Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 14 / Monday, January 23, 2006 / Notices 3513 

assist you and others in determining 

whether this action might apply to 

certain entities. If you have any 

questions regarding the applicability of 

this action to a particular entity, consult 

the person listed under FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT. 

B. What Should I Consider as I Prepare 

My Comments for EPA? 

1. Submitting CBI. Do not submit this 

information to EPA through 

www.regulations.gov or e-mail. Clearly 

mark the part or all of the information 

that you claim to be CBI. For CBI 

information in a disk or CD ROM that 

you mail to EPA, mark the outside of the 

disk or CD ROM as CBI and then 

identify electronically within the disk or 

CD ROM the specific information that is 

claimed as CBI. In addition to one 

complete version of the comment that 

includes information claimed as CBI, a 

copy of the comment that does not 

contain the information claimed as CBI 

must be submitted for inclusion in the 

public docket. Information so marked 

will not be disclosed except in 

accordance with procedures set forth in 

40 CFR part 2. 

2. Tips for preparing your comments. 

When submitting comments, remember 

to: 

• Identify this document by docket ID 

number and other identifying 

information (subject heading, Federal 

Register date and page number). 

• Follow directions. The Agency may 

ask you to respond to specific questions 

or organize comments by referencing a 

Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) part 

or section number. 

• Explain why you agree or disagree; 

suggest alternatives and substitute 

language for your requested changes. 

• Describe any assumptions and 

provide any technical information and/ 

or data that you used. 

• If you estimate potential costs or 

burdens, explain how you arrived at 

your estimate in sufficient detail to 

allow for it to be reproduced. 

• Provide specific examples to 

illustrate your concerns, and suggest 

alternatives. 

• Explain your views as clearly as 

possible, avoiding the use of profanity 

or personal threats. 

• Make sure to submit your 

comments by the comment period 

deadline identified. 

II. What Action is the Agency Taking? 

EPA is printing a summary of a 

pesticide petition received under 

section 408 of the Federal Food, Drug, 

and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), 21 U.S.C. 

346a, proposing the establishment of an 

exemption from the requirement of 

regulations in 40 CFR part 180 for 

residues of C10–11 rich aromatic 

hydrocarbon fluid (Aromatic 150 Fluid) 

in or on food commodities when used 

as an inert ingredient in pesticide 

products. EPA has determined that the 

pesticide petition contains data or 

information regarding the elements set 

forth in FFDCA section 408(d)(2); 

however, EPA has not fully evaluated 

the sufficiency of the submitted data at 

this time or whether the data support 

granting of the pesticide petition. 

Additional data may be needed before 

EPA rules on the pesticide petition. 

Pursuant to 40 CFR 180.7(f), a 

summary of the petition included in this 

notice, prepared by the petitioner along 

with a description of the analytical 

method available for the detection and 

measurement of the pesticide chemical 

residues is available on EPA’s Electronic 

Docket at http://www.regulations.gov/. 

To locate this information on the home 

page of EPA’s Electronic Docket, select 

‘‘Quick Search’’ and type the OPP 

docket ID number ‘‘EPA–HQ–OPP–

2005–0319’’ in the search field. Once 

the search has located the docket, 

clicking on the ‘‘Docket ID’’ will bring 

up a list of all documents in the docket 

for the pesticide including the petition 

summary. 

New Exemption from the Requirement 

of a Tolerance 

PP 5E6934. ExxonMobil Chemical 

Company (ExxonMobil), Division of 

Exxon Mobil Corporation, 13501 Katy 

Freeway, Houston, TX 77079, proposes 

to establish an exemption from the 

requirement of a tolerance for residues 

of C10–11 rich aromatic hydrocarbon 

fluid (Aromatic 150 Fluid) in or on food 

commodities when used as an inert 

ingredient in pesticide products. 

Because this petition is a request for a 

tolerance exemption without numerical 

limitations, no analytical method is 

required. 

List of Subjects 

Environmental protection, 

Agricultural commodities, Feed 

additives, Food additives, Pesticides 

and pests, Reporting and recordkeeping 

requirements. 

Dated: January 12, 2006. 

Lois Rossi, 

Director, Registration Division, Office of 

Pesticide Programs. 

[FR Doc. 06–571 Filed 1–20–06; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–S 

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS 

COMMISSION 

[Report No. AUC–06–65–A (Auction No. 65); 

DA 06–3] 

Auction of 800 MHz Air-Ground 

Radiotelephone Service Licenses 

AGENCY: Federal Communications 

Commission. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: This document announces the 

auction of new nationwide commercial 

Air-Ground Radiotelephone Service 

licenses in the 800 MHz band (Auction 

No. 65), scheduled to commence on 

May 10, 2006. This document also seeks 

comments on reserve prices or 

minimum opening bids and other 

procedures for Auction No. 65. 

DATES: Comments are due on or before 

January 31, 2006 and reply comments 

are due on or before February 7, 2006. 

ADDRESSES: Comments and reply 

comments must be sent by electronic 

mail to the following address: 

auctions65@fcc.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

legal questions: Brian Carter at (202) 

418–0660. For general auction 

questions: Jeff Crooks at (202) 418–0660. 

For service rules questions: Erin 

McGrath or Richard Arsenault (legal); or 

Jay Jackson or Moslem Sawez 

(technical) at (202) 418–0620. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a 

summary of the Auction No. 65 

Comment Public Notice released on 

January 10, 2006. The complete text of 

the Auction No. 65 Comment Public 

Notice, including attachments and 

related Commission documents is 

available for public inspection and 

copying from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. 

Monday through Thursday or from 8 

a.m. to 11:30 p.m. on Friday at the FCC 

Reference Information Center, Portals II, 

445 12th Street, SW., Room CY–A257, 

Washington, DC 20554. The Auction No. 

65 Comment Public Notice and related 

Commission documents may also be 

purchased from the Commission’s 

duplicating contractor, Best Copy and 

Printing, Inc. (BCPI), Portals II, 445 12th 

Street, SW., Room CY-B402, 

Washington, DC 20554, telephone 202–

488–5300, facsimile 202–488–5563, or 

you may contact BCPI at its Web site: 

http://www.BCPIWEB.com. When 

ordering documents from BCPI please 

provide the appropriate FCC document 

number for example, DA 06–3. The 

Auction No. 65 Comment Public Notice 

and related documents are also 

available on the Internet at the 

Commission’s Web site: 

http://wireless.fcc.gov/auctions/65/. 


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I. Licenses To Be Offered in Auction 

No. 65 

1. Alternative Band Configurations. 

The Commission will auction licenses 

in three alternative band configurations: 

(1) Band Plan 1, comprised of two 

overlapping, shared, cross-polarized 3 

MHz licenses (Licenses A and B, 

respectively), (2) Band Plan 2, 

comprised of an exclusive 3 MHz 

license and an exclusive 1 MHz license 

(Licenses C and D, respectively), and (3) 

Band Plan 3, comprised of an exclusive 

1 MHz license and an exclusive 3 MHz 

license (Licenses E and F, respectively), 

with the blocks at opposite ends of the 

band from Band Plan 2. Licenses in only 

one of these mutually incompatible 

band configurations will be awarded. 

The band plan that receives the highest 

aggregate bids in the auction will be 

implemented, and licenses composing 

that configuration will be awarded to 

winning bidders subject to review of the 

long-form license applications. Because 

the three band configurations are 

mutually incompatible, applications for 

licenses in different band plans will be 

mutually exclusive. The descriptions 

and licenses available in Auction No. 65 

are listed in Attachment A of the 

Auction No. 65 Comment Public Notice. 

2. Permissible Services. A new 

licensee may provide any type of airground service (i.e., voice telephony, 

broadband Internet, data, etc.) to aircraft 

of any type, and serve any or all aviation 

markets (commercial, government, and 

general). A licensee must provide 

service to aircraft. A new licensee may 

not provide ancillary land mobile or 

fixed services in the 800 MHz airground spectrum. 

3. Eligibility Restriction. In order to 

promote competition in the 800 MHz 

air-ground band, the Commission has 

prohibited any party from obtaining a 

controlling interest, either at auction or 

by a post-auction transaction, in new 

licenses for more than three megahertz 

of spectrum (either shared or exclusive) 

in the band. No single party, therefore, 

may hold more than one license in any 

of the available band configurations. 

4. International Coordination. To 

promote interoperable communications 

and to manage interference, some of the 

ground station locations in North 

America and channel block assignments 

of the 800 MHz air-ground band have 

been predetermined consistent with 

bilateral agreements with Mexico and 

with Canada. These agreements, which 

provide for coordinated use of the 800 

MHz air-ground frequencies over North 

American airspace, are based on a 

narrow bandwidth channel scheme, and 

therefore may need to be renegotiated to 

provide for more flexible use of this 

spectrum based on the band plan 

configuration that is implemented as a 

result of the auction. 

5. Spectrum Sharing Plan. If Band 

Plan 1, which is comprised of two 

overlapping 3 MHz licenses, is 

implemented, the new licensees will be 

required to jointly file a spectrum 

sharing and site selection plan with the 

Wireless Telecommunications Bureau 

(Bureau) within six months of the initial 

grant of their spectrum licenses, and 

they will be required to notify the 

Bureau of any changes to the plan. The 

Bureau will issue a public notice prior 

to the commencement of Auction No. 65 

in which it will specify the filing 

requirements for such a plan. This 

approach will provide parties with 

overlapping spectrum licenses 

flexibility to configure their systems 

without having to adhere to minimum 

spacing requirements or site locations 

predetermined by the Commission. 

6. Incumbent Licensee. In the AirGround Order, the Commission granted 

Verizon Airfone—the only incumbent 

service provider in the 800 MHz airground band—a nonrenewable license 

to operate in the band for five years. 

This license will expire in May 2010. 

Verizon Airfone must transition its 

incumbent narrowband operations from 

four to one megahertz of spectrum in the 

band within two years of the initial 

grant date of a new license in the band. 

The Commission has directed the 

Bureau to adopt reporting requirements 

so that Airfone’s transition of its base 

stations and its subscribers’ aircraft to 

operations in one megahertz of the 800 

MHz air-ground band may be 

monitored. The Bureau will issue a 

public notice enumerating such 

requirements by February 6, 2006. 

Airfone must file its initial transition 

status report with the Commission six 

months from the date of the grant of any 

new license in the band and at each of 

the three six-month intervals thereafter. 

7. In addition, if Airfone, or an 

affiliate of Airfone, wins an exclusive 3 

MHz license at auction, the Bureau will 

issue a public notice within 60 days of 

the grant of such a license, which 

requires the company to include in each 

status report information regarding the 

transition of its existing subscribers 

from its narrowband system to a 

broadband system and to file additional 

status reports at six-month intervals 

from the conclusion of the two-year 

transition period until the expiration of 

its five-year nonrenewable license. 

II. Auction Procedures 

8. Section 309(j)(3) of the 

Communications Act of 1934, as 

amended, requires the Commission to 

‘‘ensure that, in the scheduling of any 

competitive bidding under this 

subsection, an adequate period is 

allowed * * * before issuance of 

bidding rules, to permit notice and 

comment on proposed auction 

procedures * * *.’’ Consistent with the 

provisions of section 309(j)(3) and to 

ensure that potential bidders have 

adequate time to familiarize themselves 

with the specific rules that will govern 

the day-to-day conduct of an auction, 

the Commission directed the Bureau, 

under its existing delegated authority, to 

seek comment on a variety of auctionspecific procedures prior to the start of 

each auction. The Bureau therefore 

seeks comment on the following issues 

relating to Auction No. 65. 

A. Auction Structure 

i. Simultaneous Multiple-Round 

Auction Design 

9. The Bureau proposes to conduct 

Auction No. 65 as a simultaneous 

multiple-round auction. As indicated 

above, licenses will be offered in three 

mutually incompatible band 

configurations, and the band plan that 

receives the highest aggregate bids in 

the auction will be implemented. The 

Bureau believes the simultaneous 

multiple-round auction design is an 

appropriate auction design given these 

circumstances. This type of auction 

offers every license for bid at the same 

time and consists of successive bidding 

rounds in which eligible bidders may 

place bids on individual licenses. 

Bidding remains open on all licenses 

until bidding stops on every license. 

The Bureau seeks comment on this 

proposal. 

ii. Round Structure 

10. The Commission will conduct 

Auction No. 65 over the Internet. 

Alternatively, telephonic bidding will 

also be available. The toll-free telephone 

number for telephonic bidding will be 

provided to qualified bidders. 

11. The simultaneous multiple-round 

format will consist of sequential bidding 

rounds, each followed by the release of 

round results. The initial bidding 

schedule will be announced in a public 

notice to be released at least one week 

before the start of the auction. Details on 

viewing round results, including the 

location and format of downloadable 

round results files, will be included in 

the same public notice. 

12. The Bureau retains the discretion 

to change the bidding schedule in order 

to foster an auction pace that reasonably 

balances speed with the bidders’ need to 

study round results and adjust their 


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Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 14 / Monday, January 23, 2006 / Notices 3515 

bidding strategies. The Bureau may 

increase or decrease the amount of time 

for the bidding rounds and review 

periods, or the number of rounds per 

day, depending upon the bidding 

activity level and other factors. 

iii. Stopping Rule 

13. The Bureau has discretion to 

establish stopping rules before or during 

multiple round auctions in order to 

terminate the auction within a 

reasonable time. For Auction No. 65, the 

Bureau proposes to employ a 

simultaneous stopping rule approach. A 

simultaneous stopping rule means that 

all licenses remain available for bidding 

until bidding closes simultaneously on 

all licenses. 

14. Bidding will close simultaneously 

on all licenses after the first round in 

which no bidder submits any new bids 

or applies a proactive waiver. Thus, 

unless circumstances dictate otherwise, 

bidding will remain open on all licenses 

until bidding stops on every license. 

15. However, the Bureau proposes to 

retain the discretion to exercise any of 

the following options during Auction 

No. 65: (a) Use a modified version of the 

simultaneous stopping rule. The 

modified stopping rule would close the 

auction for all licenses after the first 

round in which no bidder applies a 

waiver or submits any new bids on any 

license for which it is not the 

provisionally winning bidder. Thus, 

absent any other bidding activity, a 

bidder placing a new bid on a license 

for which it is the provisionally winning 

bidder would not keep the auction open 

under this modified stopping rule; (b) 

keep the auction open even if no bidder 

submits any new bids or applies a 

waiver. In this event, the effect will be 

the same as if a bidder had applied a 

waiver. The activity rule, therefore, will 

apply as usual and a bidder with 

insufficient activity will either lose 

bidding eligibility or use a remaining 

activity rule waiver; (c) declare that the 

auction will end after a specified 

number of additional rounds (special 

stopping rule). If the Bureau invokes 

this special stopping rule, it will accept 

bids in the specified final round(s) after 

which the auction will close. 

16. The Bureau proposes to exercise 

these options only in certain 

circumstances, for example, where the 

auction is proceeding very slowly, there 

is minimal overall bidding activity, or it 

appears likely that the auction will not 

close within a reasonable period of time. 

Before exercising these options, the 

Bureau is likely to attempt to increase 

the pace of the auction by, for example, 

increasing the number of bidding 

rounds per day and/or changing the 

minimum acceptable bid percentage. 

The Bureau seeks comment on these 

proposals. 

iv. Information Relating to Auction 

Delay, Suspension, or Cancellation 

17. For Auction No. 65, the Bureau 

proposes that, by public notice or by 

announcement during the auction, the 

Bureau may delay, suspend, or cancel 

the auction in the event of natural 

disaster, technical obstacle, evidence of 

an auction security breach, unlawful 

bidding activity, administrative or 

weather necessity, or for any other 

reason that affects the fair and efficient 

conduct of competitive bidding. In such 

cases, the Bureau, in its sole discretion, 

may elect to resume the auction starting 

from the beginning of the current round, 

resume the auction starting from some 

previous round, or cancel the auction in 

its entirety. Network interruption may 

cause the Bureau to delay or suspend 

the auction. The Bureau emphasizes 

that exercise of this authority is solely 

within the discretion of the Bureau, and 

its use is not intended to be a substitute 

for situations in which bidders may 

wish to apply their activity rule waivers. 

The Bureau seeks comment on this 

proposal. 

B. Bidding Procedures 

i. Upfront Payments and Bidding 

Eligibility 

18. The Bureau has delegated 

authority and discretion to determine an 

appropriate upfront payment for each 

license being auctioned. A bidder’s 

upfront payment is a refundable deposit 

to establish eligibility to bid on licenses. 

Upfront payments related to licenses for 

the specific spectrum subject to auction 

protect against frivolous or insincere 

bidding and provide the Commission 

with a source of funds from which to 

collect payments owed at the close of 

the auction. With these factors in mind 

for Auction No. 65, we propose upfront 

payments of $100,000 per license. 

19. Consistent with the Bureau’s usual 

practice, we further propose that the 

amount of the upfront payment 

submitted by a bidder will determine 

the bidder’s bidding eligibility in 

bidding units. For Auction No. 65, the 

Bureau proposes to assign 100,000 

bidding units per license. The number 

of bidding units for a given license is 

fixed and does not change during the 

auction as prices change. 

20. However, because the mutually 

incompatible band configurations and 

the three megahertz eligibility 

restriction limit a bidder to winning 

only a single license, the Bureau 

proposes to permit a bidder with 

100,000 bidding units of eligibility to 

bid or be active simultaneously on any 

or all of the licenses it selected on its 

FCC Form 175, rather than being limited 

to activity on a single license with 

100,000 bidding units as our usual 

activity and eligibility rules would 

require. That is, under the Bureau’s 

proposal, an upfront payment of 

$100,000 would give a bidder 100,000 

bidding units of eligibility, which in 

turn would permit the bidder to be 

active on any or all of the licenses it 

selected on its FCC Form 175, making 

it unnecessary to acquire more than 

100,000 bidding units of bidding 

eligibility in order to bid or be active 

simultaneously on more than one 

license. 

21. The proposed upfront payment 

and number of bidding units for each 

license available in Auction No. 65 is 

also set forth in Attachment A of the 

Auction No. 65 Comment Public Notice. 

The Bureau seeks comment on this 

proposal. 

ii. Activity Rule 

22. In order to ensure that an auction 

closes within a reasonable period of 

time, an activity rule requires bidders to 

bid actively throughout the auction, 

rather than wait until late in the auction 

before participating. Bidders are 

required to be active during each round 

of the auction. If a bidder fails to 

maintain the required activity level in a 

round, it must use one of the limited 

number of activity rule waivers allotted 

to it in order to maintain its current 

level of eligibility. In a typical FCC 

auction, if the bidder has no activity 

rule waivers remaining, its eligibility 

will be reduced. 

23. For Auction No. 65, the Bureau 

proposes the following activity 

requirement: in each round of the 

auction, a bidder desiring to maintain 

its eligibility to participate in the 

auction is required to be active (place a 

bid or hold the provisionally winning 

bid) on at least one license. Under the 

Bureau’s proposal for upfront payments 

and bidding eligibility, a bidder must 

have 100,000 bidding units of eligibility 

to participate in the auction—i.e., to bid 

on at least one license—and may hold 

a maximum of 100,000 bidding units of 

eligibility. Therefore, under the 

Bureau’s proposal for this auction, any 

reduction in a bidder’s eligibility will 

effectively preclude the bidder from 

further bidding in the auction. In other 

words, failure to maintain the required 

activity level will have the effect of 

eliminating the bidder from further 

bidding in the auction unless an activity 

rule waiver is used. 


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3516 Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 14 / Monday, January 23, 2006 / Notices 

24. The Bureau seeks comment on 

these proposals. Commenters that 

believe this activity rule should be 

modified should explain their reasoning 

and comment on the desirability of an 

alternative approach. Commenters are 

advised to support their claims with 

analyses and suggested alternative 

activity rules. 

iii. Activity Rule Waivers 

25. Use of an activity rule waiver 

preserves the bidder’s eligibility despite 

the bidder’s activity in the current 

round being below the required 

minimum level. An activity rule waiver 

applies to an entire round of bidding 

and not to a particular license. Activity 

rule waivers can be either proactive or 

automatic and are principally a 

mechanism for auction participants to 

avoid the loss of bidding eligibility in 

the event that exigent circumstances 

prevent them from placing a bid in a 

particular round. 

26. The FCC Auction System assumes 

that a bidder that does not meet the 

activity requirement would prefer to 

apply an activity rule waiver (if 

available) rather than lose bidding 

eligibility, which in this auction would 

have the effect of precluding the bidder 

from further bidding in the auction. 

Therefore, the system will automatically 

apply a waiver at the end of any bidding 

round in which a bidder fails to be 

active (place a bid or hold the 

provisionally winning bid) on at least 

one license unless the bidder has no 

activity rule waivers available. If a 

bidder has no waivers remaining and 

does not satisfy the required activity 

requirement, it will no longer be 

permitted to place bids in the auction. 

27. A bidder may apply an activity 

rule waiver proactively as a means to 

keep the auction open without placing 

a bid. If a bidder proactively applies an 

activity rule waiver (using the ‘‘apply 

waiver’’ function in the FCC Auction 

System) during a bidding round in 

which no bids are submitted, the 

auction will remain open and the 

bidder’s eligibility will be preserved. An 

automatic waiver applied by the FCC 

Auction System in a round in which 

there are no new bids will not keep the 

auction open. A bidder cannot submit a 

proactive waiver after submitting a bid 

in a round, and submitting a proactive 

waiver will preclude a bidder from 

placing any bids in that round. 

Applying a waiver is irreversible; once 

a proactive waiver is submitted, that 

waiver cannot be unsubmitted, even if 

the round has not yet closed. 

28. The Bureau proposes that each 

bidder in Auction No. 65 be provided 

with three activity rule waivers that may 

be used at the bidder’s discretion during 

the course of the auction as set forth 

above. The Bureau seeks comment on 

this proposal. 

iv. Reserve Price or Minimum Opening 

Bid 

29. Section 309(j) calls upon the 

Commission to prescribe methods for 

establishing a reasonable reserve price 

or a minimum opening bid amount 

when FCC licenses are subject to 

auction, unless the Commission 

determines that a reserve price or 

minimum opening bid amount is not in 

the public interest. Consistent with this 

mandate, the Commission has directed 

the Bureau to seek comment on the use 

of a minimum opening bid amount and/ 

or reserve price prior to the start of each 

auction. 

30. Normally, a reserve price is an 

absolute minimum price below which 

an item will not be sold in a given 

auction. Reserve prices can be either 

published or unpublished. A minimum 

opening bid amount, on the other hand, 

is the minimum bid price set at the 

beginning of the auction below which 

no bids are accepted. It is generally used 

to accelerate the competitive bidding 

process. The auctioneer, however, often 

has the discretion to lower the 

minimum opening bid amount during 

the course of the auction. It is also 

possible for the minimum opening bid 

amount and the reserve price to be the 

same amount. 

31. In light of the distinctive features 

of the Air-Ground Radiotelephone 

Service and Section 309(j)’s 

requirements for competitive bidding, 

the Bureau proposes to set minimum 

opening bids for each license and to 

establish a published aggregate reserve 

price for the entire band. The Bureau 

believes a minimum opening bid 

amount, which has been used in other 

auctions, is an effective tool for 

accelerating the competitive bidding 

process. At the same time, given 

uncertainty regarding the relative values 

of the 800 MHz Air-Ground 

Radiotelephone Service licenses, the 

Bureau believes that it can best comply 

with the Commission’s statutory 

mandate to recover for the public a 

portion of the value of the public 

spectrum resource by establishing a 

published reserve price for the entire 

band. Under this proposal, if the sum of 

the provisionally winning bids at the 

close of bidding does not meet or exceed 

the aggregate reserve price, the 

Commission will cancel the auction and 

no licenses will be awarded on the basis 

of the bidding. 

32. More specifically, for Auction No. 

65, the Bureau proposed to set 

minimum opening bids on a license-bylicense basis as follows: 

Licenses Bandwidth Minimum 

opening bid 

A and B ........ 3 MHz (2 

MHz 

shared).

$1,500,000 

C and F ........ 3 MHz .......... 2,800,000 

D and E ........ 1 MHz .......... 200,000 

33. The Bureau also proposes to 

establish a published reserve price of 

$5,000,000 for the entire band. 

Attachment A of the Auction No. 65 

Comment Public Notice also sets forth 

the proposed minimum opening bids 

and reserve price. The Bureau seeks 

comment on this proposal. 

34. If commenters believe that these 

minimum opening bid amounts will 

result in unsold licenses, or are not 

reasonable amounts, or should instead 

operate as reserve prices, they should 

explain why this is so, and comment on 

the desirability of an alternative 

approach. Commenters are advised to 

support their claims with valuation 

analyses and suggested reserve prices or 

minimum opening bid amount levels or 

formulas. In establishing the minimum 

opening bid amounts and the reserve 

price, the Bureau particularly seeks 

comment on such factors as the amount 

of spectrum being auctioned, levels of 

incumbency, the availability of 

technology to provide service, issues of 

interference with other spectrum bands 

and any other relevant factors that could 

reasonably have an impact on valuation 

of the 800 MHz Air-Ground 

Radiotelephone Service licenses. 

Commenters proposing to reduce or 

eliminate the reserve price should 

address the extent to which minimum 

opening bids should be changed as a 

result. The Bureau also seeks comment 

on whether, consistent with section 

309(j), the public interest would be 

served by having no minimum opening 

bid amounts or reserve price. 

v. Bid Amounts 

35. In each round, eligible bidders 

will be able to place bids on a given 

license in any of nine different amounts. 

The FCC Auction System interface will 

list the nine acceptable bid amounts for 

each license. 

36. The minimum acceptable bid 

amount for a license will be equal to its 

minimum opening bid amount until the 

bids placed enable the FCC Auction 

System to calculate a higher price for 

the license. If such a price can be 

calculated, the minimum acceptable bid 

amount for the license will be 

determined in a two-step process: (a) 

The FCC Auction System designates a 


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Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 14 / Monday, January 23, 2006 / Notices 3517 

price for each license. For licenses with 

provisionally winning bids, this price 

will be equal to the amount of the 

provisionally winning bid. For all other 

licenses, the price will be equal to the 

amount of the highest bid placed on the 

license by any non-provisionally 

winning bidder; (b) the price is 

increased by the minimum acceptable 

bid percentage. 

37. The minimum acceptable bid 

amount will be calculated by 

multiplying the license price times the 

sum of one plus the minimum 

acceptable bid percentage—e.g., if the 

minimum acceptable bid percentage is 

five percent, the minimum acceptable 

bid amount will equal (license price) * 

(1.05), rounded. The Bureau will round 

the result using our standard rounding 

procedures. 

38. The nine acceptable bid amounts 

for each license consist of the minimum 

acceptable bid amount and additional 

amounts calculated using the minimum 

acceptable bid amount and the bid 

increment percentage. The Bureau will 

round the results using our standard 

rounding procedures. The first 

additional acceptable bid amount equals 

the minimum acceptable bid amount 

times the sum of one plus the bid 

increment percentage, rounded—e.g., if 

the bid increment percentage is five 

percent, the calculation is (minimum 

acceptable bid amount) * (1 + 0.05), 

rounded, or (minimum acceptable bid 

amount) * 1.05, rounded; the second 

additional acceptable bid amount equals 

the minimum acceptable bid amount 

times the sum of one plus two times the 

bid increment percentage, rounded, or 

(minimum acceptable bid amount) * 

1.10, rounded; the third additional 

acceptable bid amount equals the 

minimum acceptable bid amount times 

the sum of one plus three times the bid 

increment percentage, rounded, or 

(minimum acceptable bid amount) * 

1.15, rounded; etc. Note that the bid 

increment percentage need not be the 

same as the minimum acceptable bid 

percentage. 

39. For Auction No. 65, the Bureau 

proposes to use a minimum acceptable 

bid percentage of five percent. This 

means that the minimum acceptable bid 

amount for a license will be 

approximately five percent greater than 

the provisionally winning bid amount 

for the license. The Bureau proposes to 

use a bid increment percentage of five 

percent. 

40. The Bureau retains the discretion 

to change the minimum acceptable bid 

amounts, the minimum acceptable bid 

percentage, the bid increment 

percentage, and the number of 

acceptable bid amounts if it determines 

that circumstances so dictate. The 

Bureau will do so by announcement in 

the FCC Auction System during the 

auction. The Bureau seeks comment on 

these proposals. 

vi. Provisionally Winning Bids 

41. At the end of each bidding round, 

the FCC Auction System will determine 

the provisionally winning bids by 

considering all of the bids that have 

been placed in the auction and 

determining which band plan option 

has the highest aggregate bid while not 

allowing a bidder to have more than one 

provisionally winning bid. The only 

licenses that can have provisionally 

winning bids are those of the band plan 

option with the highest aggregate bid; 

the licenses of the other band plan 

options will not have provisionally 

winning bids. 

42. If a provisionally winning bid 

must be selected from among identical 

bid amounts submitted on a license (i.e., 

tied bids), we will use a random number 

generator to select a single bid from 

among the tied bids. (Each bid is 

assigned a random number, and the tied 

bid with the highest random number 

wins the tiebreaker.) The remaining 

bidders, as well as the provisionally 

winning bidder, can submit higher bids 

in subsequent rounds. However, if the 

auction were to end with no other bids 

being placed, the winning bidder would 

be the one that placed the selected 

provisionally winning bid. 

43. Similarly, in the event of identical 

aggregate high bid amounts on more 

than one band plan (i.e., tied band 

plans), the tie between band plans will 

be broken based on the random numbers 

of the corresponding bids. The tied band 

plan with the highest sum of the 

random numbers will become the band 

plan for which there are provisionally 

winning bids. 

44. A consequence of the mutually 

incompatible band configurations and 

the three megahertz eligibility 

restriction is that a bid that does not 

become a provisionally winning bid at 

the conclusion of the round in which it 

was placed may become a provisionally 

winning bid at the conclusion of a 

subsequent round. 

45. Bidders are reminded that 

provisionally winning bids count 

toward activity for purposes of the 

activity rule. 

vii. Bid Removal and Bid Withdrawal 

46. For Auction No. 65, the Bureau 

proposes the following bid removal and 

bid withdrawal procedures. Before the 

close of a bidding round, a bidder has 

the option of removing any bid placed 

in that round. By removing selected bids 

in the FCC Auction System, a bidder 

may effectively unsubmit any bid 

placed within that round. A bidder 

removing a bid placed in the same 

round is not subject to a withdrawal 

payment. Once a round closes, a bidder 

may no longer remove a bid. 

47. The Bureau proposes for Auction 

No. 65 that bidders not be permitted, in 

any round, to withdraw bids made in 

previous rounds. The Commission has 

recognized that bid withdrawals may be 

an important tool to help bidders avoid 

incomplete aggregations of licenses and 

pursue efficient backup strategies as 

information becomes available during 

the course of an auction. In Auction No. 

65, however, bidders may win only one 

license and therefore will not face risks 

of being unable to secure desired 

aggregations of licenses. In addition, the 

Bureau believes that given the small 

number of licenses in the auction and 

the nature of the licenses being offered, 

bidders will not need to use bid 

withdrawals to pursue backup strategies 

in the same way bidders may need to do 

so in some auctions. Moreover, in 

previous auctions, the Bureau has 

observed instances in which bid 

withdrawals arguably may have been 

used for strategic, anticompetitive 

purposes. While the Bureau continues 

to recognize that bid withdrawals may 

play an important role in an auction, the 

Bureau notes that bid withdrawals have 

not been available in several previous 

auctions. The Bureau seeks comment on 

these proposed bid removal and bid 

withdrawal procedures. 

III. Conclusion 

48. Comments are due on or before 

January 31, 2006, and reply comments 

are due on or before February 7, 2006. 

All filings must be addressed to the 

Commission’s Secretary Attn: WTB/ 

ASAD, Office of the Secretary, Federal 

Communications Commission. Parties 

who file comments by paper must file 

an original and four copies of each 

filing. U.S. Postal Service first-class, 

Express, and Priority mail should be 

addressed to 445 12th Street, SW., 

Washington, DC 20554. Filings can be 

sent by hand or messenger delivery, by 

commercial overnight courier, or by 

first-class or overnight U.S. Postal 

Service mail. The Bureau also requires 

that all comments and reply comments 

be filed electronically to the following 

address: auction65@fcc.gov. The 

electronic mail containing the 

comments or reply comments must 

include a subject or caption referring to 

‘‘Auction No. 65 Comments’’ and the 

name of the commenting party. The 

Bureau requests that parties format any 

attachments to electronic mail as 


erjones on PROD1PC61 with NOTICES
3518 Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 14 / Monday, January 23, 2006 / Notices 

Adobe Acrobat (pdf) or Microsoft 

Word documents. Copies of comments 

and reply comments will be available 

for public inspection between 8 a.m. 

and 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) 

Monday through Thursday or 8 a.m. to 

11:30 a.m. ET on Fridays in the FCC 

Reference Information Center, Room 

CY–A257, 445 12th Street, SW., 

Washington, DC 20554, and will also be 

posted on the Web page for Auction No. 

65 at http://wireless.fcc.gov/auctions/ 

65/. 

49. This proceeding has been 

designated as a ‘‘permit-but-disclose’’

proceeding in accordance with the 

Commission’s ex parte rules. 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 oneor two-sentence description of the views 

and arguments presented is generally 

required. Other rules pertaining to oral 

and written ex parte presentations in 

permit-but-disclose proceedings are set 

forth in 47 CFR 1.1206(b) of the 

Commission’s rules. 

Federal Communications Commission. 

Gary D. Michaels, 

Deputy Chief, Auctions and Spectrum Access 

Division, WTB. 

[FR Doc. 06–664 Filed 1–19–06; 1:22 pm] 

BILLING CODE 6712–01–P 

FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE BOARD 

Sunshine Act Meeting Notice; 

Announcing an Open Meeting of the 

Board of Directors 

TIME AND DATE: An open meeting of the 

Board of Directors is scheduled to begin 

at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, January 25, 

2006. 

PLACE: Board Room, First Floor, Federal 

Housing Finance Board, 1625 Eye 

Street, NW., Washington, DC 20006. 

STATUS: The meeting will be open to the 

public. 

MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED AT THE

MEETING: Reappointment to the Board of 

Directors of the Office of Finance. 

Amendment to the Capital Structure 

Plan of the Federal Home Loan Bank of 

Atlanta. 

CONTACT PERSON FOR MORE INFORMATION: 

Shelia Willis, Paralegal Specialist, 

Office of General Counsel, at 202–408–

2876 or williss@fhfb.gov. 

By the Federal Housing Finance Board. 

Dated: January 18, 2006. 

John P. Kennedy, 

General Counsel. 

[FR Doc. 06–614 Filed 1–19–06; 9:27 am] 

BILLING CODE 6725–01–P 

FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM 

Formations of, Acquisitions by, and 

Mergers of Bank Holding Companies 

The companies listed in this notice 

have applied to the Board for approval, 

pursuant to the Bank Holding Company 

Act of 1956 (12 U.S.C. 1841 et seq.) 

(BHC Act), Regulation Y (12 CFR part 

225), and all other applicable statutes 

and regulations to become a bank 

holding company and/or to acquire the 

assets or the ownership of, control of, or 

the power to vote shares of a bank or 

bank holding company and all of the 

banks and nonbanking companies 

owned by the bank holding company, 

including the companies listed below. 

The applications listed below, as well 

as other related filings required by the 

Board, are available for immediate 

inspection at the Federal Reserve Bank 

indicated. The application also will be 

available for inspection at the offices of 

the Board of Governors. Interested 

persons may express their views in 

writing on the standards enumerated in 

the BHC Act (12 U.S.C. 1842(c)). If the 

proposal also involves the acquisition of 

a nonbanking company, the review also 

includes whether the acquisition of the 

nonbanking company complies with the 

standards in section 4 of the BHC Act 

(12 U.S.C. 1843). Unless otherwise 

noted, nonbanking activities will be 

conducted throughout the United States. 

Additional information on all bank 

holding companies may be obtained 

from the National Information Center 

Web site at http://www.ffiec.gov/nic/. 

Unless otherwise noted, comments 

regarding each of these applications 

must be received at the Reserve Bank 

indicated or the offices of the Board of 

Governors not later than February 17, 

2006. 

A. Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago 

(Patrick M. Wilder, Assistant Vice 

President) 230 South LaSalle Street, 

Chicago, Illinois 60690-1414: 

1. Wintrust Financial Corporation, 

Lake Forest, Illinois; to merge with 

Hinsbrook Bancshares, Inc., 

Willowbrook, Illinois, and thereby 

indirectly acquire Hinsbrook Bank and 

Trust, Willowbrook, Illinois. 

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve 

System, January 18, 2006. 

Robert deV. Frierson, 

Deputy Secretary of the Board. 

[FR Doc. E6–735 Filed 1–20–06; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6210–01–S 

GENERAL SERVICES 

ADMINISTRATION 

Federal Travel Regulation (FTR) 

Maximum Per Diem Rates for the 

District of Columbia and the states of 

Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, 

Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, 

Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New 

Mexico, Tennessee, and Texas 

AGENCY: Office of Governmentwide 

Policy, General Services Administration 

(GSA). 

ACTION: Notice of Per Diem Bulletin 06–

04, revised continental United States 

(CONUS) per diem rates. 

SUMMARY: The General Services 

Administration (GSA) has reviewed the 

lodging rates for the District of 

Columbia, as well as certain nonstandard locations in the States of 

Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, 

Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, 

Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New 

Mexico, Tennessee, and Texas using 

more current lodging industry data, as 

well as data on where Federal travelers 

actually stay when visiting these 

locations. Also, GSA has reviewed the 

meals and incidental expenses (M&IE) 

rate of certain non-standard locations in 

the States of Illinois, Michigan, 

Montana, and New Mexico. Finally, 

GSA is combining Stateline, Nevada 

with Carson City, Nevada (currently a 

standard continental United States 

(CONUS) location), so Carson City’s per 

diem rate will be the same rate that 

Stateline currently has. The per diems 

prescribed in Bulletin 06–04 may be 

found at http://www.gsa.gov/perdiem. 

DATES: This notice is effective February 

1, 2006 and applies to travel performed 

on or after February 1, 2006. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

clarification of content, contact Patrick 

McConnell, Office of Governmentwide 

Policy, Travel Management Policy, at 

(202) 501–2362. Please cite FTR Per 

Diem Bulletin 06–04. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

A. Background 

After an analysis of the per diem rates 

established for FY 2006 (see the Federal 

Register notices at 70 FR 52100, 

September 1, 2005, 70 FR 59349, 

October 12, 2005, and 70 FR 68457, 


erjones on PROD1PC61 with NOTICES