are rounded to the nearest \$10.

[^13]: *Auction No. 58 Comment Public Notice*, Section I.B.

[^14]: *Id*., Sections I-II.

[^15]: Comments and reply comments in response to this Public Notice may
    not be filed using the Commission's Electronic Comment Filing
    System, which is used for the Commission's docketed rule making
    proceedings.

[^16]: 47 C.F.R. §§ 1.1200(a), 1.1206.

[^17]: 47 C.F.R. § 1.1206(b).

[^18]: *Id*.