44416 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 169 / Thursday, August 30, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS 

COMMISSION 

47 CFR Parts 1, 2, 15, 25, 30, and 101 

[AU Docket No. 18–85; FCC 18–109] 

Auctions of Upper Microwave Flexible 

Use Licenses for Next-Generation 

Wireless Services 

AGENCY: Federal Communications 

Commission. 

ACTION: Final action; requirements and 

procedures. 

SUMMARY: This document summarizes 

procedures, upfront payment amounts, 

minimum opening bids, dates and 

deadlines for the upcoming auctions of 

Upper Microwave Flexible Use Service 

(UMFUS) licenses in the 28 GHz and 24 

GHz bands. The Auctions 101 and 102 

Procedures Public Notice summarized 

here is intended to familiarize 

applicants with the procedures and 

other requirements governing 

participation in Auctions 101 and 102, 

and provides an overview of the postauction application and payment 

processes. 

DATES: Applications to participate in 

Auctions 101 and 102 must be 

submitted by 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time 

(ET) on September 18, 2018. Upfront 

payments for Auction 101 must be 

received by 6:00 p.m. ET on October 23, 

2018. Bidding in Auction 101 is 

scheduled to begin on November 14, 

2018. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, 

Auctions and Spectrum Access 

Division: For auction legal questions: 

Erik Beith or Kathryn Hinton at (202) 

418–0660; for general auction questions: 

Auctions Hotline at (717) 338–2868; 

Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, 

Broadband Division: For Upper 

Microwave Flexible Use Service 

licensing and service rule questions: 

Nancy Zaczek at (202) 418–2487 or Tim 

Hilfiger at (717) 338–2578. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a 

summary of the Public Notice (Auctions 

101 and 102 Procedures Public Notice), 

AU Docket No. 18–85, adopted on 

August 2, 2018, and released on August 

3, 2018, and a Public Notice announcing 

an updated list of licenses for Auction 

102, released on August 9, 2018. The 

complete text of the Auctions 101 and 

102 Procedures Public Notice and the 

subsequent August 9th Public Notice, 

including all attachments and any 

related documents, is available for 

public inspection and copying from 8:00 

a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET Monday through 

Thursday or from 8:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. 

ET on Fridays in the FCC Reference 

Information Center, 445 12th Street SW, 

Room CY–A257, Washington, DC 20554. 

The complete text is also available on 

the Commission’s website at: https://

www.fcc.gov/auction/101 and https://

www.fcc.gov/auction/102. Alternative 

formats are available to persons with 

disabilities by sending an email to 

FCC504@fcc.gov or by calling the 

Consumer & Governmental Affairs 

Bureau at (202) 418–0530 (voice), (202) 

418–0432 (TTY). 

I. General Information 

A. Introduction 

1. By the Auctions 101 and 102 

Procedures Public Notice, the 

Commission established procedures for 

the upcoming auctions of 5,984 Upper 

Microwave Flexible Use Service 

(UMFUS) licenses in the 27.5–28.35 

GHz (28 GHz) and 24.25–24.45 and 

24.75–25.25 GHz (24 GHz) bands 

(collectively, the UMFUS bands). 

2. The bidding in the auction for 

licenses in the 28 GHz band, which is 

designated as Auction 101, is scheduled 

to commence on November 14, 2018. 

Bidding in the auction for licenses in 

the 24 GHz band, which is designated 

as Auction 102, will be scheduled to 

commence after the conclusion of 

bidding in Auction 101. The Auctions 

101 and 102 Procedures Public Notice 

provides details regarding the 

procedures, terms, and conditions, as 

well as dates and deadlines, governing 

participation in Auctions 101 and 102, 

and an overview of the post-auction 

application and payment processes. 

B. Background and Relevant Authority 

3. Prospective applicants should 

familiarize themselves with the 

Commission’s general competitive 

bidding rules, including recent 

amendments and clarifications, as well 

as Commission decisions in proceedings 

regarding competitive bidding 

procedures, application requirements, 

and obligations of Commission 

licensees. Prospective applicants should 

also familiarize themselves with the 

Commission’s UMFUS service and 

competitive bidding requirements 

contained in part 30 of the 

Commission’s rules, as well as 

Commission orders concerning 

competitive bidding for UMFUS 

licenses. Applicants must also be 

thoroughly familiar with the 

procedures, terms, and conditions 

contained in the Auctions 101 and 102 

Procedures Public Notice and any future 

public notices that may be released in 

proceeding 18–85. 

4. The terms contained in the 

Commission’s rules, relevant orders, 

and public notices are not negotiable. 

The Commission may amend or 

supplement the information contained 

in its public notices at any time and will 

issue public notices to convey any new 

or supplemental information to 

applicants. It is the responsibility of all 

applicants to remain current with all 

Commission rules and with all public 

notices pertaining to Auctions 101 and 

102. Copies of most auctions-related 

Commission documents, including 

public notices, can be retrieved from the 

Commission’s FCC Auctions internet 

site at www.fcc.gov/auctions/. 

Additionally, documents are available at 

the Commission’s headquarters, located 

at 445 12th Street SW, Washington, DC 

20554, during normal business hours. 

C. Description of Licenses To Be Offered 

in Auctions 101 and 102 

5. The Commission will proceed to 

the assignment of 28 GHz licenses in 

Auction 101 and the assignment of 24 

GHz licenses in Auction 102. Doing so 

will make 1.55 gigahertz of UMFUS 

spectrum available in Auctions 101 and 

102, licensed on a geographic area basis. 

The 3,072 licenses in the 28 GHz band 

offered in Auction 101 will be countybased licenses. There is a total of 3,232 

counties. The 28 GHz county licenses 

that the Commission is making available 

in Auction 101 are defined by 1990 

boundaries. The 28 GHz band will be 

licensed as two 425-megahertz blocks 

(27.500–27.925 GHz and 27.925–28.350 

GHz). For each county in which 28 GHz 

licenses will be available for auction, 

both blocks of the 28 GHz band will be 

available. 

6. Auction 102 will offer 2,912 

licenses in the 24 GHz band, and the 

licenses will be based on PEAs. There 

is a total of 416 PEAs. The lower 

segment of the 24 GHz band (24.25– 

24.45 GHz) will be licensed as two 100- 

megahertz blocks, while the upper 

segment (24.75–25.25 GHz) will be 

licensed as five 100-megahertz blocks. 

In one PEA, one 75-megahertz block 

will be licensed in the upper segment. 

7. Each of the bands available in 

Auctions 101 and 102 will be licensed 

on an unpaired basis. A licensee in 

these bands may provide any services 

permitted under a fixed or mobile 

allocation, as set forth in the nonFederal Government column of the 

Table of Frequency Allocations in 

§ 2.106 of the Commission’s rules. 

8. Summaries of the licenses to be 

offered in Auctions 101 and 102 are 

available on the Commission’s FCC 

Auctions internet site. The 28 GHz 

licenses available in Auction 101 do not 


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include counties within the boundaries 

of existing active 28 GHz licenses. The 

complete list of licenses to be offered in 

these auctions is provided in electronic 

format only, available as separate 

Attachment A files for each auction at 

www.fcc.gov/auction/101 and 

www.fcc.gov/auction/102, respectively. 

9. Active licenses in the 28 GHz band 

cover 1,696 full counties and one partial 

county. In Anchorage County, Alaska, 

part of the county is encumbered, and 

the other part will be offered in Auction 

101. That county is noted with a double 

asterisk in Attachment A. The 

Commission notes that it has updated 

the list of licenses available in Auction 

101 to reflect that the previously 

partitioned portion of Horry County is 

now part of license WPOH936 and held 

by Horry Telephone Cooperative, Inc. 

10. The list of licenses to be offered 

in the 24 GHz band has been updated 

subsequent to the release of the 

Auctions 101 and 102 Procedures Public 

Notice to adjust the categories and 

number of generic blocks that will be 

available in Auction 102. 

11. Specifically, on August 9, 2018, an 

updated list of licenses was made 

available which indicates that for 

Auction 102, in one PEA, one of the 

blocks in the upper 24 GHz band will 

have reduced bandwidth (75 

megahertz). That block will be offered in 

an additional category, for a total of 

three categories of blocks in that PEA. 

That PEA is noted with an asterisk in 

the Attachment A file. In three other 

PEAs, one fewer block will be available 

in the upper 24 GHz band. Accordingly, 

the clock phase of Auction 102 will 

allow bidding for two generic 100- 

megahertz blocks in the lower 24 GHz 

segment (Category L) in every PEA and 

five generic 100-megahertz blocks in the 

upper 24 GHz segment (Category U) in 

most PEAs (i.e., those without an 

incumbent licensee). In three PEAs, four 

100-megahertz Category U blocks will 

be available instead of five. In one other 

PEA, four 100-megahertz Category U 

blocks will be available plus one 75- 

megahertz block in the upper 24 GHz 

segment (Category UI). Additional 

information is available in the 

Attachment A file on the Auction 102 

website. 

D. Auction Specifics 

1. Separate Auction Application and 

Bidding Processes 

12. The Commission will offer the 

5,984 licenses through two separate 

auctions, Auctions 101 and 102, 

respectively. Bidding in Auction 101 for 

28 GHz band licenses is scheduled to 

commence on November 14, 2018. 

Bidding will commence in Auction 102 

for 24 GHz band licenses after the close 

of bidding in Auction 101. 

13. The Commission also will use 

separate application and bidding 

processes for Auctions 101 and 102. In 

addition, the Commission will accept 

auction applications during separate 

application filing windows—one for 

Auction 101 and one for Auction 102. 

The Commission will use its standard 

simultaneous multiple-round (SMR) 

auction format for Auction 101 (28 GHz) 

and a clock auction format, similar to 

that used for the forward auction 

portion (Auction 1002) of the Broadcast 

Incentive Auction, for Auction 102 (24 

GHz). 

14. The filing window for Auction 

102 will run concurrently with the filing 

window for Auction 101. 

15. The Commission’s rules regarding 

certain application requirements and 

certifications (e.g., joint bidding 

agreements relating to the licenses 

subject to auction), the rule prohibiting 

certain communications, and the 

Commission’s procedures regarding 

information available during the auction 

process will apply across both auctions. 

An applicant seeking to participate in 

both auctions must submit an 

application in each auction. The same 

applicant, filing two applications, one 

in each auction, is a single applicant for 

purposes of the rule prohibiting certain 

communications. Accordingly, that 

applicant’s internal communications 

regarding the two auctions are not 

covered by the prohibition. 

16. The Commission notes that, while 

it is applying its limited information 

disclosure procedures across both 

auctions, certain bidding information is 

publicly available during the bidding 

process, including, for each license 

offered in Auction 101: The amount of 

every bid placed, the number of bidders 

that placed a bid, and whether a bid was 

withdrawn after each round. At the end 

of Auction 101 (i.e., after the last round 

of Auction 101), potential bidders in 

Auction 102 will have access to the 

public results data from each round of 

Auction 101, including the gross 

winning bid amounts. The Commission 

will defer the acceptance of upfront 

payments for Auction 102 until after the 

close of Auction 101. The deadline for 

submitting upfront payments for 

Auction 102 will occur before the start 

of bidding in Auction 102, and will be 

announced in a later public notice. The 

Commission also will apply its bidding 

credit cap separately to each auction. 

The Commission anticipates that the 

bidding for Auction 102 will start no 

earlier than four weeks after the release 

of a public notice announcing the 

closing of Auction 101. 

2. Auction Title and Start Date 

17. The auction of licenses in the 28 

GHz band will be referred to as Auction 

101–28 GHz Band. Bidding in Auction 

101 will begin on Wednesday, 

November 14, 2018. The initial schedule 

for bidding rounds in Auction 101 will 

be announced by public notice at least 

one week before bidding in the auction 

starts. Unless otherwise announced, 

bidding on all licenses will be 

conducted on each business day until 

bidding has stopped on all licenses. 

18. The auction of licenses in the 24 

GHz band will be referred to as Auction 

102–24 GHz Band. The clock phase of 

Auction 102 will begin no sooner than 

four weeks after the release of a public 

notice announcing the closing of 

Auction 101. Unless otherwise 

announced, bidding on all generic 

spectrum blocks in all PEAs will be 

conducted on each business day until 

bidding has stopped on all spectrum 

blocks in all PEAs. Following the 

conclusion of the clock phase, the 

Auction System will make available 

more detailed information about the 

assignment phase to the winning clock 

phase bidders not less than five 

business days before starting the 

assignment phase. Winning bidders 

from the clock phase will be given 

scheduling information and bidding 

options for the assignment phase in the 

Auction System. 

3. Auction Dates and Deadlines 

19. The following dates and deadlines 

apply to Auction 101: 

Auction Application Tutorial Available 

(via internet)—August 28, 2018 

Short-Form Application (FCC Form 175) 

Filing Window Opens—September 5, 

2018; 12:00 noon ET 

Short-Form Application (FCC Form 175) 

Filing Window Deadline—September 

18, 2018; 6:00 p.m. ET 

Upfront Payments (via wire transfer)— 

October 23, 2018; 6:00 p.m. ET 

Bidding Tutorial Available (via 

internet)—No later than November 

1, 2018 

Mock Auction—November 8, 2018 

Bidding Begins in Auction 101— 

November 14, 2018 

20. The following dates and deadlines 

apply to Auction 102: 

Auction Application Tutorial Available 

(via internet)—August 28, 2018 

Short-Form Application (FCC Form 175) 

Filing Window Opens—September 5, 

2018; 12:00 noon ET 

Short-Form Application (FCC Form 175) 

Filing Window Deadline—September 


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18, 2018; 6:00 p.m. ET 

21. The remainder of the pre-auction 

dates and deadlines for Auction 102 

will be announced in a later public 

notice to be released by the Bureau after 

the close of bidding in Auction 101. 

That public notice will announce when 

the bidding tutorial will become 

available, the upfront payment deadline, 

the date of the clock and assignment 

phase mock auction, and when bidding 

will begin in the clock phase of Auction 

102. 

4. Requirements for Participation 

22. Those wishing to participate in 

Auction 101 and/or Auction 102 must: 

• Submit a separate short-form 

application (FCC Form 175) 

electronically for each auction in which 

they seek to participate prior to 6:00 

p.m. ET on September 18, 2018, 

following the electronic filing 

procedures set forth in the FCC Form 

175 Instructions. Detailed instructions 

for submitting an FCC Form 175 for 

Auction 101 and Auction 102 (FCC 

Form 175 Instructions) can be accessed 

at www.fcc.gov/auction/101 and 

www.fcc.gov/auction/102/. 

• Submit a sufficient upfront 

payment and an FCC Remittance Advice 

Form (FCC Form 159) for the particular 

auction by 6:00 p.m. ET on the 

applicable deadline, following the 

procedures and instructions set forth in 

the FCC Form 159 Instructions. Detailed 

instructions for submitting an FCC Form 

159 for Auction 101 (FCC Form 159 

Instructions) can be accessed at 

www.fcc.gov/auction/101/. The Bureau 

will prepare and release after the close 

of bidding in Auction 101 detailed 

instructions for submitting an FCC Form 

159 for Auction 102. 

Æ For Auction 101, the deadline for 

submitting upfront payments and FCC 

Form 159 is 6:00 p.m. ET on October 23, 

2018. 

Æ For Auction 102, the deadline for 

submitting upfront payments and FCC 

Form 159 will be announced in a later 

public notice. 

• Comply with all provisions 

outlined in the Auctions 101 and 102 

Procedures Public Notice and applicable 

Commission rules. 

II. Applying To Participate in Auctions 

101 and 102 

A. General Information Regarding 

Short-Form Applications 

23. An application to participate in 

Auction 101 or Auction 102, referred to 

as a short-form application or FCC Form 

175, provides information that the 

Commission uses to determine whether 

the applicant has the legal, technical, 

and financial qualifications to 

participate in a Commission auction for 

spectrum licenses. The short-form 

application is the first part of the 

Commission’s two-phased auction 

application process. In the first phase, a 

party seeking to participate in Auction 

101 and/or Auction 102 must file a 

separate short-form application for each 

auction in which it seeks to participate, 

in which it certifies, under penalty of 

perjury, its qualifications. Eligibility to 

participate in Auction 101 and/or 

Auction 102 is based on an applicant’s 

short-form application(s) and 

certifications and on the applicant’s 

submission of a sufficient upfront 

payment for the auction(s). In the 

second phase of the process, each 

winning bidder must file a more 

comprehensive post-auction, long-form 

application (FCC Form 601) for the 

licenses it wins in each auction, and it 

must have a complete and accurate 

ownership disclosure information report 

(FCC Form 602) on file with the 

Commission. The Commission reminds 

applicants that being deemed qualified 

to bid in Auction 101 or Auction 102 

does not constitute a determination that 

a party is qualified to hold a 

Commission license or is eligible for a 

designated entity bidding credit. 

24. A party seeking to participate in 

Auction 101 and/or Auction 102 must 

file a separate FCC Form 175 

electronically for each auction in which 

it wishes to participate via the Auction 

Application System prior to 6:00 p.m. 

ET on September 18, 2018, following 

the procedures prescribed in the FCC 

Form 175 Instructions. If an applicant 

claims eligibility for a bidding credit, 

the information provided in its FCC 

Form 175 as of the filing date will be 

used to determine whether the applicant 

may request the claimed bidding credit. 

An applicant that files an FCC Form 175 

for Auction 101 and/or Auction 102 will 

be subject to the Commission’s rule 

prohibiting certain communications. 

The prohibition of certain 

communications will apply across both 

auctions (i.e., will apply to any 

applicant in either Auction 101 or 102). 

An applicant is subject to the 

prohibition beginning at the deadline 

for filing short-form applications—6:00 

p.m. ET on September 18, 2018. The 

prohibition will end for applicants in 

both auctions on the post-auction down 

payment deadline for Auction 102. 

25. An applicant bears full 

responsibility for submitting an 

accurate, complete, and timely shortform application. Each applicant must 

make a series of certifications under 

penalty of perjury on its FCC Form 175 

related to the information provided in 

its application and its participation in 

the auction, and it must confirm that it 

is legally, technically, financially, and 

otherwise qualified to hold a license. If 

an Auction 101 or Auction 102 

applicant fails to make the required 

certifications in its FCC Form 175 by the 

filing deadline, its application will be 

deemed unacceptable for filing and 

cannot be corrected after the filing 

deadline. 

26. An applicant should note that 

submitting an FCC Form 175 (and any 

amendments thereto) constitutes a 

representation by the certifying official 

that he or she is an authorized 

representative of the applicant with 

authority to bind the applicant, that he 

or she has read the form’s instructions 

and certifications, and that the contents 

of the application, its certifications, and 

any attachments are true and correct. 

Applicants are not permitted to make 

major modifications to their FCC Form 

175 applications after the filing 

deadline. A change in the required 

certifications is considered a major 

change and would therefore not be 

permitted. Submitting a false 

certification to the Commission may 

result in penalties, including monetary 

forfeitures, license forfeitures, 

ineligibility to participate in future 

auctions, and/or criminal prosecution. 

27. Applicants are cautioned that 

because the required information 

submitted in FCC Form 175 bears on 

each applicant’s qualifications, requests 

for confidential treatment will not be 

routinely granted. The Commission has 

held generally that it may publicly 

release confidential business 

information where the party has put that 

information at issue in a Commission 

proceeding or where the Commission 

has identified a compelling public 

interest in disclosing the information. 

The Commission has specifically held 

that information submitted in support of 

receiving bidding credits in auction 

proceedings should be made available to 

the public. 

28. With respect to a particular 

auction (i.e., Auction 101 or Auction 

102), the same party may not bid based 

on more than one auction application, 

i.e., as more than one applicant. 

Therefore, a party may not submit more 

than one short-form application for 

Auction 101 or for Auction 102. A party 

that wishes to participate in both 

Auctions 101 and 102 must file a 

separate auction application for each 

auction—one for Auction 101 and one 

for Auction 102. That same party, 

however, may not file more than one 

short-form application for a particular 

auction (e.g., may not file two shortform applications for Auction 101). If a 


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party submits multiple short-form 

applications for either auction, only one 

application may be the basis for that 

party to become qualified to bid in that 

auction. 

29. A party is generally permitted to 

participate in a Commission auction 

only through a single bidding entity. 

The filing of applications in a single 

auction (i.e., either Auction 101 or 

Auction 102) by multiple entities 

controlled by the same individual or set 

of individuals will generally not be 

permitted. This restriction applies 

across all applications in each auction 

(i.e., Auction 101 or Auction 102), 

without regard to the licenses or 

geographic areas selected. The 

Commission adopted a limited 

exception to the general prohibition on 

the filing of multiple applications by 

commonly-controlled entities for 

qualified rural wireless partnerships 

and individual members of such 

partnerships. Under this limited 

exception, each qualifying rural wireless 

partnership and its individual members 

will be permitted to participate 

separately in an auction. The filing of 

applications in both auctions (i.e., one 

application for Auction 101 and one 

application for Auction 102) by entities 

controlled by the same individual or set 

of individuals will generally only be 

permitted if the two applicants are 

identical (i.e., the same entity applies as 

an applicant in both auctions). 

30. After the initial short-form 

application filing deadline, Commission 

staff will review all timely submitted 

applications for Auctions 101 and 102 

to determine whether each application 

complies with the application 

requirements and whether it has 

provided all required information 

concerning the applicant’s 

qualifications for bidding. After this 

review is completed for a particular 

auction, a public notice will be released 

announcing the status of applications 

for that auction and identifying the 

applications that are complete and those 

that are incomplete because of minor 

defects that may be corrected. That 

public notice also will establish an 

application resubmission filing window, 

during which an applicant may make 

permissible minor modifications to its 

application to address identified 

deficiencies. The public notice will 

include the deadline for resubmitting 

modified applications. To become a 

qualified bidder, an applicant must have 

a complete application (i.e., have timely 

corrected any identified deficiencies) 

and make a timely and sufficient 

upfront payment. Qualified bidders for 

each auction will be identified by public 

notice at least 10 days prior to the 

respective mock auction. 

31. An applicant should consult the 

Commission’s rules to ensure that all 

required information is included in its 

short-form application. To the extent the 

information in the Auctions 101 and 

102 Procedures Public Notice does not 

address a potential applicant’s specific 

operating structure, or if the applicant 

needs additional information or 

guidance concerning the following 

disclosure requirements, the applicant 

should review the educational materials 

for Auctions 101 and 102 and/or use the 

contact information provided in the 

Auctions 101 and 102 Procedures Public 

Notice to consult with Commission staff 

to better understand the information it 

must submit in its short-form 

application. 

B. Authorized Bidders 

32. An applicant must designate at 

least one individual as an authorized 

bidder, and no more than three, in its 

FCC Form 175. The Commission’s rules 

prohibit an individual from serving as 

an authorized bidder for more than one 

auction applicant. For Auctions 101 and 

102, the same individual may not be 

listed as an authorized bidder in more 

than one FCC Form 175 submitted for a 

particular auction. An applicant may 

not use an individual as an authorized 

bidder in one auction, if that individual 

is identified as an authorized bidder in 

the other, unless the two applicants are 

identical. In other words, an individual 

may be listed as an authorized bidder in 

an application filed in Auction 101 and 

in another application filed in Auction 

102 only if both applications are filed by 

the same entity. 

C. License or License Area Selection 

33. An applicant must select all of the 

licenses (Auction 101) or license areas 

(Auction 102) on which it may want to 

bid from the list of available licenses or 

PEAs on its FCC Form 175 for the 

appropriate auction. Under the 

Commission’s adopted SMR auction 

design for Auction 101, an applicant 

will identify on its auction application 

the licenses offered on which it may 

wish to bid during the auction. Under 

the Commission’s adopted clock auction 

design for Auction 102, an applicant 

will select on its auction application all 

of the PEA(s) on which it may want to 

bid from the list of available PEAs. An 

applicant must carefully review and 

verify its license or PEA selections, as 

applicable, before the FCC Form 175 

filing deadline because those selections 

cannot be changed after the auction 

application filing deadline. The auction 

system will not accept bids on licenses 

or generic blocks in PEAs that were not 

selected on the applicant’s FCC Form 

175. 

D. Disclosure of Agreements and 

Bidding Arrangements 

34. An applicant must provide in its 

FCC Form 175 a brief description of, 

and identify each party to, any 

partnerships, joint ventures, consortia or 

agreements, arrangements, or 

understandings of any kind relating to 

the licenses being auctioned, including 

any agreements that address or 

communicate directly or indirectly bids 

(including specific prices), bidding 

strategies (including the specific 

licenses on which to bid or not to bid), 

or the post-auction market structure, to 

which the applicant, or any party that 

controls or is controlled by the 

applicant, is a party. A controlling 

interest includes all individuals or 

entities with positive or negative de jure 

or de facto control of the licensee. The 

applicant must certify under penalty of 

perjury in its FCC Form 175 that it has 

described, and identified each party to, 

any such agreements, arrangements, or 

understandings into which it has 

entered. An applicant may continue 

negotiating, discussing, or 

communicating with respect to a new 

agreement after the FCC Form 175 filing 

deadline, provided that the 

communications involved do not relate 

both to the licenses being auctioned and 

to bids or bidding strategies or postauction market structure. An auction 

applicant that enters into any agreement 

relating to the licenses being auctioned 

during an auction is subject to the same 

disclosure obligations it would be for 

agreements existing at the FCC Form 

175 filing deadline, and it must 

maintain the accuracy and completeness 

of the information in its pending 

auction application. 

35. If parties agree in principle on all 

material terms prior to the application 

filing deadline, each party to the 

agreement that is submitting an auction 

application must provide a brief 

description of, and identify the other 

party or parties to, the agreement on its 

respective FCC Form 175, even if the 

agreement has not been reduced to 

writing. If the parties have not agreed in 

principle by the FCC Form 175 filing 

deadline, they should not describe, or 

include the names of parties to, the 

discussions on their applications. 

36. The Commission’s rules now 

generally prohibit joint bidding and 

other arrangements involving auction 

applicants (including any party that 

controls or is controlled by, such 

applicants). Joint bidding arrangements 

include arrangements relating to the 


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licenses being auctioned that address or 

communicate, directly or indirectly, 

bidding at the auction, bidding 

strategies, including arrangements 

regarding price or the specific licenses 

on which to bid, and any such 

arrangements relating to the postauction market structure. The 

Commission notes that application of 

this prohibition requires a case-by-case 

determination based on the details of a 

specific arrangement. The Commission 

directs the Bureau to make such 

determinations expeditiously. 

37. This prohibition applies to joint 

bidding arrangements involving two or 

more nationwide providers, as well as 

joint bidding arrangements involving a 

nationwide provider and one or more 

non-nationwide providers, where any 

party to the arrangement is an applicant 

for the auction. A non-nationwide 

provider refers to any provider of 

communications services that is not a 

nationwide provider. Non-nationwide 

providers may enter into agreements to 

form a consortium or a joint venture (as 

applicable) that result in a single party 

applying to participate in an auction. 

While two or more non-nationwide 

providers may participate in an auction 

through a joint venture, a nationwide 

and a non-nationwide provider may not 

do so. A designated entity (DE) can 

participate in only one consortium or 

joint venture in an auction, which shall 

be the exclusive bidding vehicle for its 

members in that auction, and nonnationwide providers that are not 

designated entities may participate in an 

auction through only one joint venture, 

which also shall be the exclusive 

bidding vehicle for its members in that 

auction. A consortium is an entity 

formed to apply as a single applicant to 

bid at auction pursuant to an agreement 

by two or more separate and distinct 

legal entities that individually are 

eligible to claim the same designated 

entity benefits under § 1.2110 of the 

Commission’s rules, provided that no 

member of the consortium may be a 

nationwide provider. A joint venture 

means a legally cognizable entity 

formed to apply as a single applicant to 

bid at auction pursuant to an agreement 

by two or more separate and distinct 

legal entities, provided that no member 

of the joint venture may be a nationwide 

provider. The general prohibition on 

joint bidding arrangements excludes 

certain agreements, including those that 

are solely operational in nature. 

Agreements that are solely operational 

in nature are those that address 

operational aspects of providing a 

mobile service, such as agreements for 

roaming, spectrum leasing and other 

spectrum use arrangements, or device 

acquisition, as well as agreements for 

assignment or transfer of licenses, 

provided that any such agreement does 

not both relate to the licenses at auction 

and address or communicate, directly or 

indirectly, bidding at auction (including 

specific prices to be bid) or bidding 

strategies (including the specific 

licenses on which to bid or not to bid) 

or post-auction market structure. 

38. The Commission’s rules require 

each auction applicant to certify in its 

short-form application that it has 

disclosed any arrangements or 

understandings of any kind relating to 

the licenses being auctioned to which it 

(or any party that controls or is 

controlled by it) is a party. The 

applicant must also certify that it (or 

any party that controls or is controlled 

by it) has not entered and will not enter 

into any arrangement or understanding 

of any kind relating directly or 

indirectly to bidding at auction with, 

among others, any other applicant or a 

nationwide provider. 

39. The Commission has identified 

AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon 

Wireless as nationwide providers for the 

purpose of implementing its 

competitive bidding rules in Auctions 

101 and 102. The Commission will 

apply the rule prohibiting joint bidding 

arrangements to any applicant for 

Auction 101 or Auction 102. The rule 

prohibiting joint bidding arrangements 

will apply to all applicants (including 

any party that controls or is controlled 

by, such applicants) to participate in 

either auction, and not just to applicants 

for the same auction. A party wishing to 

participate in either auction will be 

required to disclose in its short-form 

application any bidding arrangements or 

understandings of any kind relating to 

the licenses being offered in either 

Auction 101 or Auction 102. The 

Commission will apply the agreement 

disclosure requirement and prohibition 

against joint bidding agreements such 

that the licenses being auctioned and 

licenses at auction include all of the 

licenses being offered in Auctions 101 

and 102. 

40. Although the Commission’s rules 

do not prohibit auction applicants from 

communicating about matters that are 

within the scope of an excepted 

agreement that has been disclosed in an 

FCC Form 175, the Commission reminds 

applicants that certain discussions or 

exchanges could nonetheless touch 

upon impermissible subject matters, and 

that compliance with the Commission’s 

rules will not insulate a party from 

enforcement of the antitrust laws. 

41. Applicants should bear in mind 

that a winning bidder will be required 

to disclose in its FCC Form 601 postauction application the specific terms, 

conditions, and parties involved in any 

agreement relating to the licenses being 

auctioned into which it had entered 

prior to the time bidding was 

completed. This applies to any bidding 

consortium, joint venture, partnership, 

or other agreement, arrangement, or 

understanding of any kind entered into 

relating to the competitive bidding 

process, including any agreements 

relating to the licenses being auctioned 

that address or communicate directly or 

indirectly bids (including specific 

prices), bidding strategies (including the 

specific licenses on which to bid or not 

to bid), or the post-auction market 

structure, to which the applicant, or any 

party that controls or is controlled by 

the applicant, is a party. 

E. Ownership Disclosure Requirements 

42. Each applicant must comply with 

the applicable part 1 ownership 

disclosure requirements and provide 

information required by §§ 1.2105 and 

1.2112, and, where applicable, § 1.2110, 

of the Commission’s rules. In 

completing FCC Form 175, an applicant 

must fully disclose information 

regarding the real party- or parties-ininterest in the applicant or application 

and the ownership structure of the 

applicant, including both direct and 

indirect ownership interests of 10 

percent or more, as prescribed in 

§§ 1.2105 and 1.2112, and, where 

applicable, § 1.2110, of the 

Commission’s rules. Each applicant is 

responsible for ensuring that 

information submitted in its short-form 

application is complete and accurate. 

43. In certain circumstances, an 

applicant may have previously filed an 

FCC Form 602 ownership disclosure 

information report or filed an auction 

application for a previous auction in 

which ownership information was 

disclosed. The most current ownership 

information contained in any FCC Form 

602 or previous auction application on 

file with the Commission that used the 

same FRN the applicant is using to 

submit its FCC Form 175 will 

automatically be pre-filled into certain 

ownership sections on the applicant’s 

FCC Form 175, if such information is in 

an electronic format compatible with 

FCC Form 175. The FCC Form 175 

instructions provide additional details 

on pre-filled information. Applicants 

are encouraged to submit an FCC Form 

602 ownership report or update any 

ownership information on file with the 

Commission in an FCC Form 602 

ownership report prior to starting an 

application for Auction 101 or Auction 

102 to ensure that their most recent 


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ownership information is pre-filled into 

their short-form applications and, for 

applicants seeking to participate in both 

Auctions 101 and 102, to reduce the 

number of changes that need to be made 

in both applications. Each applicant 

must carefully review any ownership 

information automatically entered into 

its FCC Form 175, including any 

ownership attachments, to confirm that 

all information supplied on FCC Form 

175 is complete and accurate as of the 

application filing deadline. Any 

information that needs to be corrected 

or updated must be changed directly in 

FCC Form 175. 

F. Foreign Ownership Disclosure 

Requirements 

44. Section 310 of the 

Communications Act requires the 

Commission to review foreign 

investment in radio station licenses and 

imposes specific restrictions on who 

may hold certain types of radio licenses. 

The provisions of section 310 apply to 

applications for initial radio licenses, 

applications for assignments and 

transfers of control of radio licenses, 

and spectrum leasing arrangements 

under the Commission’s secondary 

market rules. In completing the FCC 

Form 175, an applicant will be required 

to disclose information concerning 

foreign ownership of the applicant. If an 

applicant has foreign ownership 

interests in excess of the applicable 

limit or benchmark set forth in section 

310(b), it may seek to participate in 

Auction 101 and/or Auction 102 as long 

as it has filed a petition for declaratory 

ruling with the Commission prior to the 

FCC Form 175 filing deadline. An 

applicant must certify in its FCC Form 

175 that, as of the deadline for filing its 

application to participate in a particular 

auction, the applicant either is in 

compliance with the foreign ownership 

provisions of section 310 or has filed a 

petition for declaratory ruling 

requesting Commission approval to 

exceed the applicable foreign ownership 

limit or benchmark in section 310(b) 

that is pending before, or has been 

granted by, the Commission. Additional 

information concerning foreign 

ownership disclosure is provided in the 

FCC Form 175 Filing Instructions. 

G. Information Procedures During the 

Auction Process 

45. The Commission will limit 

information available in Auctions 101 

and 102. The Commission will not make 

public until after bidding in both 

auctions has closed: (1) The licenses or 

PEAs that an applicant selects for 

bidding in its FCC Form 175, (2) the 

amount of any upfront payment made 

by or on behalf of an applicant for 

Auction 101 or Auction 102, (3) any 

applicant’s bidding eligibility, and (4) 

any other bidding-related information 

that might reveal the identity of the 

bidder placing a bid. 

46. Information to be made public 

after each round of bidding in Auction 

101 will include, for each license, the 

number of bidders that placed a bid on 

the license, the amount of every bid 

placed, whether a bid was withdrawn, 

the minimum acceptable bid amount for 

the next round, and whether the license 

has a provisionally winning bid. The 

Auction System will indicate whether 

any proactive waivers were submitted in 

each round and the stage transition 

percentage—the percentages of licenses 

(as measured in bidding units) on which 

there were new bids—for the round. 

After the last round in Auction 101, the 

Commission will also make public the 

gross winning bid amount for each 

license. In Auction 102, information to 

be made public after each round of 

bidding in the clock phase will include, 

for each category of license in each 

geographic area, the supply, the 

aggregate demand, the price at the end 

of the last completed round, and the 

price for the next round. 

47. Any information relating to either 

auction that is non-public under the 

Commission’s limited information 

procedures will remain non-public until 

after bidding has closed in both 

auctions. 

48. The Commission will make nonpublic information relating to Auctions 

101 and 102, including the results of the 

respective auctions, available only after 

the close of bidding in Auction 102. 

Bidders’ license and/or PEA selections, 

as applicable, upfront payment 

amounts, bidding eligibility, bids, and 

other bidding-related actions concerning 

Auctions 101 and 102 will be made 

publicly available after the close of 

bidding in Auction 102. The 

Commission retains the discretion not to 

use limited information procedures if 

the Bureau, after examining the level of 

potential competition based on the 

short-form applications filed for 

Auction 101 and Auction 102, 

determines that the circumstances 

indicate that limited information 

procedures would not be an effective 

tool for deterring anti-competitive 

behavior. The identities of bidders 

placing specific bids or withdrawals (as 

applicable) and the net bid amounts 

(reflecting bidding credits) for Auctions 

101 and 102 will not be disclosed until 

after the close of bidding in Auction 

102. Bidders will have access to 

additional information related to their 

own bidding and bid eligibility. For 

example, bidders will be able to view 

their own level of eligibility, before and 

during each respective auction, through 

the FCC auction bidding system. 

49. The Commission warns applicants 

that the direct or indirect 

communication to other applicants or 

the public disclosure of non-public 

information (e.g., bid withdrawals, 

proactive waivers submitted, reductions 

in eligibility, identities of bidders) could 

violate the Commission’s rule 

prohibiting certain communications. To 

the extent an applicant believes that 

such a disclosure is required by law or 

regulation, including regulations issued 

by the SEC, the Commission strongly 

urges that the applicant consult with the 

Commission staff in the Auctions and 

Spectrum Access Division before 

making such disclosure. 

H. Prohibited Communications and 

Compliance With Antitrust Laws 

50. The rules prohibiting certain 

communications set forth in § 1.2105(c) 

apply to each applicant that files a 

short-form application (FCC Form 175) 

in Auction 101 or Auction 102. Section 

1.2105(c)(1) of the Commission’s rules 

provides that, subject to specified 

exceptions, after the short-form 

application filing deadline, all 

applicants are prohibited from 

cooperating or collaborating with 

respect to, communicating with or 

disclosing, to each other or any 

nationwide provider of communications 

services that is not an applicant, or, if 

the applicant is a nationwide provider, 

any non-nationwide provider that is not 

an applicant, in any manner the 

substance of their own, or each other’s, 

or any other applicants’ bids or bidding 

strategies (including post-auction 

market structure), or discussing or 

negotiating settlement agreements, until 

after the down payment deadline. 

51. The Commission will apply its 

rule prohibiting certain communications 

across both auctions, using the Auction 

102 down payment deadline to 

determine when the prohibition ends 

for applicants in either auction. The rule 

prohibiting certain communications will 

apply to communications between every 

applicant to participate in either auction 

regarding any such applicant’s bids or 

bidding strategies relating to either 

auction. 

1. Entities Subject to § 1.2105(c) 

52. An applicant for purposes of this 

rule includes all controlling interests in 

the entity submitting the FCC Form 175 

auction application, as well as all 

holders of interests amounting to 10 

percent or more of the entity, and all 

officers and directors of that entity. A 


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party that submits an application for 

either auction becomes an applicant for 

both auctions under the rule at the 

application deadline, and that status 

does not change based on later 

developments. An auction applicant 

that does not correct deficiencies in its 

application, fails to submit a timely and 

sufficient upfront payment, or does not 

otherwise become qualified, remains an 

applicant for purposes of the rule and 

remains subject to the prohibition on 

certain communications until the 

Auction 102 down payment deadline. 

2. Prohibition Applies Until Down 

Payment Deadline 

53. Section 1.2105(c)’s prohibition on 

certain communications begins at an 

auction’s short-form application filing 

deadline and ends at the auction’s down 

payment deadline after the auction 

closes, which will be announced in a 

future public notice. 

54. The Commission will use Auction 

102’s post-auction down payment 

deadline to determine when the 

prohibition ends for applicants in either 

auction. The prohibition on certain 

communications for applicants in either 

Auction 101 or Auction 102 will begin 

at the short-form application filing 

deadline for both auctions and will end 

at the down payment deadline for 

Auction 102. 

3. Scope of Prohibition on 

Communications; Prohibition on Joint 

Bidding Agreements 

55. The Commission in 2015 amended 

§ 1.2105(c) to extend the prohibition on 

communications to cover all applicants 

for an auction regardless of whether the 

applicants seek permits or licenses in 

the same geographic area, or market. In 

addition, the rule now applies to 

communications by applicants with 

non-applicant nationwide providers of 

communications services and by 

nationwide applicants with nonapplicant non-nationwide providers. 

The Commission now prohibits a joint 

bidding arrangement, including 

arrangements relating to the permits or 

licenses being auctioned that address or 

communicate, directly or indirectly, 

bidding at the auction, bidding 

strategies, including arrangements 

regarding price or the specific permits 

or licenses on which to bid, and any 

such arrangements relating to the postauction market structure. The revised 

rule provides limited exceptions for a 

communication within the scope of any 

arrangement consistent with the 

exclusion from the Commission’s rule 

prohibiting joint bidding, provided such 

arrangement is disclosed on the 

applicant’s auction application. 

Applicants may continue to 

communicate pursuant to any preexisting agreements, arrangements, or 

understandings that are solely 

operational or that provide for the 

transfer or assignment of licenses, 

provided that such agreements, 

arrangements, or understandings are 

disclosed on their applications and do 

not both relate to the licenses at auction 

and address or communicate bids 

(including amounts), bidding strategies, 

or the particular permits or licenses on 

which to bid or the post-auction market 

structure. 

56. The prohibition against 

communicating in any manner includes 

public disclosures as well as private 

communications and indirect or 

implicit communications. 

Consequently, an applicant must take 

care to determine whether its auctionrelated communications may reach 

another applicant. The Commission 

reminds applicants that they must 

determine whether their 

communications with other parties are 

permissible under the rule once the 

prohibition begins at the deadline for 

submitting applications, even before the 

public notice identifying the applicants 

is released. 

57. Parties subject to § 1.2105(c) 

should take special care in 

circumstances where their officers, 

directors, and employees may receive 

information directly or indirectly 

relating to any applicant’s bids or 

bidding strategies. Such information 

may be deemed to have been received 

by the applicant under certain 

circumstances. For example, 

Commission staff have found that, 

where an individual serves as an officer 

and director for two or more applicants, 

the bids and bidding strategies of one 

applicant are presumed conveyed to the 

other applicant through the shared 

officer, which creates an apparent 

violation of the rule. 

58. Section 1.2105(c)(1) prohibits 

applicants from communicating with 

specified other parties only with respect 

to their own, or each other’s, or any 

other applicant’s bids or bidding 

strategies. A communication conveying 

bids or bidding strategies (including 

post-auction market structure) must also 

relate to the licenses being auctioned in 

order to be covered by the prohibition. 

Thus, the prohibition is limited in scope 

and does not apply to all 

communications between or among the 

specified parties. 

59. Business discussions and 

negotiations that are unrelated to 

bidding in Auction 101 or Auction 102 

and that do not convey information 

about the bids or bidding strategies, 

including the post-auction market 

structure, of an applicant in either 

auction, are not prohibited by the rule. 

Moreover, not all auction-related 

information is covered by the 

prohibition. For example, 

communicating merely whether a party 

has or has not applied to participate in 

Auction 101 or Auction 102 will not 

violate the rule. In contrast, 

communicating, among other things, 

how a party will participate, including 

specific geographic areas selected, 

specific bid amounts, and/or whether or 

not the party is placing bids, would 

convey bids or bidding strategies and 

would be prohibited. 

60. Each applicant must remain 

vigilant not to communicate, directly or 

indirectly, information that affects, or 

could affect, bids or bidding strategies. 

Certain discussions might touch upon 

subject matters that could convey price 

or geographic information related to 

bidding strategies. Such subject areas 

include, but are not limited to, 

management, sales, local marketing 

agreements, and other transactional 

agreements. 

61. The Commission cautions 

applicants that bids or bidding strategies 

may be communicated outside of 

situations that involve one party subject 

to the prohibition communicating 

privately and directly with another such 

party. For example, the Commission has 

warned that prohibited communications 

concerning bids and bidding strategies 

may include communications regarding 

capital calls or requests for additional 

funds in support of bids or bidding 

strategies to the extent such 

communications convey information 

concerning the bids and bidding 

strategies directly or indirectly. The 

Commission has found a violation of the 

rule against prohibited communications 

when an applicant used the 

Commission’s bidding system to 

disclose its bidding strategy in a manner 

that explicitly invited other auction 

participants to cooperate and 

collaborate in specific markets and has 

placed auction participants on notice 

that the use of its bidding system to 

disclose market information to 

competitors will not be tolerated and 

will subject bidders to sanctions. 

62. When completing a short-form 

application, each applicant should 

avoid any statements or disclosures that 

may violate § 1.2105(c). An applicant 

should avoid including any information 

in its short-form application that might 

convey information regarding its license 

or PEA selection, as applicable, such as 

referring to certain licenses or markets 

in describing agreements, including any 

information in application attachments 


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that will be publicly available that may 

otherwise disclose the applicant’s 

license or PEA selections, or using 

applicant names that refer to licenses 

being offered. 

63. Applicants also should be mindful 

that communicating non-public 

application or bidding information 

publicly or privately to another 

applicant may violate § 1.2105(c) even 

though that information subsequently 

may be made public during later periods 

of the application or bidding processes. 

4. Communicating With Third Parties 

64. Section 1.2105(c) does not 

prohibit an applicant from 

communicating bids or bidding 

strategies to a third-party, such as a 

consultant or consulting firm, counsel, 

or lender. The applicant should take 

appropriate steps to ensure that any 

third party it employs for advice 

pertaining to its bids or bidding 

strategies does not become a conduit for 

prohibited communications to other 

specified parties, as that would violate 

the rule. For example, an applicant 

might require a third party, such as a 

lender, to sign a non-disclosure 

agreement before the applicant 

communicates any information 

regarding bids or bidding strategy to the 

third party. Within third-party firms, 

separate individual employees, such as 

attorneys or auction consultants, may 

advise individual applicants on bids or 

bidding strategies, as long as such firms 

implement firewalls and other 

compliance procedures that prevent 

such individuals from communicating 

the bids or bidding strategies of one 

applicant to other individuals 

representing separate applicants. 

Although firewalls and/or other 

procedures should be used, their 

existence is not an absolute defense to 

liability if a violation of the rule has 

occurred. 

65. In the case of an individual, the 

objective precautionary measure of a 

firewall is not available. An individual 

that is privy to bids or bidding 

information of more than one applicant 

presents a greater risk of becoming a 

conduit for a prohibited 

communication. The Commission 

emphasizes that whether a prohibited 

communication has taken place in a 

given case will depend on all the facts 

pertaining to the case, including who 

possessed what information, what 

information was conveyed to whom, 

and the course of bidding in the auction. 

66. The Commission’s rules prohibit 

separate applicants for each auction 

(i.e., within one auction) or separate 

applicants for either auction (e.g., one 

applicant for Auction 101 and another 

for Auction 102) from designating the 

same individual on their short-form 

applications to serve as an authorized 

bidder. A violation of the rules could 

also occur if the authorized bidders are 

different individuals employed by the 

same organization (e.g., a law firm, 

engineering firm, or consulting firm). In 

the latter case, at a minimum, applicants 

should certify on their applications that 

precautionary steps have been taken to 

prevent communication between 

authorized bidders and that the 

applicant and its bidders will comply 

with § 1.2105(c). The Commission 

cautions that filing a certifying 

statement that precautionary steps have 

been taken will not outweigh specific 

evidence of an actual violation. 

67. The Commission reminds 

potential applicants that they may 

discuss the short-form application or 

bids for specific licenses or license areas 

with the counsel, consultant, or expert 

of their choice before the short-form 

application deadline. The same thirdparty individual could continue to give 

advice after the short-form deadline 

regarding the application, provided that 

no information pertaining to bids or 

bidding strategies, including licenses or 

PEAs selected on the short-form 

application, is conveyed to that 

individual. To the extent potential 

applicants can develop bidding 

instructions prior to the short-form 

deadline that a third party could 

implement without changes during 

bidding, the third party could follow 

such instructions for multiple 

applicants provided that those 

applicants do not communicate with the 

third party during the prohibition 

period. 

68. Applicants also should use 

caution in their dealings with other 

parties, such as members of the press, 

financial analysts, or others who might 

become conduits for the communication 

of prohibited bidding information. For 

example, an applicant’s statement to the 

press that it intends to stop bidding in 

an auction could give rise to a finding 

of a § 1.2105 violation. Similarly, an 

applicant’s public statement of intent 

not to place bids during bidding in 

Auction 101 or Auction 102 could also 

violate the rule. 

5. Section 1.2105(c) Certifications 

69. By electronically submitting its 

FCC Form 175 auction application, each 

applicant for Auction 101 and Auction 

102 certifies its compliance with 

§ 1.2105(c) of the rules. If an applicant 

has a non-controlling interest with 

respect to more than one application, 

the applicant must certify that it has 

established internal control procedures 

to preclude any person acting on behalf 

of the applicant from possessing 

information about the bids or bidding 

strategies of more than one applicant or 

communicating such information with 

respect to either applicant to another 

person acting on behalf of and 

possessing such information regarding 

another applicant. However, the mere 

filing of a certifying statement as part of 

an application will not outweigh 

specific evidence that a prohibited 

communication has occurred, nor will it 

preclude the initiation of an 

investigation when warranted. Any 

applicant found to have violated these 

communication prohibitions may be 

subject to sanctions. 

6. Duty To Report Prohibited 

Communications 

70. Section 1.2105(c)(4) requires that 

any applicant that makes or receives a 

communication that appears to violate 

§ 1.2105(c) must report such 

communication in writing to the 

Commission immediately, and in no 

case later than five business days after 

the communication occurs. Each 

applicant’s obligation to report any such 

communication continues beyond the 

five-day period after the communication 

is made, even if the report is not made 

within the five-day period. 

7. Procedures for Reporting Prohibited 

Communications 

71. A party reporting any information 

or communication pursuant to §§ 1.65, 

1.2105(a)(2), or 1.2105(c)(4) must take 

care to ensure that any report of a 

prohibited communication does not 

itself give rise to a violation of 

§ 1.2105(c). For example, a party’s 

report of a prohibited communication 

could violate the rule by communicating 

prohibited information to other parties 

specified under the rule through the use 

of Commission filing procedures that 

allow such materials to be made 

available for public inspection. 

72. Parties must file only a single 

report concerning a prohibited 

communication and must file that report 

with the Commission personnel 

expressly charged with administering 

the Commission’s auctions. This process 

differs from filing procedures used in 

connection with other Commission 

rules and processes, which may call for 

submission of filings to the 

Commission’s Office of the Secretary or 

ECFS. Filing through the Office of 

Secretary or ECFS could allow the 

report to become publicly available and 

might result in the communication of 

prohibited information to other auction 

applicants. Any reports required by 

§ 1.2105(c) must be filed consistent with 


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the instructions set forth in the Auctions 

101 and 102 Procedures Public Notice. 

For Auctions 101 and 102, such reports 

must be filed with Margaret W. Wiener, 

the Chief of the Auctions and Spectrum 

Access Division, Wireless 

Telecommunications Bureau, by the 

most expeditious means available. Any 

such report should be submitted by 

email to Ms. Wiener sent to both 

auction101@fcc.gov and auction102@

fcc.gov. If you choose instead to submit 

a report in hard copy, any such report 

must be delivered only to: Margaret W. 

Wiener, Chief, Auctions and Spectrum 

Access Division, Wireless 

Telecommunications Bureau, Federal 

Communications Commission, 445 12th 

Street SW, Room 6–C217, Washington, 

DC 20554. 

73. A party seeking to report such a 

prohibited communication should 

consider submitting its report with a 

request that the report or portions of the 

submission be withheld from public 

inspection by following the procedures 

specified in § 0.459 of the Commission’s 

rules. Filers requesting confidential 

treatment of documents must be sure 

that the cover page of the filing 

prominently displays that the 

documents seek confidential treatment. 

For example, a filing might include a 

cover page stamped with Request for 

Confidential Treatment Attached or Not 

for Public Inspection. Any such request 

must cover all the material to which the 

request applies. The Commission 

encourages such parties to coordinate 

with the Auctions and Spectrum Access 

Division staff about the procedures for 

submitting such reports. 

8. Winning Bidders Must Disclose 

Terms of Agreements 

74. Each applicant that is a winning 

bidder will be required to provide as 

part of its long-form application any 

agreement or arrangement it has entered 

into and a summary of the specific 

terms, conditions, and parties involved 

in any agreement it has entered into. 

Such agreements must have been 

entered into prior to the filing of shortform applications. This applies to any 

bidding consortia, joint venture, 

partnership, or agreement, 

understanding, or other arrangement 

entered into relating to the competitive 

bidding process, including any 

agreement relating to the post-auction 

market structure. Failure to comply with 

the Commission’s rules can result in 

enforcement action. 

9. Additional Information Concerning 

Prohibition of Certain Communications 

in Commission Auctions 

75. A summary listing of documents 

issued by the Commission and the 

Bureau addressing the application of 

§ 1.2105(c) is available on the 

Commission’s auction web page at 

https://www.fcc.gov/summary-listingdocuments-addressing-application-ruleprohibiting-certain-communications/. 

10. Antitrust Laws 

76. Compliance with the disclosure 

requirements of § 1.2105(c)(4) will not 

insulate a party from enforcement of the 

antitrust laws. For instance, a violation 

of the antitrust laws could arise out of 

actions taking place well before any 

party submits a short-form application. 

The Commission has cited a number of 

examples of potentially anticompetitive 

actions that would be prohibited under 

antitrust laws: for example, actual or 

potential competitors may not agree to 

divide territories in order to minimize 

competition, regardless of whether they 

split a market in which they both do 

business, or whether they merely 

reserve one market for one and another 

market for the other. 

77. To the extent the Commission 

becomes aware of specific allegations 

that suggest that violations of the federal 

antitrust laws may have occurred, the 

Commission may refer such allegations 

to the United States Department of 

Justice for investigation. If an applicant 

is found to have violated the antitrust 

laws or the Commission’s rules in 

connection with its participation in the 

competitive bidding process, it may be 

subject to a forfeiture and may be 

prohibited from participating further in 

Auction 101, Auction 102, and in future 

auctions, among other sanctions. 

I. Provisions for Small Businesses and 

Rural Service Providers 

78. The Commission’s designated 

entity rules apply to all licenses 

acquired with bidding credits, including 

those won in Auctions 101 and 102. A 

bidding credit represents an amount by 

which a bidder’s winning bid will be 

discounted. Applicants should note that 

all references to a winning bid in the 

context of designated entity bidding 

credits for Auction 102 (e.g., the 

application of a small business discount 

to an applicant’s winning bid) refer to 

the calculated license price. A 

disclosable interest holder of an 

applicant seeking designated entity 

benefits is defined as any individual or 

entity holding a 10 percent or greater 

interest of any kind in the applicant, 

including but not limited to, a 10 

percent or greater interest in any class 

of stock, warrants, options, or debt 

securities in the applicant or licensee. 

79. In Auctions 101 and 102, bidding 

credits will be available to applicants 

demonstrating eligibility for a small 

business or a rural service provider 

bidding credit and subsequently 

winning license(s). Bidding credits will 

not be cumulative—for each auction, an 

applicant is permitted to claim either a 

small business bidding credit or a rural 

service provider bidding credit, but not 

both. Each applicant must also certify 

that it is eligible for the claimed bidding 

credit in its FCC Form 175. Each 

applicant should review carefully the 

Commission’s decisions regarding the 

designated entity provisions as well as 

the part 1 rules. 

80. The Commission reminds 

applicants applying for designated 

entity bidding credits that they should 

take due account of the requirements of 

the Commission’s rules and 

implementing orders regarding de jure 

and de facto control of such applicants. 

These rules include a prohibition, 

which applies to all applicants (whether 

or not seeking bidding credits), against 

changes in ownership of the applicant 

that would constitute an assignment or 

transfer of control. Any substantial 

change in ownership or control is 

classified as a major amendment. 

Applicants should not expect to receive 

any opportunities to revise their 

ownership structure after the filing of 

their short- and long-form applications, 

including making revisions to their 

agreements or other arrangements with 

interest holders, lenders, or others in 

order to address potential concerns 

relating to compliance with the 

designated entity bidding credit 

requirements. 

1. Small Business Bidding Credit 

81. For Auctions 101 and 102, bidding 

credits will be available to eligible small 

businesses and consortia thereof. Under 

the service rules applicable to the 

UMFUS licenses to be offered in 

Auctions 101 and 102, the level of 

bidding credit available is determined 

as follows: 

• A bidder with attributed average 

annual gross revenues that do not 

exceed $55 million for the preceding 

three years is eligible to receive a 15 

percent discount on its winning bid. 

• A bidder with attributed average 

annual gross revenues that do not 

exceed $20 million for the preceding 

three years is eligible to receive a 25 

percent discount on its winning bid. 

82. Small business bidding credits are 

not cumulative; for each auction, an 

eligible applicant may receive either the 


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15 percent or the 25 percent bidding 

credit on its winning bid, but not both. 

The Commission’s unjust enrichment 

provisions also apply to a winning 

bidder that uses a bidding credit and 

subsequently seeks to assign or transfer 

control of its license within a certain 

period to an entity not qualifying for the 

same level of small business bidding 

credit. For example, the Commission’s 

unjust enrichment provisions would not 

apply to a winning bidder that uses the 

15 percent small business bidding credit 

and seeks to transfer control of its 

license to an entity that qualifies for 

either the 15 percent small business 

bidding credit or the rural service 

provider bidding credit. The provisions 

would apply if that same winning 

bidder uses the 25 percent small 

business bidding credit, unless the 

proposed transferee also qualifies for the 

25 percent small business bidding 

credit. 

83. Each applicant claiming a small 

business bidding credit must disclose 

the gross revenues for the preceding 

three years for each of the following: (1) 

The applicant, (2) its affiliates, (3) its 

controlling interests, and (4) the 

affiliates of its controlling interests. The 

applicant must also submit an 

attachment that lists all parties with 

which the applicant has entered into 

any spectrum use agreements or 

arrangements for any licenses that be 

may won by the applicant in Auction 

101 or Auction 102, as applicable. In 

addition, to the extent that an applicant 

has an agreement with any disclosable 

interest holder for the use of more than 

25 percent of the spectrum capacity of 

any license that may be won in Auction 

101 or Auction 102, the identity and the 

attributable gross revenues of any such 

disclosable interest holder must be 

disclosed. This attribution rule will be 

applied on a license-by-license basis. As 

a result, an applicant may be eligible for 

a bidding credit on some, but not all, of 

the licenses for which it is bidding in 

Auction 101 or Auction 102. If an 

applicant is applying as a consortium of 

small businesses, the disclosures 

described in this paragraph must be 

provided for each consortium member. 

2. Rural Service Provider Bidding Credit 

84. An eligible applicant may request 

a 15 percent discount on its winning bid 

using a rural service provider bidding 

credit, subject to a $10 million cap. The 

Commission determines eligibility for 

bidding credits, including the rural 

service provider bidding credit, on a 

service-by-service basis. To be eligible 

for a rural service provider bidding 

credit, an applicant must: (1) Be a 

service provider that is in the business 

of providing commercial 

communications services and, together 

with its controlling interests, affiliates, 

and the affiliates of its controlling 

interests, has fewer than 250,000 

combined wireless, wireline, 

broadband, and cable subscribers; and 

(2) serve predominantly rural areas, 

defined as counties with a population 

density of 100 or fewer persons per 

square mile. The Commission has not 

adopted a specific threshold for the 

proportion of an applicant’s customers 

who are located in rural areas, in order 

for an applicant to be eligible for a rural 

service provider bidding credit, the 

primary focus of its business activity 

must be the provision of services to 

rural areas. These eligibility 

requirements must be satisfied by the 

FCC Form 175 filing deadline. 

Additionally, an applicant may count 

any subscriber as a single subscriber 

even if that subscriber receives more 

than one service. For instance, a 

subscriber receiving both wireline and 

telephone service and broadband would 

be counted as a single subscriber. 

85. Each applicant seeking a rural 

service provider bidding credit must 

disclose the number of subscribers it 

has, along with the number of 

subscribers of its affiliates, controlling 

interests, and the affiliates of its 

controlling interests. The applicant 

must also submit an attachment that 

lists all parties with which the applicant 

has entered into any spectrum use 

agreements or arrangements for any 

licenses that be may won by the 

applicant in Auction 101 or Auction 

102, as applicable. To the extent that an 

applicant has an agreement with any 

disclosable interest holder for the use of 

more than 25 percent of the spectrum 

capacity of any license that may be won 

in Auction 101 or Auction 102, the 

identity and the attributable subscribers 

of any such disclosable interest holder 

must be disclosed. Eligible rural service 

providers may also form a consortium. 

If an applicant is applying as a 

consortium of rural service providers, 

the disclosures described in this 

paragraph, including the certification, 

must be provided for each consortium 

member. 

3. Caps on Bidding Credits 

86. Eligible applicants claiming either 

a small business or rural service 

provider bidding credit will be subject 

to certain caps on the total amount of 

bidding credits that any eligible 

applicant may receive. The Commission 

adopts a $25 million cap on the total 

amount of bidding credits that may be 

awarded to an eligible small business in 

Auction 101 and Auction 102 (i.e., $25 

million in each auction). The 

Commission adopts a $10 million cap 

on the total amount of bidding credits 

that may be awarded to an eligible rural 

service provider in Auction 101 and 

Auction 102 (i.e., $10 million in each 

auction). An entity is not eligible for a 

rural service provider bidding credit if 

it has already claimed a small business 

bidding credit. No winning designated 

entity bidder will be able to obtain more 

than $10 million in bidding credits in 

total for licenses won in markets with a 

population of 500,000 or less. To the 

extent an applicant seeking a small 

business bidding credit does not claim 

the full $10 million in bidding credits 

in those smaller markets, it may apply 

the remaining balance to its winning 

bids on licenses in larger markets, up to 

the aggregate $25 million cap. 

4. Attributable Interests 

a. Controlling Interests and Affiliates 

87. An applicant’s eligibility for 

designated entity benefits is determined 

by attributing the gross revenues (for 

those seeking small business benefits) or 

subscribers (for those seeking rural 

service provider benefits) of the 

applicant, its affiliates, its controlling 

interests, and the affiliates of its 

controlling interests. Controlling 

interests of an applicant include 

individuals and entities with either de 

facto or de jure control of the applicant. 

Typically, ownership of greater than 50 

percent of an entity’s voting stock 

evidences de jure control. De facto 

control is determined on a case-by-case 

basis based on the totality of the 

circumstances. The following are some 

common indicia of de facto control: 

• The entity constitutes or appoints 

more than 50 percent of the board of 

directors or management committee; 

• the entity has authority to appoint, 

promote, demote, and fire senior 

executives that control the day-to-day 

activities of the licensee; 

• the entity plays an integral role in 

management decisions. 

88. Applicants should refer to 

§ 1.2110(c)(2) of the Commission’s rules 

and the FCC Form 175 Instructions to 

understand how certain interests are 

calculated in determining control for 

purposes of attributing gross revenues. 

For example, officers and directors of an 

applicant are considered to have a 

controlling interest in the applicant. 

89. Affiliates of an applicant or 

controlling interest include an 

individual or entity that (1) directly or 

indirectly controls or has the power to 

control the applicant, (2) is directly or 

indirectly controlled by the applicant, 

(3) is directly or indirectly controlled by 


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a third party that also controls or has the 

power to control the applicant, or (4) 

has an identity of interest with the 

applicant. The Commission’s definition 

of an affiliate of the applicant 

encompasses both controlling interests 

of the applicant and affiliates of 

controlling interests of the applicant. 

For more information on the application 

requirements regarding controlling 

interests and affiliates, applicants 

should refer to § 1.2110(c)(2) and (5) 

respectively, as well as the FCC Form 

175 Instructions. 

90. An applicant seeking a small 

business bidding credit must 

demonstrate its eligibility for the 

bidding credit by: (1) Meeting the 

applicable small business size standard, 

based on the controlling interest and 

affiliation rules, and (2) retaining 

control, on a license-by-license basis, 

over the spectrum associated with the 

licenses for which it seeks small 

business benefits. Applicants should 

note that control and affiliation may 

arise through, among other things, 

ownership interests, voting interests, 

management and other operating 

agreements, or the terms of any other 

types of agreements—including 

spectrum lease agreements—that 

independently or together create a 

controlling, or potentially controlling, 

interest in the applicant’s or licensee’s 

business as a whole. Except under the 

limited provisions provided for 

spectrum manager lessors, the 

Commission’s decision to discontinue 

its policy requiring designated entity 

licensees to operate as primarily 

facilities-based providers of service 

directly to the public does not alter the 

rules that require the Commission to 

consider whether any particular use 

agreement may confer control of or 

create affiliation with the applicant. 

Once an applicant demonstrates 

eligibility as a small business under the 

first prong, it must also be eligible for 

benefits on a license-by-license basis 

under the second prong. As part of 

making the FCC Form 175 certification 

that it is qualified as a designated entity 

under § 1.2110, an applicant is 

certifying that it does not have any 

spectrum use or other agreements that 

would confer de jure and de facto 

control of any license it seeks to acquire 

with bidding credits. For instance, if an 

applicant has a spectrum use agreement 

on a particular license that calls into 

question whether, under the 

Commission’s affiliation rules, the 

user’s revenues should be attributed to 

the applicant for that particular license, 

rather than for its overall business 

operations, the applicant could be 

ineligible to acquire or retain benefits 

with respect to that particular license. 

An applicant need not be eligible for 

small business benefits on each of the 

spectrum licenses it holds in order to 

demonstrate its overall eligibility for 

such benefits. 

91. Applicants should note that if an 

applicant executes a spectrum use 

agreement that does not comply with 

the Commission’s relevant standard of 

de facto control, it will be subject to 

unjust enrichment obligations for the 

benefits associated with that particular 

license, as well as the penalties 

associated with any violation of section 

310(d) of the Communications Act and 

related regulations, which require 

Commission approval of transfers of 

control. Although in this scenario the 

applicant may not be eligible for a 

bidding credit and may be subject to the 

Commission’s unjust enrichment rules, 

the applicant need not be eligible for 

small business benefits on each of the 

spectrum licenses it holds in order to 

demonstrate its overall eligibility for 

such benefits. If that spectrum use 

agreement (either alone or in 

combination with the designated entity 

controlling interest and attribution 

rules), goes so far as to confer control of 

the applicant’s overall business, the 

gross revenues of the additional interest 

holders will be attributed to the 

applicant, which could render the 

applicant ineligible for all current and 

future small business benefits on all 

licenses. The Commission applies the 

same de facto control standard to 

designated entity spectrum manager 

lessors that is applied to non-designated 

entity spectrum manager lessors. 

b. Limitation on Spectrum Use 

92. The Commission determined that 

a new attribution rule will apply going 

forward under which the gross revenues 

(or the subscribers, in the case of a rural 

service provider) of an applicant’s 

disclosable interest holder are 

attributable to the applicant, on a 

license-by-license basis, if the 

disclosable interest holder has an 

agreement with the applicant to use, in 

any manner, more than 25 percent of the 

spectrum capacity of any license won by 

the applicant and acquired with a 

bidding credit during the five-year 

unjust enrichment period for the 

applicable license. A disclosable 

interest holder of an applicant seeking 

designated entity benefits is defined as 

any individual or entity holding a ten 

percent or greater interest of any kind in 

the applicant, including but not limited 

to, a ten percent or greater interest in 

any class of stock, warrants, options or 

debt securities in the applicant or 

licensee. Any applicant seeking a 

bidding credit for licenses won in 

Auction 101 or Auction 102 will be 

subject to this attribution rule and must 

make the requisite disclosures. 

93. The Commission also determined 

that certain disclosable interest holders 

may be excluded from this attribution 

rule. An applicant claiming the rural 

service provider bidding credit may 

have spectrum license use agreements 

with a disclosable interest holder, 

without having to attribute the 

disclosable interest holder’s subscribers, 

so long as the disclosable interest holder 

is independently eligible for a rural 

service provider credit and the use 

agreement is otherwise permissible 

under the Commission’s existing rules. 

If applicable, the applicant must attach 

to its FCC Form 175 any additional 

information as may be required to 

indicate any license (or license area) 

that may be subject to this attribution 

rule or to demonstrate its eligibility for 

the exception from this attribution rule. 

To the extent an Auction 101 or Auction 

102 applicant is required to submit any 

such additional information, the 

applicant must not disclose details of its 

submission to others as it would reveal 

information regarding its license or PEA 

selection(s), respectively. The 

Commission intends to withhold from 

public disclosure all information 

contained in any such attachments until 

after the close of Auction 102. 

c. Exceptions From Attribution Rules 

for Small Businesses and Rural Service 

Providers 

94. Applicants claiming designated 

entity benefits may be eligible for 

certain exceptions from the 

Commission’s attribution rules. For 

example, in calculating an applicant’s 

gross revenues under the controlling 

interest standard, it will not attribute to 

the applicant the personal net worth, 

including personal income, of its 

officers and directors. To the extent that 

the officers and directors of the 

applicant are controlling interest 

holders of other entities, the gross 

revenues of those entities will be 

attributed to the applicant. If an officer 

or director operates a separate business, 

the gross revenues derived from that 

separate business would be attributed to 

the applicant, although any personal 

income from such separate business 

would not be attributed. The 

Commission also exempts from 

attribution to the applicant the gross 

revenues of the affiliates of a rural 

telephone cooperative’s officers and 

directors, if certain conditions specified 

in § 1.2110(b)(4)(iii) of the 

Commission’s rules are met. An 

applicant claiming this exemption must 


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provide, in an attachment, an 

affirmative statement that the applicant, 

affiliate and/or controlling interest is an 

eligible rural telephone cooperative 

within the meaning of § 1.2110(b)(4)(iii), 

and the applicant must supply any 

additional information as may be 

required to demonstrate eligibility for 

the exemption from the attribution rule. 

95. An applicant claiming a rural 

service provider bidding credit may be 

eligible for an exception from the 

Commission’s attribution rules as an 

existing rural partnership. To qualify for 

this exception, an applicant must be a 

rural partnership providing service as of 

July 16, 2015, and each member of the 

rural partnership must individually 

have fewer than 250,000 combined 

wireless, wireline, broadband, and cable 

subscribers. The Commission will 

evaluate eligibility for an existing rural 

wireless partnership on the same basis 

as it would for an applicant applying for 

a bidding credit as a consortium of rural 

service providers. A partnership that 

includes a nationwide provider as a 

member will not be eligible for the 

benefit. Members of such partnerships 

that fall under this exception may also 

apply as individual applicants or 

members of a consortium (to the extent 

that it is otherwise permissible to do so 

under the Commission’s rules) and seek 

eligibility for a rural service provider 

bidding credit. 

96. A consortium of small businesses 

or rural service providers may seek an 

exception from the Commission’s 

attribution rules. A consortium of small 

businesses or rural service providers is 

a conglomerate organization composed 

of two or more entities, each of which 

individually satisfies the definition of 

small business or rural service provider. 

A consortium must provide additional 

information for each member 

demonstrating each member’s eligibility 

for the claimed bidding credit in order 

to show that the applicant satisfies the 

eligibility criteria for the bidding credit. 

The gross revenue or subscriber 

information of each consortium member 

will not be aggregated for purposes of 

determining the consortium’s eligibility 

for the claimed bidding credit. This 

information must be provided to ensure 

that each consortium member qualifies 

for the bidding credit sought by the 

consortium. 

J. Tribal Lands Bidding Credit 

97. A winning bidder that intends to 

use its license(s) to deploy facilities and 

provide services to federally recognized 

tribal lands that are unserved by any 

telecommunications carrier or that have 

a wireline penetration rate equal to or 

below 85 percent is eligible to receive a 

tribal lands bidding credit as set forth in 

§§ 1.2107 and 1.2110(f) of the 

Commission’s rules. A tribal lands 

bidding credit is in addition to, and 

separate from, any other bidding credit 

for which a winning bidder may qualify. 

98. A winning bidder applies for a 

tribal lands bidding credit after the 

auction when it files its FCC Form 601 

post-auction application. When initially 

filing the post-auction application, the 

winning bidder will be required to 

advise the Commission whether it 

intends to seek a tribal lands bidding 

credit, for each license won in a 

particular auction, by checking the 

designated box(es). After stating its 

intent to seek a tribal lands bidding 

credit, the winning bidder will have 180 

days from the close of the applicable 

post-auction application filing window 

to amend its application to select the 

specific tribal lands to be served and 

provide the required tribal government 

certifications. Licensees receiving a 

tribal lands bidding credit are subject to 

performance criteria as set forth in 

§ 1.2110(f)(3)(vii). For additional 

information on the tribal lands bidding 

credit, including how the amount of the 

credit is calculated, applicants should 

review the Commission’s rulemaking 

proceeding regarding tribal lands 

bidding credits and related public 

notices. Relevant documents can be 

viewed on the Commission’s website by 

going to www.fcc.gov/auctions/ and 

clicking on the Tribal Lands Credits 

link. 

K. Provisions Regarding Former and 

Current Defaulters 

99. Each applicant must make 

certifications regarding whether it is a 

current or former defaulter or 

delinquent. A current defaulter or 

delinquent is not eligible to participate 

in Auction 101 or Auction 102, but a 

former defaulter or delinquent may 

participate so long as it is otherwise 

qualified and makes an upfront payment 

that is fifty percent more than would 

otherwise be necessary. An applicant is 

considered a current defaulter or a 

current delinquent when it, any of its 

affiliates, any of its controlling interests, 

or any of the affiliates of its controlling 

interests, is in default on any payment 

for any Commission construction permit 

or license (including a down payment) 

or is delinquent on any non-tax debt 

owed to any Federal agency as of the 

filing deadline for auction applications. 

Non-tax debt owed to any Federal 

agency includes all amounts owed 

under Federal programs, including 

contributions to the Universal Service 

Fund, Telecommunications Relay 

Services Fund, and the North American 

Numbering Plan Administration, 

notwithstanding that the administrator 

of any such fund may not be considered 

a Federal agency under the Debt 

Collection Improvement Act of 1996. 

For example, an applicant with a past 

due USF contribution as of the auction 

application filing deadline would be 

disqualified from participating in 

Auctions 101 and 102 under the 

Commission’s rules. If the applicant 

cures the overdue debt prior to the 

auction application filing deadline (and 

such debt does not fall within one of the 

exclusions described in 

§ 1.2105(a)(2)(xii)), it may be eligible to 

participate in Auctions 101 and 102 as 

a former defaulter. Each applicant must 

certify under penalty of perjury on its 

FCC Form 175 that it, its affiliates, its 

controlling interests, and the affiliates of 

its controlling interests are not in 

default on any payment for a 

Commission construction permit or 

license (including down payments) and 

that it is not delinquent on any non-tax 

debt owed to any Federal agency. 

Additionally, an applicant must certify 

under penalty of perjury whether it 

(along with its controlling interests) has 

ever been in default on any payment for 

a Commission construction permit or 

license (including down payments) or 

has ever been delinquent on any non-tax 

debt owed to any Federal agency, 

subject to certain exclusions. The term 

controlling interest is defined in 

§ 1.2105(a)(4)(i) of the Commission 

rules. 

100. An applicant is considered a 

former defaulter or a former delinquent 

when, as of the FCC Form 175 deadline, 

the applicant or any of its controlling 

interests has defaulted on any 

Commission construction permit or 

license or has been delinquent on any 

non-tax debt owed to any Federal 

agency, but has since remedied all such 

defaults and cured all of the outstanding 

non-tax delinquencies. The applicant 

may exclude from consideration any 

cured default on a Commission 

construction permit or license or cured 

delinquency on a non-tax debt owed to 

a Federal agency for which any of the 

following criteria are met: (1) The notice 

of the final payment deadline or 

delinquency was received more than 

seven years before the FCC Form 175 

filing deadline; (2) the default or 

delinquency amounted to less than 

$100,000; (3) the default or delinquency 

was paid within two quarters (i.e., six 

months) after receiving the notice of the 

final payment deadline or delinquency; 

or (4) the default or delinquency was the 

subject of a legal or arbitration 

proceeding and was cured upon 


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resolution of the proceeding. Notice to 

a debtor may include notice of a final 

payment deadline or notice of 

delinquency and may be express or 

implied depending on the origin of any 

Federal non-tax debt giving rise to a 

default or delinquency. The date of 

receipt of the notice of a final default 

deadline or delinquency by the 

intended party or debtor will be used for 

purposes of verifying receipt of notice. 

A debt will not be deemed to be in 

default or delinquent until after the 

expiration of a final payment deadline. 

To the extent that the rules providing 

for payment of a specific federal debt 

permit payment after an original 

payment deadline accompanied by late 

fee(s), such debts would not be in 

default or delinquent for purposes of 

applying the former defaulter rules until 

after the late payment deadline. Any 

winning bidder that fails timely to pay 

its post-auction down payment or the 

balance of its final winning bid 

amount(s) or is disqualified for any 

reason after the close of an auction will 

be in default and subject to a default 

payment. Commission staff provide 

individual notice of the amount of such 

a default payment as well as procedures 

and information required by the Debt 

Collection Improvement Act of 1996, 

including the payment due date and any 

charges, interest, and/or penalties that 

accrue in the event of delinquency. 

Such notice provided by Commission 

staff assessing a default payment arising 

out of a default on a winning bid 

constitutes notice of the final payment 

deadline with respect to a default on a 

Commission license. 

101. In addition to the Auctions 101 

and 102 Procedures Public Notice, 

applicants are encouraged to review the 

Bureau’s previous guidance on default 

and delinquency disclosure 

requirements in the context of the 

auction short-form application process. 

Parties are also encouraged to consult 

with the Bureau’s Auctions and 

Spectrum Access Division staff if they 

have any questions about default and 

delinquency disclosure requirements. 

102. The Commission considers 

outstanding debts owed to the United 

States Government, in any amount, to be 

a serious matter. The Commission 

adopted rules, including a provision 

referred to as the red light rule that 

implement its obligations under the 

Debt Collection Improvement Act of 

1996, which governs the collection of 

debts owed to the United States. Under 

the red light rule, applications and other 

requests for benefits filed by parties that 

have outstanding debts owed to the 

Commission will not be processed. The 

Commission’s adoption of the red light 

rule does not alter the applicability of 

any of its competitive bidding rules, 

including the provisions and 

certifications of §§ 1.2105 and 1.2106, 

with regard to current and former 

defaults or delinquencies. 

103. The Commission reminds each 

applicant that its Red Light Display 

System, which provides information 

regarding debts currently owed to the 

Commission, may not be determinative 

of an auction applicant’s ability to 

comply with the default and 

delinquency disclosure requirements of 

§ 1.2105. While the red light rule 

ultimately may prevent the processing 

of long-form applications by auction 

winners, an auction applicant’s lack of 

current red light status is not necessarily 

determinative of its eligibility to 

participate in an auction (or whether it 

may be subject to an increased upfront 

payment obligation). A prospective 

applicant in Auctions 101 and/or 102 

should note that any long-form 

applications filed after the close of 

bidding in the respective auction will be 

reviewed for compliance with the 

Commission’s red light rule, and such 

review may result in the dismissal of a 

winning bidder’s long-form application. 

Applicants that have their long-form 

applications dismissed will be deemed 

to have defaulted and will be subject to 

default payments under 47 CFR 

1.2104(g) and 1.2109(c). The 

Commission strongly encourages each 

applicant to carefully review all records 

and other available Federal agency 

databases and information sources to 

determine whether the applicant, or any 

of its affiliates, or any of its controlling 

interests, or any of the affiliates of its 

controlling interests, owes or was ever 

delinquent in the payment of non-tax 

debt owed to any Federal agency. To 

access the Commission’s Red Light 

Display System, go to: https://

apps.fcc.gov/redlight/login.cfm/. 

L. Optional Applicant Status 

Identification 

104. Applicants owned by members of 

minority groups and/or women, as 

defined in § 1.2110(c)(3), and rural 

telephone companies, as defined in 

§ 1.2110(c)(4), may identify themselves 

regarding this status in filling out their 

FCC Form 175 applications. This 

applicant status information is collected 

for statistical purposes only and assists 

the Commission in monitoring the 

participation of various groups in its 

auctions. 

M. Modifications to FCC Form 175 

1. Only Minor Modifications Allowed 

105. After the initial FCC Form 175 

filing deadline, an Auction 101 and/or 

Auction 102 applicant will be permitted 

to make only minor changes to its 

application(s) consistent with the 

Commission’s rules. Minor amendments 

include any changes that are not major, 

such as correcting typographical errors 

and supplying or correcting information 

as requested to support the certifications 

made in the application. Examples of 

minor changes include the deletion or 

addition of authorized bidders (to a 

maximum of three); the revision of 

addresses and telephone numbers of the 

applicant, its responsible party, and its 

contact person; and change in the 

applicant’s selected bidding option 

(electronic or telephonic). Major 

modification to an FCC Form 175 (e.g., 

change of license or PEA selection, 

certain changes in ownership that 

would constitute an assignment or 

transfer of control of the applicant, 

change in the required certifications, 

change in applicant’s legal classification 

that results in a change in control, or 

change in claimed eligibility for a higher 

percentage of bidding credit) will not be 

permitted after the initial FCC Form 175 

filing deadline. If an amendment 

reporting changes is a major 

amendment, as described in 

§ 1.2105(b)(2), the major amendment 

will not be accepted and may result in 

the dismissal of the application. Any 

change in control of an applicant will be 

considered a major modification, and 

the application will consequently be 

dismissed. The Commission reiterates 

that, even if an applicant’s FCC Form 

175 is dismissed, the applicant would 

remain subject to the communication 

prohibitions of 47 CFR 1.2105(c) until 

the down-payment deadline for Auction 

102, which will be established after 

Auction 102 closes. 

2. Duty To Maintain Accuracy and 

Completeness of FCC Form 175 

106. Each applicant has a continuing 

obligation to maintain the accuracy and 

completeness of information furnished 

in a pending application, including a 

pending application to participate in 

Auction 101 or Auction 102. An 

applicant’s FCC Form 175 and 

associated attachments for a particular 

auction will remain pending until the 

release of a public notice announcing 

the close of that auction. The 

Commission reminds Auction 101 and 

Auction 102 applicants that they remain 

subject to the § 1.2105(c) prohibition of 

certain communications until the postauction deadline for making down 


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payments on winning bids in Auction 

102. An applicant’s post-auction 

application (FCC Form 601) is 

considered pending from the time it is 

accepted for filing by the Commission 

until a Commission grant or denial of 

the application is no longer subject to 

reconsideration by the Commission or to 

review by any court. An applicant for 

Auction 101 or Auction 102 must 

furnish additional or corrected 

information to the Commission within 

five business days after a significant 

occurrence, or amend its FCC Form 175 

no more than five business days after 

the applicant becomes aware of the need 

for the amendment. An applicant is 

obligated to amend its pending 

application(s) even if a reported change 

may result in the dismissal of the 

application because it is subsequently 

determined to be a major modification. 

3. Modifying an FCC Form 175 

107. A party seeking to participate in 

Auction 101 and/or Auction 102 must 

file an FCC Form 175 electronically for 

each auction via the FCC’s Auction 

Application System. During the initial 

filing window for both auctions, an 

applicant will be able to make any 

necessary modifications to its respective 

FCC Form 175 in the Auction 

Application System. An applicant that 

has certified and submitted its FCC 

Form 175 before the close of the initial 

filing window may continue to make 

modifications as often as necessary until 

the close of that window; the applicant 

must re-certify and re-submit its FCC 

Form 175 before the close of the initial 

filing window to confirm and effect its 

latest application changes. After each 

submission, a confirmation page will be 

displayed stating the submission time 

and submission date. The Commission 

strongly advises applicants to retain a 

copy of this confirmation page. 

108. An applicant will also be 

allowed to modify its FCC Form 175 in 

the Auction Application System, except 

for certain fields, during the 

resubmission filing window and after 

the release of the public notice 

announcing the qualified bidders for an 

auction. An applicant will not be 

allowed to modify electronically in the 

Auction Application System the 

applicant’s legal classification, the 

applicant’s name, or the certifying 

official. During these times, if an 

applicant needs to make permissible 

minor changes to its FCC Form 175, or 

must make changes in order to maintain 

the accuracy and completeness of its 

application pursuant to §§ 1.65 and 

1.2105(b)(4), it must make the change(s) 

in the Auction Application System and 

then re-certify and re-submit its 

application to confirm and effect the 

change(s). 

109. An applicant’s ability to modify 

its FCC Form 175 in the Auction 

Application System will be limited 

between the closing of the initial filing 

window and the opening of the 

application resubmission filing window 

appropriate for each auction and 

between the closing of the resubmission 

filing window and the release of the 

public notice announcing the qualified 

bidders for an auction. During these 

periods, an applicant will be able to 

view its submitted application, but will 

be permitted to modify only the 

applicant’s address, responsible party 

address, contact information (e.g., name, 

address, telephone number, etc.), and 

bidding preference (telephonic or 

electronic) in the Auction Application 

System. An applicant will not be able to 

modify any other pages of the FCC Form 

175 in the Auction Application System 

during these periods. If, during these 

periods, an applicant needs to make 

other permissible minor changes to its 

FCC Form 175, or changes to maintain 

the accuracy and completeness of its 

application, the applicant must submit 

a letter briefly summarizing the changes 

to its FCC Form 175 via email to 

auction101@fcc.gov for Auction 101 and 

auction102@fcc.gov for Auction 102. 

The email summarizing the changes 

must include a subject line referring to 

Auction 101 or Auction 102, as 

appropriate, and the name of the 

applicant, for example, Re: Changes to 

Auction 101 Auction Application of 

XYZ Corp. Any attachments to the email 

must be formatted as Adobe® Acrobat®

(PDF) or Microsoft® Word documents. 

An applicant that submits its changes in 

this manner must subsequently modify, 

certify, and submit its FCC Form 175 

application(s) electronically in the 

Auction Application System once it is 

again open and available to applicants. 

110. Applicants should also note that 

even at times when the Auction 

Application System is open and 

available to applicants, the system will 

not allow an applicant to make certain 

other permissible changes itself (e.g., 

correcting a misstatement of the 

applicant’s legal classification). If an 

applicant needs to make a permissible 

minor change of this nature, it must 

submit a written request by email to 

auction101@fcc.gov for Auction 101, 

and auction102@fcc.gov for Auction 

102, requesting that the Commission 

manually make the change on the 

applicant’s behalf. Once Commission 

staff has informed the applicant that the 

change has been made in the Auction 

Application System, the applicant must 

then re-certify and re-submit its FCC 

Form 175 in the Auction Application 

System to confirm and effect the 

change(s). 

111. Any amendment(s) to the 

application and related statements of 

fact must be certified by an authorized 

representative of the applicant with 

authority to bind the applicant. 

Applicants should note that submission 

of any such amendment or related 

statement of fact constitutes a 

representation by the person certifying 

that he or she is an authorized 

representative with such authority and 

that the contents of the amendment or 

statement of fact are true and correct. 

112. Applicants must not submit 

application-specific material through 

the Commission’s Electronic Comment 

Filing System. Parties submitting 

information related to their applications 

should use caution to ensure that their 

submissions do not contain confidential 

information or communicate 

information that would violate 

§ 1.2105(c) or the limited information 

procedures adopted for Auctions 101 

and 102. An applicant seeking to 

submit, outside of the Auction 

Application System, information that 

might reflect non-public information, 

such as an applicant’s license or PEA 

selection(s), upfront payment amount, 

or bidding eligibility, should consider 

including in its email a request that the 

filing or portions of the filing be 

withheld from public inspection until 

the end of the prohibition of certain 

communications. 

113. Questions about FCC Form 175 

amendments should be directed to the 

Auctions and Spectrum Access Division 

at (202) 418–0660. 

III. Preparing for Bidding in Auctions 

101 And 102 

A. Due Diligence 

114. Each potential bidder is solely 

responsible for investigating and 

evaluating all technical and marketplace 

factors that may have a bearing on the 

value of the licenses that it is seeking in 

Auction 101 and/or Auction 102. The 

Commission makes no representations 

or warranties about the use of this 

spectrum or these licenses for particular 

services. Each applicant should be 

aware that a Commission auction 

represents an opportunity to become a 

Commission licensee, subject to certain 

conditions and regulations. This 

includes the established authority of the 

Commission to alter the terms of 

existing licenses by rulemaking, which 

is equally applicable to licenses 

awarded by auction. A Commission 

auction does not constitute an 

endorsement by the Commission of any 


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particular service, technology, or 

product, nor does a Commission license 

constitute a guarantee of business 

success. 

115. An applicant should perform its 

due diligence research and analysis 

before proceeding, as it would with any 

new business venture. In particular, the 

Commission strongly encourages each 

potential bidder to perform technical 

analyses and/or refresh its previous 

analyses to assure itself that, should it 

become a winning bidder for any 

Auction 101 or Auction 102 license, it 

will be able to build and operate 

facilities that will fully comply with all 

applicable technical and legal 

requirements. The Commission strongly 

encourages each applicant to inspect 

any prospective sites for 

communications facilities located in, or 

near, the geographic area for which it 

plans to bid, confirm the availability of 

such sites, and to familiarize itself with 

the Commission’s rules regarding the 

National Environmental Policy Act. 

116. The Commission also strongly 

encourages each applicant in Auction 

101 and Auction 102 to continue to 

conduct its own research throughout the 

applicable auction(s) in order to 

determine the existence of pending or 

future administrative or judicial 

proceedings that might affect its 

decision on continued participation in 

the auction(s). Each applicant is 

responsible for assessing the likelihood 

of the various possible outcomes and for 

considering the potential impact on 

licenses available in an auction. The 

due diligence considerations mentioned 

in the Auctions 101 and 102 Procedures 

Public Notice do not constitute an 

exhaustive list of steps that should be 

undertaken prior to participating in 

Auction 101 or Auction 102. The 

burden is on the potential bidder to 

determine how much research to 

undertake, depending upon the specific 

facts and circumstances related to its 

interests. 

117. Applicants are solely responsible 

for identifying associated risks and for 

investigating and evaluating the degree 

to which such matters may affect their 

ability to bid on, otherwise acquire, or 

make use of the licenses available in 

Auctions 101 and 102. Each potential 

bidder is responsible for undertaking 

research to ensure that any licenses won 

in these auctions will be suitable for its 

business plans and needs. Each 

potential bidder must undertake its own 

assessment of the relevance and 

importance of information gathered as 

part of its due diligence efforts. 

118. The Commission makes no 

representations or guarantees regarding 

the accuracy or completeness of 

information in its databases or any 

third-party databases, including, for 

example, court docketing systems. To 

the extent the Commission’s databases 

may not include all information deemed 

necessary or desirable by an applicant, 

it must obtain or verify such 

information from independent sources 

or assume the risk of any 

incompleteness or inaccuracy in said 

databases. Furthermore, the 

Commission makes no representations 

or guarantees regarding the accuracy or 

completeness of information that has 

been provided by incumbent licensees 

and incorporated into its databases. 

B. Licensing Considerations 

1. Incumbency and Sharing Issues 

119. Potential applicants in Auctions 

101 and 102 should consider carefully 

the operations of incumbent licensees in 

the 28 GHz and 24 GHz bands when 

developing business plans, assessing 

market conditions, and evaluating the 

availability of equipment for mmW 

services. Active licenses in the 28 GHz 

band cover 1,696 full counties and one 

partial county; active licenses in the 24 

GHz band currently cover nine PEAs 

and are the subject of pending 

applications for license modification. 

Detailed information about existing 

incumbent licenses is available publicly 

in the Universal Licensing System (ULS) 

through interactive searches (http://

wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/ 

searchAdvanced.jsp) and database 

downloads (http://wireless.fcc.gov/uls/

index.htm?job=transaction&page=

weekly). Incumbent licenses can be 

identified by searching for active, 

regular licenses within the UU radio 

service in the 27500–28350 MHz band. 

Incumbent licenses in the 24 GHz band 

can be identified by searching for active, 

regular licenses within the TZ radio 

service. Incumbent licenses are 

contained in the ‘‘Market Based 

Services’’ download file. 

120. In addition to incumbent 

licensees, potential applicants in 

Auctions 101 and 102 should consider 

carefully the implications of the 

Commission’s sharing schemes for the 

28 GHz and 24 GHz bands. In the 2018 

Spectrum Frontiers Order, the 

Commission decided to license FSS 

earth stations in the 24.75–25.25 GHz 

band on a co-primary basis under the 

provisions in § 25.136(d). This means 

that the 24.75–25.25 GHz band would 

be available only for individually 

licensed FSS earth stations that meet 

specific requirements adopted in the 

2018 Spectrum Frontiers Order, 83 FR 

34478, July 20, 2018, (e.g., limitations 

on population covered, number of earth 

station locations in a PEA, and a 

prohibition on earth stations in places 

where they would preclude terrestrial 

service to people or equipment that are 

in transit or are present at mass 

gatherings). 

121. Accordingly, the Commission 

calls particular attention in Auctions 

101 and 102 to the incumbency and 

spectrum-sharing issues concerning the 

28 GHz and 24 GHz bands, respectively. 

Each applicant should follow closely 

releases from the Commission 

concerning these issues and consider 

carefully the technical and economic 

implications for commercial use of the 

UMFUS bands. 

2. International Coordination 

122. Potential bidders seeking 

licenses for geographic areas adjacent to 

the Canadian and Mexican border 

should be aware that the use of some or 

all of the upper microwave frequencies 

they acquire in Auction 101 and/or 

Auction 102 are subject to international 

agreements with Canada and Mexico. 

The Commission routinely works with 

the United States Department of State 

and Canadian and Mexican government 

officials to ensure the efficient use of the 

spectrum as well as interference-free 

operations in the border areas near 

Canada and Mexico. Until such time as 

any adjusted agreements, as needed, 

between the United States, Mexico and/ 

or Canada can be agreed to, operations 

in the upper microwave bands must not 

cause harmful interference across the 

border, consistent with the terms of the 

agreements currently in force. 

3. Quiet Zones 

123. Upper microwave licensees must 

individually apply for and receive a 

separate license for each transmitter if 

the proposed operation would affect the 

radio quiet zones set forth in the 

Commission’s rules. 

4. Environmental Review Requirements 

124. Licensees must comply with the 

Commission’s rules regarding 

implementation of the National 

Environmental Policy Act and other 

federal environmental statutes. The 

construction of a wireless antenna 

facility under certain circumstances 

may be considered a federal action, and 

where it is, the licensee must comply 

with the Commission’s environmental 

rules for each such facility. Where 

applicable, these environmental rules 

require, among other things, that the 

licensee (i) consult with expert agencies 

having environmental responsibilities, 

including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service, the State Historic Preservation 

Office, the U.S. Army Corps of 


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Engineers, and the Federal Emergency 

Management Agency (through the local 

authority with jurisdiction over 

floodplains); (ii) assess the effect of 

facility construction on historic 

properties by following the provisions 

of the Commission’s Nationwide 

Programmatic Agreement Regarding the 

Section 106 National Historic 

Preservation Act Review Process; and 

(iii) prepare an environmental 

assessment for any facility that may 

have a significant impact in or on 

wilderness areas, wildlife preserves, 

threatened or endangered species, 

designated critical habitats, historical or 

archaeological sites, Native American 

religious sites, floodplains (if the facility 

cannot be elevated above the base flood 

elevation), surface features, or migratory 

birds; or that includes high intensity 

white lights in residential 

neighborhoods or excessive radio 

frequency emission. 

5. Mobile Spectrum Holdings Policies 

125. The Commission reminds 

bidders of the Commission’s mobile 

spectrum holding policies applicable to 

the mmW bands. For purposes of 

reviewing proposed secondary market 

transactions, the Commission adopted 

in the 2017 Spectrum Frontiers Order, 

83 FR 37, January 2, 2018, a threshold 

of 1850 megahertz of combined mmW 

spectrum in the 24 GHz, 28 GHz, 37 

GHZ, 39 GHz, and 47 GHz bands. In the 

2018 Spectrum Frontiers Order, the 

Commission eliminated the pre-auction 

limit of 1250 megahertz that had been 

adopted for the 28 GHz, 37 GHz, and 39 

GHz bands, consistent with the 

Commission’s conclusion not to adopt a 

pre-auction limit for the 24 GHz and 47 

GHz bands. Further, the Commission 

will conduct an ex post case-by-case 

review of the acquisition through 

auction of spectrum in the UMFUS 

bands. The Commission found that it is 

in the public interest to review 

applications for initial licenses filed 

post-auction on a case-by-case basis 

using the same 1850 megahertz 

threshold it uses for reviewing 

applications for secondary market 

transactions. 

C. Bidder Education 

126. Before the opening of the 

concurrent short-form filing windows 

for Auctions 101 and 102 on September 

5, 2018, detailed educational 

information will be provided in various 

formats to would-be participants on the 

Auction 101 and Auction 102 web 

pages, respectively. 

127. The Commission has directed the 

Bureau to provide various materials on 

the pre-auction processes in advance of 

the opening of the concurrent shortform application windows for Auctions 

101 and 102, beginning with the release 

of step-by-step instructions for 

completing the FCC Form 175. In 

addition, the Bureau will provide an 

online application procedures tutorial 

for the auctions covering information on 

pre-auction preparation, completing 

short-form applications, and the 

application review process. 

128. The Bureau will provide separate 

educational materials on the bidding 

processes for Auction 101 and Auction 

102 in advance of the start of each mock 

auction, beginning with release of a user 

guide for each bidding system, followed 

by online bidding procedures tutorials 

for the respective auctions. 

129. The online tutorials will allow 

viewers to navigate the presentation 

outline, review written notes, listen to 

audio of the notes, and search for topics 

using a text search function. Additional 

features of this web-based tool include 

links to auction-specific Commission 

releases, email links for contacting 

Commission staff, and screen shots of 

the online application and bidding 

systems. The online tutorials will be 

accessible on the ‘‘Education’’ tab of the 

Auction 101 and Auction 102 websites 

at www.fcc.gov/auction/101 and 

www.fcc.gov/auction/102, respectively. 

Once posted, the tutorials will be 

accessible anytime. 

D. Short-Form Applications: Due Before 

6:00 p.m. ET on September 18, 2018 

130. In order to be eligible to bid in 

Auction 101 or Auction 102, an 

applicant must first follow the 

procedures to submit a short-form 

application (FCC Form 175) for the 

relevant auction electronically via the 

Auction Application System, following 

the instructions set forth in the FCC 

Form 175 Instructions. The short-form 

application for each auction will 

become available with the opening of 

the initial filing window and must be 

submitted prior to 6:00 p.m. ET on 

September 18, 2018. Late applications 

will not be accepted. No application fee 

is required. 

131. Applications may be filed for 

Auction 101 and/or Auction 102 at any 

time beginning at noon ET on 

September 5, 2018, until the respective 

filing window closes at 6:00 p.m. ET on 

September 18, 2018. Applicants are 

strongly encouraged to file early and are 

responsible for allowing adequate time 

for filing their applications. There are 

no limits or restrictions on the number 

of times an application can be updated 

or amended until the initial filing 

deadline for each auction on September 

18, 2018. 

132. An applicant must always click 

on the CERTIFY & SUBMIT button on 

the ‘‘Certify & Submit’’ screen to 

successfully submit its FCC Form 175 

and any modifications; otherwise, the 

application or changes to the 

application will not be received or 

reviewed by Commission staff. 

Additional information about accessing, 

completing, and viewing the FCC Form 

175 is provided in the FCC Form 175 

Instructions. Applicants requiring 

technical assistance should contact FCC 

Auctions Technical Support at (877) 

480–3201, option nine; (202) 414–1250; 

or (202) 414–1255 (text telephone 

(TTY)); hours of service are Monday 

through Friday, from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 

p.m. ET. In order to provide better 

service to the public, all calls to 

Technical Support are recorded. 

133. The Commission cautions 

applicants that it periodically performs 

scheduled maintenance of its IT 

systems. During scheduled maintenance 

activities, which typically occur over 

the weekends, every effort is made to 

minimize any downtime to auctionrelated systems, including the auction 

application system. However, there are 

occasions when auction-related systems 

may be temporarily unavailable. 

E. Application Processing and Minor 

Modifications 

1. Public Notice of Applicant’s Initial 

Application Status and Opportunity for 

Minor Modifications 

134. After the deadline for filing 

auction applications, the Commission 

will process all timely submitted 

applications to determine whether each 

applicant has complied with the 

application requirements and provided 

all information concerning its 

qualifications for bidding. With respect 

to each auction, the Bureau will issue a 

public notice with applicants’ initial 

application status identifying (1) those 

that are complete and (2) those that are 

incomplete or deficient because of 

defects that may be corrected. The 

public notice will include the deadline 

for resubmitting corrected applications 

and a paper copy will be sent to the 

contact address listed in the FCC Form 

175 for each applicant by overnight 

delivery. In addition, each applicant 

with an incomplete application will be 

sent information on the nature of the 

deficiencies in its application, along 

with the name and phone number of a 

Commission staff member who can 

answer questions specific to the 

application. 

135. After the initial application filing 

deadline on September 18, 2018, 

applicants can make only minor 


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modifications to their applications. 

Major modifications (e.g., change of 

license or PEA selection, certain 

changes in ownership that would 

constitute an assignment or transfer of 

control of the applicant, change in the 

required certifications, change in 

applicant’s legal classification that 

results in a change in control, or change 

in claimed eligibility for a higher 

percentage of bidding credit) will not be 

permitted. After the deadline for 

resubmitting corrected applications, an 

applicant will have no further 

opportunity to cure any deficiencies in 

its application or provide any additional 

information that may affect Commission 

staff’s ultimate determination of 

whether and to what extent the 

applicant is qualified to participate in 

Auction 101 or Auction 102. 

136. Commission staff will 

communicate only with an applicant’s 

contact person or certifying official, as 

designated on the applicant’s FCC Form 

175, unless the applicant’s certifying 

official or contact person notifies 

Commission staff in writing that another 

representative is authorized to speak on 

the applicant’s behalf. Authorizations 

may be sent by email to auction101@

fcc.gov for Auction 101 and 

auction102@fcc.gov for Auction 102. 

2. Public Notice of Applicant’s Final 

Application Status After Upfront 

Payment Deadline 

137. After Commission staff review 

resubmitted applications for a particular 

auction, the Bureau will release a public 

notice identifying applicants that have 

become qualified bidders for that 

auction. For each auction, a Qualified 

Bidders Public Notice will be issued 

before bidding in the auction begins. 

Qualified bidders are those applicants 

with submitted FCC Form 175 

applications that are deemed timely 

filed and complete. 

F. Upfront Payments 

138. In order to be eligible to bid in 

Auction 101 or Auction 102, a sufficient 

upfront payment and a complete and 

accurate FCC Remittance Advice Form 

(FCC Form 159, Revised 2/03) must be 

submitted for each auction before 6:00 

p.m. ET on the applicable deadline. 

Since the upfront payments for 

Auctions 101 and 102 will be deposited 

and managed in separate accounts in the 

U.S. Treasury for each auction, an 

applicant interested in applying for both 

auctions will be required to make a 

separate upfront payment for each 

auction into the appropriate account. 

After completing its short-form 

application, an applicant will have 

access to an electronic pre-filled version 

of the FCC Form 159. An accurate and 

complete FCC Form 159 must 

accompany each payment. Proper 

completion of this form is critical to 

ensuring correct crediting of upfront 

payments. Payers using the pre-filled 

FCC Form 159 are responsible for 

ensuring that all of the information on 

the form, including payment amounts, 

is accurate. Detailed instructions for 

completing FCC Form 159 for Auction 

101 were made available by the Bureau 

on August, 6, 2018, and can be accessed 

at www.fcc.gov/auction/101. The Bureau 

will prepare and release after the close 

of Auction 101 detailed instructions for 

submitting an FCC Form 159 for 

Auction 102. 

139. For Auction 101, the deadline for 

submitting an upfront payment and FCC 

Form 159 is October 23, 2018. The 

Auctions 101 and 102 Procedures Public 

Notice describes the procedures for 

submitting an upfront payment for 

Auction 101. The Bureau will announce 

the deadline and procedures for the 

submission of upfront payments for 

Auction 102 by public notice after 

bidding in Auction 101 concludes. 

Under this approach, an Auction 102 

applicant that participated in Auction 

101 could take into account the licenses 

it won in Auction 101 when 

determining the amount of its upfront 

payment for Auction 102. 

1. Making Upfront Payments by Wire 

Transfer for Auction 101 

140. Upfront payments for Auction 

101 must be wired to, and will be 

deposited in, the U.S. Treasury. Wire 

transfer payments for Auction 101 must 

be received before 6:00 p.m. ET on 

October 23, 2018, but no sooner than 

October 1, 2018. An applicant must 

initiate the wire transfer through its 

bank, authorizing the bank to wire funds 

from the applicant’s account to the 

proper account at the U.S. Treasury. No 

other payment method is acceptable. To 

avoid untimely payments, applicants 

should discuss arrangements (including 

bank closing schedules) with their 

bankers several days before they plan to 

make the wire transfer, and allow 

sufficient time for the transfer to be 

initiated and completed before the 

deadline. Paragraph 147 of the Auctions 

101 and 102 Procedures Public Notice 

lists the information needed to place an 

order for a wire transfer for Auction 101. 

141. At least one hour before placing 

the order for the wire transfer (but on 

the same business day), applicants must 

print and fax a completed FCC Form 

159 (Revised 2/03) to the FCC at (202) 

418–2843. Alternatively, the completed 

form can be scanned and sent as an 

attachment to an email to 

RROGWireFaxes@fcc.gov. On the fax 

cover sheet or in the email subject 

header, write ‘‘Wire Transfer—Auction 

Payment for Auction 101.’’ In order to 

meet the upfront payment deadline, an 

applicant’s payment must be credited to 

the Commission’s account for Auction 

101 before the deadline. 

142. Each applicant is responsible for 

ensuring timely submission of its 

upfront payment and for timely filing of 

an accurate and complete FCC Form 

159. An applicant should coordinate 

with its financial institution well ahead 

of the due date regarding its wire 

transfer and allow sufficient time for the 

transfer to be initiated and completed 

prior to the deadline. The Commission 

repeatedly has cautioned auction 

participants about the importance of 

planning ahead to prepare for 

unforeseen last-minute difficulties in 

making payments by wire transfer. Each 

applicant also is responsible for 

obtaining confirmation from its 

financial institution that its wire 

transfer to the U.S. Treasury was 

successful and from Commission staff 

that its upfront payment was timely 

received and that it was deposited into 

the proper account. To receive 

confirmation from Commission staff, 

contact Gail Glasser of the Office of 

Managing Director’s Revenue & 

Receivables Operations Group/Auctions 

at (202) 418–0578, or alternatively, 

Theresa Meeks at (202) 418–2945. 

143. All payments must be made in 

U.S. dollars. All payments must be 

made by wire transfer. Upfront 

payments for Auction 101 go to an 

account number different from the 

accounts used in previous FCC auctions. 

144. Failure to deliver a sufficient 

upfront payment as instructed herein by 

the applicable upfront payment 

deadline will result in dismissal of the 

short-form application and 

disqualification from participation in 

the auction. 

2. Upfront Payments and Bidding 

Eligibility 

145. The Commission has authority to 

determine appropriate upfront 

payments for each license being 

auctioned, taking into account such 

factors as the efficiency of the auction 

process and the potential value of 

similar licenses. An upfront payment is 

a refundable deposit made by each 

applicant seeking to participate in 

bidding to establish its eligibility to bid 

on licenses. Upfront payments that are 

related to the inventory of licenses being 

auctioned protect against frivolous or 

insincere bidding and provide the 

Commission with a source of funds from 


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which to collect payments owed at the 

close of bidding. 

146. Applicants that are former 

defaulters must pay upfront payments 

50 percent greater than non-former 

defaulters. For purposes of this 

classification as a former defaulter or a 

former delinquent, defaults and 

delinquencies of the applicant itself and 

its controlling interests are included. 

For this purpose, the term ‘‘controlling 

interest’’ is defined in 47 CFR 

1.2105(a)(4)(i). 

147. An applicant must make an 

upfront payment sufficient to obtain 

bidding eligibility on the licenses or 

generic blocks on which it will bid. 

Generally for Auctions 101 and 102, 

upfront payments will be based on 

MHz-pops, and that the amount of the 

upfront payment submitted by an 

applicant will determine its initial 

bidding eligibility, the maximum 

number of bidding units on which a 

bidder may place bids in any single 

round. In order to bid on a license or 

generic block, qualified bidders must 

have a current eligibility level that 

meets or exceeds the number of bidding 

units assigned to that license or generic 

block in a PEA. The Commission has set 

bidding units (and corresponding 

upfront payments) such that all blocks 

in a PEA, including any blocks with 

fewer than 100 megahertz of bandwidth, 

will be assigned the same number of 

bidding units based on 100 megahertz of 

bandwidth. At a minimum, therefore, an 

applicant’s total upfront payment must 

be enough to establish eligibility to bid 

on at least one of the licenses or at least 

one generic block in a PEA selected on 

its FCC Form 175 for Auction 101 or 

Auction 102, respectively, or else the 

applicant will not be eligible to 

participate in the applicable auction. An 

applicant does not have to make an 

upfront payment to cover all of the 

licenses or a block in all of the PEAs it 

selects on its FCC Form 175, but only 

enough to cover the maximum number 

of bidding units that are associated with 

the licenses or generic blocks in a PEA 

on which it wishes to place bids and 

hold provisionally winning bids in any 

given round, as applicable. The total 

upfront payment does not affect the 

total dollar amount the bidder may bid 

on any given license or generic block. 

148. The Commission adopts a tiered 

approach under which upfront payment 

amounts will vary by market 

population. For the county-based 

licenses and generic blocks that fall 

within PEAs 1–50, upfront payments are 

based on $0.001 per MHz/pop; for those 

licenses and generic blocks in PEAs 51– 

100, upfront payments are based on 

$0.0002 per MHz/pop; and for all other 

licenses and generic blocks, upfront 

payments are based on $0.0001 per 

MHz/pop. The results of these 

calculations are subject to a minimum of 

$100 and will be rounded using the 

Commission’s standard rounding 

procedures for auctions: 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. The upfront payments 

equal approximately half the minimum 

opening bids. A summary of the upfront 

payment amounts is set forth in 

Attachment A of the Auctions 101 and 

102 Procedures Public Notice. The 

specific upfront payment amounts and 

bidding units for each license offered in 

Auction 101 will be provided in 

electronic format only, available as a 

separate ‘‘Attachment A’’ file at 

www.fcc.gov/auction/101. Likewise, the 

specific upfront payment amounts and 

bidding units for one generic block in 

each PEA offered in Auction 102 will be 

provided in electronic format only, 

available as a separate ‘‘Attachment A’’ 

file at www.fcc.gov/auction/102. 

149. The Commission will assign each 

license and generic block in a PEA a 

specific number of bidding units, but 

does so with the number of bidding 

units equal to one bidding unit per $10 

of the upfront payment. The number of 

bidding units for a given license or 

generic block in a PEA is fixed and does 

not change during an auction as prices 

change. Thus, in calculating its upfront 

payment amount, an applicant should 

determine the maximum number of 

bidding units on which it may wish to 

be active (bid on or hold provisionally 

winning bids on, if applicable) in any 

single round for a particular auction, 

and submit an upfront payment amount 

for that auction covering that number of 

bidding units. In order to make this 

calculation, an applicant should add 

together the bidding units for all of the 

licenses or generic blocks in PEAs, as 

applicable, on which it seeks to be 

active in any given round. Applicants 

should check their calculations 

carefully, as there is no provision for 

increasing a bidder’s eligibility after the 

upfront payment deadline. 

150. If an applicant is a former 

defaulter, it must calculate its upfront 

payment for all of its selected licenses 

or generic blocks in PEAs, as applicable, 

by multiplying the number of bidding 

units on which it wishes to be active by 

1.5. In order to calculate the number of 

bidding units to assign to former 

defaulters, the Commission will divide 

the upfront payment received by 1.5 and 

round the result up to the nearest 

bidding unit. 

G. Auction Registration 

151. All qualified bidders for 

Auctions 101 and 102 are automatically 

registered for the respective auction. 

Registration materials will be 

distributed prior to the auctions by 

overnight delivery. The mailing will be 

sent only to the contact person at the 

contact address listed in the FCC Form 

175 and will include the SecurID®

tokens that will be required to place 

bids and the Auction Bidder Line phone 

number. 

152. Qualified bidders that do not 

receive this registration mailing will not 

be able to submit bids. Therefore, any 

qualified bidder for Auction 101 that 

has not received this mailing by noon 

on November 6, 2018, should call the 

Auctions Hotline at (717) 338–2868. 

Receipt of this registration mailing is 

critical to participating in the auctions, 

and each applicant is responsible for 

ensuring it has received all the 

registration materials. 

153. In the event that SecurID® tokens 

are lost or damaged, only a person who 

has been designated as an authorized 

bidder, the contact person, or the 

certifying official on the applicant’s 

short-form application may request 

replacements. To request replacement of 

these items, call the Auction Bidder 

Line at the telephone number provided 

in the registration materials or the 

Auction Hotline at (717) 338–2868. 

H. Remote Electronic Bidding via the 

FCC Auction Bidding System 

154. Bidders will be able to 

participate in Auctions 101 and 102 

over the internet using the 

Commission’s bidding system (Auction 

System). Only qualified bidders are 

permitted to bid. Each authorized 

bidder must have his or her own 

SecurID® token, which the Commission 

will provide at no charge. Each 

applicant with one authorized bidder 

will be issued two SecurID® tokens, 

while applicants with two or three 

authorized bidders will be issued three 

tokens. A bidder cannot bid without his 

or her SecurID tokens. For security 

purposes, the SecurID® tokens and a 

telephone number for bidding questions 

are only mailed to the contact person at 

the contact address listed on the FCC 

Form 175. Each SecurID® token is 

tailored to a specific auction. SecurID®

tokens issued for other auctions or 

obtained from a source other than the 

FCC will not work for Auctions 101 or 

102. Please note that the SecurID®

tokens can be recycled, and the 

Commission encourages bidders to 

return the tokens to the FCC. Preaddressed envelopes will be provided to 


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return the tokens once the auction has 

ended. 

155. The Commission makes no 

warranties whatsoever, and shall not be 

deemed to have made any warranties, 

with respect to the Auction System, 

including any implied warranties of 

merchantability or fitness for a 

particular purpose. In no event shall the 

Commission, or any of its officers, 

employees, or agents, be liable for any 

damages whatsoever (including, but not 

limited to, loss of business profits, 

business interruption, loss of use, 

revenue, or business information, or any 

other direct, indirect, or consequential 

damages) arising out of or relating to the 

existence, furnishing, functioning, or 

use of the Auction System. Moreover, 

no obligation or liability will arise out 

of the Commission’s technical, 

programming, or other advice or service 

provided in connection with the 

Auction System. 

156. To the extent an issue arises with 

the Auction System itself, the 

Commission will take all appropriate 

measures to resolve such issues quickly 

and equitably. Should an issue arise that 

is outside the Auction System or 

attributable to a bidder, including, but 

not limited to, a bidder’s hardware, 

software, or internet access problem that 

prevents the bidder from submitting a 

bid prior to the end of a round, the 

Commission shall have no obligation to 

resolve or remediate such an issue on 

behalf of the bidder. Similarly, if an 

issue arises due to bidder error using the 

Auction System, the Commission shall 

have no obligation to resolve or 

remediate such an issue on behalf of the 

bidder. Accordingly, after the close of a 

bidding round, the results of bid 

processing will not be altered absent 

evidence of any failure in the Auction 

System. 

157. As with the application system, 

there are occasions when other auctionrelated systems, including the 

Commission’s Auction System, may be 

temporarily unavailable due to schedule 

maintenance of the Commission’s IT 

systems. 

I. Mock Auction 

158. All qualified bidders will be 

eligible to participate in a mock auction 

for whichever auctions they are 

qualified (i.e., Auction 101 and/or 

Auction 102), which will be scheduled 

during the week before the first day of 

bidding in the applicable auction. The 

mock auctions will enable qualified 

bidders to become familiar with the 

Auction System and to practice 

submitting bids prior to the auctions. 

The Commission strongly recommends 

that all qualified bidders, including all 

their authorized bidders, participate to 

assure that they can log in to the 

bidding system and gain experience 

with the bidding procedures. 

Participating in the mock auctions may 

reduce the likelihood of a bidder 

making a mistake during the auctions. 

Details regarding the mock auctions will 

be announced in the Qualified Bidders 

Public Notice for Auction 101 and 

Auction 102, respectively. 

J. Fraud Alert 

159. As is the case with many 

business investment opportunities, 

some unscrupulous entrepreneurs may 

attempt to use Auctions 101 and 102 to 

deceive and defraud unsuspecting 

investors. Common warning signals of 

fraud include the following: 

• The first contact is a ‘‘cold call’’ 

from a telemarketer, or is made in 

response to an inquiry prompted by a 

radio or television infomercial. 

• The offering materials used to 

invest in the venture appear to be 

targeted at IRA funds, for example, by 

including all documents and papers 

needed for the transfer of funds 

maintained in IRA accounts. 

• The amount of investment is less 

than $25,000. 

• The sales representative makes 

verbal representations that (a) the 

Internal Revenue Service, Federal Trade 

Commission (FTC), Securities and 

Exchange Commission (SEC), FCC, or 

other government agency has approved 

the investment; (b) the investment is not 

subject to state or federal securities 

laws; or (c) the investment will yield 

unrealistically high short-term profits. 

In addition, the offering materials often 

include copies of actual FCC releases, or 

quotes from FCC personnel, giving the 

appearance of FCC knowledge or 

approval of the solicitation. 

160. Information about deceptive 

telemarketing investment schemes is 

available from the FCC as well as the 

FTC and SEC. Additional sources of 

information for potential bidders and 

investors may be obtained from the 

following sources: 

• The FCC’s Consumer Call Center at 

(888) 225–5322 or by visiting https:// 

www.fcc.gov/general/frauds-scamsand-alerts-guides 

• the FTC at (877) FTC–HELP ((877) 

382–4357) or by visiting http://

ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/ 

invest/inv03.shtm 

• the SEC at (202) 942–7040 or by 

visiting https://www.sec.gov/investor 

161. Complaints about specific 

deceptive telemarketing investment 

schemes should be directed to the FTC, 

the SEC, or the National Fraud 

Information Center at (202) 835–0618. 

IV. Bidding in Auctions 101 and 102 

A. Auction 101—28 GHz 

1. Auction Structure 

a. Simultaneous Multiple-Round 

Auction 

162. The Commission will use its 

standard SMR auction format for 

Auction 101. This type of auction offers 

every license for bid at the same time 

and consists of successive bidding 

rounds in which qualified bidders may 

place bids on individual licenses. 

Unless otherwise announced, bids will 

be accepted on all licenses in each 

round of the auction until bidding stops 

on every license. 

b. Auction Bidding System 

163. All bidding will take place 

remotely either through the FCC auction 

bidding system or by telephonic 

bidding. There will be no on-site 

bidding during Auction 101. Please note 

that telephonic bid assistants are 

required to use a script when entering 

bids placed by telephone. Telephonic 

bidders are therefore reminded to allow 

sufficient time to bid by placing their 

calls well in advance of the close of a 

round. The length of a call to place a 

telephonic bid may vary; please allow a 

minimum of ten minutes. 

164. In order to access the bidding 

function of the FCC auction bidding 

system, bidders must be logged in 

during the bidding round using the 

passcode generated by the SecurID®

token and a personal identification 

number (PIN) created by the bidder. 

Bidders are strongly encouraged to print 

a round summary for each round after 

they have completed all of their activity 

for that round. 

165. An Auction 101 bidder’s ability 

to bid on specific licenses is determined 

by two factors: (1) The licenses selected 

on the bidder’s FCC Form 175; and (2) 

the bidder’s eligibility. The bid 

submission screens will allow bidders 

to submit bids on only those licenses 

the bidder selected on its FCC Form 

175. 

166. In each round, eligible bidders 

will be able to place bids on a given 

license in any of up to nine pre-defined 

bid amounts. Bidders in Auction 101 

may place bids only on individual 

licenses—they will not be permitted to 

place any package bids (i.e., bids for 

multiple licenses in a ‘‘package’’). For 

each license, the FCC auction bidding 

system will list the acceptable bid 

amounts in a drop-down box. Bidders 

use the drop-down box to select from 

among the acceptable bid amounts. The 

FCC auction bidding system also 

includes an upload function that allows 


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text files containing bid information to 

be uploaded. 

167. During a round, an eligible 

bidder may submit bids for as many 

licenses as it wishes (providing that it 

is eligible to bid on the specific 

licenses), remove bids placed in the 

current bidding round, withdraw 

provisionally winning bids from 

previous rounds, or permanently reduce 

eligibility. If multiple bids are submitted 

for the same license in the same round, 

the system takes the last bid entered as 

that bidder’s bid for the round. 

c. Availability of Bidding Information 

168. Limited information about the 

results of a round will be made public 

after the conclusion of the round. 

Specifically, after a round closes, the 

Bureau will make available for each 

license its current provisionally 

winning bid amount, the minimum 

acceptable bid amount for the following 

round, the amounts of all bids placed on 

the license during the round, and 

whether the license is FCC-held. The 

system will also provide an entire 

license history detailing all activity that 

has taken place on a license with the 

ability to sort by round number. The 

reports will be publicly accessible. 

Moreover, after Auction 102 closes, the 

Bureau will make available complete 

reports of all bids placed during each 

round of the auction, including bidder 

identities. 

169. As in past Commission auctions, 

bidders will have secure access to 

certain non-public bidding information 

while bidding is ongoing. Specifically, 

after each round ends, and before the 

next round begins, the following 

information will be made available to 

individual bidders: 

• The bidder’s activity, based on all 

bids in the previous round; and 

• Summary statistics of the bidder’s 

bidding/bid-related actions in each 

round, including the licenses on which 

it bid and the price it bid for each of 

those licenses, the result of each of its 

bids, whether it has any provisionally 

winning bids, and remaining activity 

rule waivers. 

d. Round Structure 

170. Auction 101 will consist of 

sequential bidding rounds, each 

followed by the release of round results. 

The initial schedule of bidding rounds 

will be announced in the public notice 

listing the qualified bidders, which is 

released at least one week before the 

start of bidding in 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. Multiple 

bidding rounds may be conducted each 

day. 

171. The Bureau will retain 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 bidding 

strategies. This will allow the Bureau to 

change the amount of time for bidding 

rounds, the amount of time between 

rounds, or the number of rounds per 

day, depending upon bidding activity 

and other factors. 

e. Eligibility and Activity Rule 

172. A bidder’s initial (maximum) 

bidding eligibility (as measured in 

bidding units) for Auction 101 will be 

based on its upfront payment. The 

amount of the upfront payment 

submitted by a bidder determines initial 

bidding eligibility, the maximum 

number of bidding units on which a 

bidder may be active. Each license is 

assigned a specific number of bidding 

units as listed in Attachment A. Bidding 

units assigned to each license do not 

change as prices rise during the auction. 

Upfront payments are not attributed to 

specific licenses. Rather, a bidder may 

place bids on any of the licenses 

selected on its FCC Form 175 as long as 

the total number of bidding units 

associated with those licenses do not 

exceed its current eligibility. Eligibility 

cannot be increased during the auction; 

it can only remain the same or decrease. 

Thus, in calculating its upfront payment 

amount and therefore its initial bidding 

eligibility, an applicant must determine 

the maximum number of bidding units 

on which it may wish to bid or hold 

provisionally winning bids in any single 

round, and submit an upfront payment 

amount covering that total number of 

bidding units. At a minimum, an 

applicant’s upfront payment must cover 

the bidding units for at least one of the 

licenses selected on its FCC Form 175. 

The total upfront payment does not 

affect the total dollar amount a bidder 

may bid on any given license. 

173. The Commission will employ an 

activity rule that requires bidders to bid 

actively throughout the auction, rather 

than wait until late in the auction before 

participating. An activity rule helps 

ensure that an auction closes within a 

reasonable period of time. The bidding 

system calculates a bidder’s activity in 

a round as the sum of the bidding units 

associated with any licenses upon 

which it places bids during the current 

round and the bidding units associated 

with any licenses for which it holds 

provisionally winning bids. If a bidder 

removes bids in the current round or 

withdraws provisionally winning bids, 

those bids no longer count towards the 

bidder’s activity. Bidders are required to 

be active on a specific percentage of 

their current bidding eligibility during 

each round of the auction. Failure to 

maintain the requisite activity level will 

result in the use of an activity rule 

waiver, if any remain, or a reduction in 

the bidder’s eligibility, possibly 

curtailing or eliminating the bidder’s 

ability to place additional bids in the 

auction. Specifically, the minimum 

required activity is expressed as a 

percentage of the bidder’s current 

eligibility and increases by stage as the 

auction progresses. The activity rule 

will be 80 percent during each round of 

Stage One and 95 percent in Stage Two. 

f. Auction Stages 

174. The Commission will conduct 

Auction 101 in two stages. A bidder 

desiring to maintain its current bidding 

eligibility will be required to be active 

on licenses representing at least 80 

percent of its current bidding eligibility 

during each round of Stage One and at 

least 95 percent of its current bidding 

eligibility in Stage Two. 

175. Stage One: In each round of the 

first stage of the auction, a bidder 

desiring to maintain its current bidding 

eligibility is required to be active on 

bidding units associated with licenses 

representing at least 80 percent of its 

current bidding eligibility. Failure to 

maintain the required activity level will 

result in the use of an activity rule 

waiver or a reduction in the bidder’s 

bidding eligibility for the next round of 

bidding. During Stage One, a bidder’s 

reduced eligibility for the next round 

will be calculated by multiplying the 

bidder’s current round activity by fivefourths (5⁄4). 

176. Stage Two: In each round of the 

second stage, a bidder desiring to 

maintain its current bidding eligibility 

is required to be active on 95 percent of 

its current bidding eligibility. Failure to 

maintain the required activity level will 

result in the use of an activity rule 

waiver or a reduction in the bidder’s 

bidding eligibility for the next round of 

bidding. During Stage Two, a bidder’s 

reduced eligibility for the next round 

will be calculated by multiplying the 

bidder’s current round activity by 

twenty-nineteenths (20⁄19). 

Caution: Since activity requirements 

increase in Stage Two, bidders must 

carefully check their activity during the 

first round following a stage transition 

to ensure that they are meeting the 

increased activity requirement. This is 

especially critical for bidders that have 

provisionally winning bids and do not 

plan to submit new bids. In past 

auctions, some bidders have 


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inadvertently lost bidding eligibility or 

used an activity rule waiver because 

they did not re-verify their activity 

status at stage transitions. Bidders may 

check their activity against the required 

activity level in the FCC Bidding 

System. 

g. Stage Transitions 

177. Auction 101 will start in Stage 

One. The Bureau will have the 

discretion to advance the auction to the 

next stage by announcement in the 

bidding system during the auction. In 

exercising this discretion, the Bureau 

will consider a variety of measures of 

auction activity, including but not 

limited to, the percentage of bidding 

units associated with licenses on which 

there are new bids, the number of new 

bids, and the increase in revenue. 

178. The Bureau will have the 

discretion to further alter the activity 

requirements before and/or during the 

auction as circumstances warrant. For 

example, the Bureau could decide to 

add an additional stage with a higher 

activity requirement, not to transition to 

Stage Two if it finds that the auction is 

progressing satisfactorily under the 

Stage One activity requirement, or to 

transition to Stage Two with an activity 

requirement that is higher or lower than 

the 95 percent adopted herein. If the 

Bureau exercises this discretion, it will 

alert bidders by announcement in the 

FCC auction bidding system. 

179. If the Bureau implements stages 

with activity requirements other than 

the ones listed, a bidder’s reduced 

eligibility for the next round will be 

calculated by multiplying the bidder’s 

current round activity by the reciprocal 

of the activity requirement. For 

example, with a 98 percent activity 

requirement, the bidder’s current round 

activity would be multiplied by 50/49; 

with a 100 percent activity requirement, 

the bidder’s current round activity 

would become its bidding eligibility 

(current round activity would be 

multiplied by 1/1). 

h. Activity Rule Waivers 

180. When a bidder’s activity in the 

current round is below the required 

minimum level, the bidder may 

preserve its current level of eligibility 

through an activity rule waiver, if 

available. An activity rule waiver 

applies to an entire round of bidding, 

not to a particular license. Activity rule 

waivers can be either proactive or 

automatic. Activity rule waivers are 

principally a mechanism for a bidder to 

avoid the loss of bidding eligibility in 

the event that exigent circumstances 

prevent it from bidding in a particular 

round. Specifically, the Commission 

will provide each bidder in Auction 101 

with three activity rule waivers that may 

be used as set forth at the bidder’s 

discretion during the course of the 

auction. 

181. The FCC auction bidding system 

will assume that a bidder that does not 

meet the activity requirement would 

prefer to use an activity rule waiver (if 

available) rather than lose bidding 

eligibility. Therefore, the system will 

automatically apply a waiver at the end 

of any bidding round in which a 

bidder’s activity level is below the 

minimum required unless (1) the bidder 

has no activity rule waivers remaining 

or (2) the bidder overrides the automatic 

application of a waiver by reducing 

eligibility, thereby meeting the activity 

requirement. If a bidder has no waivers 

remaining and does not satisfy the 

required activity level, the bidder’s 

current eligibility will be permanently 

reduced, possibly curtailing or 

eliminating the ability to place 

additional bids in the auction. 

182. A bidder with insufficient 

activity, however, may wish to reduce 

its bidding eligibility rather than use an 

activity rule waiver. If so, the bidder 

must affirmatively override the 

automatic waiver mechanism during the 

bidding round by using the reduce 

eligibility function in the FCC auction 

bidding system. In this case, the 

bidder’s eligibility would be 

permanently reduced to bring it into 

compliance with the adopted activity 

rule. Reducing eligibility is an 

irreversible action; once eligibility has 

been reduced, a bidder cannot regain its 

lost bidding eligibility. 

183. Under the Commission’s adopted 

simultaneous stopping rule, 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 were to apply an 

activity rule waiver (using the proactive 

waiver function in the FCC auction 

bidding system) during a bidding round 

in which no bids are placed or 

withdrawn, the auction will remain 

open and the bidder’s eligibility will be 

preserved. However, an automatic 

waiver applied by the FCC auction 

bidding system in a round in which 

there are no new bids or a proactive 

waiver will not keep the auction open. 

i. Stopping Rule 

184. For Auction 101, the 

Commission will employ a 

simultaneous stopping rule approach, 

which means all licenses remain 

available for bidding until bidding stops 

on every license. Specifically, bidding 

will close on all licenses after the first 

round in which no bidder submits any 

new bids, applies a proactive waiver, or 

withdraws any provisionally winning 

bids. Provisionally winning bids are 

bids that would become final winning 

bids if the auction were to close in that 

given round. Bidding will remain open 

on all licenses until bidding stops on 

every license. Consequently, it is not 

possible to determine in advance how 

long the bidding in Auction 101 will 

last. 

185. In addition, the Bureau will 

retain the discretion to exercise any of 

the following stopping options during 

Auction 101: 

Option 1. The auction will close for 

all licenses after the first round in 

which no bidder applies a waiver, no 

bidder withdraws a provisionally 

winning bid, or no bidder places any 

new bid on a 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. 

Option 2. The auction will close for 

all licenses after the first round in 

which no bidder applies a waiver, no 

bidder withdraws a provisionally 

winning bid (if withdrawals are 

permitted in Auction 101), or no bidder 

places any new bid on a license that 

already has a provisionally winning bid. 

Thus, absent any other bidding activity, 

a bidder placing a new bid on a FCCheld license (a license that does not 

have a provisionally winning bid) 

would not keep the auction open under 

this modified stopping rule. 

Option 3. The auction will close using 

a modified version of the simultaneous 

stopping rule that combines Option 1 

and Option 2. 

Option 4. The auction will close after 

a specified number of additional rounds 

(special stopping rule) to be announced 

by the Bureau. If the Bureau invokes 

this special stopping rule, it will accept 

bids in the specified final round(s), after 

which the auction will close. 

Option 5. The auction will remain 

open even if no bidder places any new 

bid, applies a waiver, or withdraws any 

provisionally winning bids. In this 

event, the effect will be the same as if 

a bidder had applied a waiver. The 

activity rule will apply as usual, and a 

bidder with insufficient activity will 

lose bidding eligibility or use a waiver. 

186. The Bureau will exercise these 

options only in certain circumstances, 

for example, where the auction is 

proceeding unusually slowly or quickly, 

there is minimal overall bidding 

activity, or it appears likely that the 

auction will not close within a 

reasonable period of time or will close 


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prematurely. Before exercising these 

options, the Bureau is likely to attempt 

to change the pace of Auction 101. For 

example, the Bureau may adjust the 

pace of bidding by changing the number 

of bidding rounds per day and/or the 

minimum acceptable bids. The Bureau 

retains continuing discretion to exercise 

any of these options with or without 

prior announcement by the Bureau 

during the auction. 

j. Auction Delay, Suspension, or 

Cancellation 

187. For Auction 101, at any time 

before or during the bidding process, the 

Bureau may delay, suspend, or cancel 

bidding in the auction in the event of a 

natural disaster, technical obstacle, 

network interruption, administrative or 

weather necessity, evidence of an 

auction security breach or unlawful 

bidding activity, or for any other reason 

that affects the fair and efficient conduct 

of competitive bidding. The Bureau will 

notify participants of any such delay, 

suspension, or cancellation by public 

notice and/or through the FCC auction 

bidding system’s announcement 

function. If the bidding is delayed or 

suspended, the Bureau may, in its sole 

discretion, elect to resume the auction 

starting from the beginning of the 

current round or from some previous 

round, or cancel the auction in its 

entirety. The Bureau will exercise this 

authority solely at its discretion, and not 

as a substitute for situations in which 

bidders may wish to apply their activity 

rule waivers. 

2. Bid Collection and Winner 

Determination Procedures 

a. Reserve Price or Minimum Opening 

Bids 

188. The Commission has established 

minimum opening bid amounts for 

Auction 101. The bidding system will 

not accept bids lower than these 

amounts. In addition, the Commission 

has not established an aggregate reserve 

price or license reserve prices different 

from minimum opening bid amounts for 

the licenses to be offered in Auction 

101. A reserve price is an amount below 

which an item, or group of items, may 

not be won. 

189. For Auction 101, minimum 

opening bid amounts will be calculated 

on a license-by-license basis using a 

formula based on bandwidth and 

license area population. The 

Commission adopts a tiered approach, 

under which minimum opening bid 

amounts will vary by market 

population. For the county-based 

licenses that fall within PEAs 1–50, 

minimum opening bid amounts are 

based on $0.002 per MHz/pop; for those 

in PEAs 51–100, minimum opening bid 

amounts are based on $0.0004 per MHz/ 

pop; and for all others, minimum 

opening bid amounts are based on 

$0.0002 per MHz/pop. A summary of 

the minimum opening bid amounts is 

set forth in Attachment A of the 

Auctions 101 and 102 Procedures Public 

Notice. The specific minimum opening 

bid amount for each license offered in 

Auction 101 will be provided in 

electronic format only, available as a 

separate ‘‘Attachment A’’ file at 

www.fcc.gov/auction/101. The results of 

these calculations are subject to a 

minimum of $200 and will be rounded. 

b. Bid Amounts 

190. In each round, an eligible bidder 

will be able to place a bid on a given 

license in any of up to nine different 

amounts. The FCC auction bidding 

system interface will list the acceptable 

bid amounts for each license. 

(i) Minimum Acceptable Bid Amounts 

191. The first of the acceptable bid 

amounts is called the minimum 

acceptable bid amount. In Auction 101, 

the minimum acceptable bid amount for 

a license will be equal to its minimum 

opening bid amount until there is a 

provisionally winning bid on the 

license. After there is a provisionally 

winning bid for a license, the minimum 

acceptable bid amount for that license 

will be equal to the amount of the 

provisionally winning bid plus a 

percentage of that bid amount 

calculated using an activity-based 

formula. In general, the percentage will 

be higher for a license receiving many 

bids than for a license receiving few 

bids. In the case of a license for which 

the provisionally winning bid has been 

withdrawn, the minimum acceptable 

bid amount will equal the second 

highest bid received for the license. 

192. The percentage of the 

provisionally winning bid used to 

establish the minimum acceptable bid 

amount (the additional percentage) is 

calculated based on an activity index at 

the end of each round. The activity 

index is a weighted average of (a) the 

number of distinct bidders placing a bid 

on the license in that round, and (b) the 

activity index from the prior round. 

Specifically, the activity index is equal 

to a weighting factor times the number 

of bidders placing a bid covering the 

license in the most recent bidding round 

plus one minus the weighting factor 

times the activity index from the prior 

round. For Round 1 calculations, 

because there is no prior round (i.e., no 

round 0), the activity index from the 

prior round is set at 0. The additional 

percentage is determined as one plus 

the activity index times a minimum 

percentage amount, with the result not 

to exceed a given maximum. The 

additional percentage is then multiplied 

by the provisionally winning bid 

amount to obtain the minimum 

acceptable bid for the next round. The 

result will be rounded using the 

Commission’s standard rounding 

procedures for auctions. The 

Commission set the weighting factor 

initially at 0.5, the minimum percentage 

at 0.1 (10 percent), and the maximum 

percentage at 0.2 (20 percent). At these 

initial settings, the minimum acceptable 

bid for a license will be between 10 

percent and 20 percent higher than the 

provisionally winning bid, depending 

upon the bidding activity for the 

license. Equations and examples are 

shown in Attachment B. 

(ii) Additional Bid Amounts 

193. The FCC auction bidding system 

calculates any additional bid amounts 

using the minimum acceptable bid 

amount and an additional bid increment 

percentage. The minimum acceptable 

bid amount is multiplied by the 

additional bid increment percentage, 

and that result (rounded) is the 

additional increment amount. The first 

additional acceptable bid amount equals 

the minimum acceptable bid amount 

plus the additional increment amount. 

The second additional acceptable bid 

amount equals the minimum acceptable 

bid amount plus two times the 

additional increment amount; the third 

additional acceptable bid amount is the 

minimum acceptable bid amount plus 

three times the additional increment 

amount; etc. The Commission will set 

the additional bid increment percentage 

at five percent initially. Hence, the 

calculation of the additional increment 

amount would be (minimum acceptable 

bid amount) * (0.05), rounded. The first 

additional acceptable bid amount equals 

(minimum acceptable bid amount) + 

(additional increment amount); the 

second additional acceptable bid 

amount equals (minimum acceptable 

bid amount) + (2*(additional increment 

amount)); the third additional 

acceptable bid amount equals 

(minimum acceptable bid amount) + 

(3*(additional increment amount)); etc. 

(iii) Bid Amount Changes 

194. The Bureau will retain the 

discretion to change the minimum 

acceptable bid amounts, the additional 

bid amounts, the number of acceptable 

bid amounts, and the parameters of the 

formulas used to calculate minimum 

acceptable bid amounts and additional 

bid amounts if the Bureau determines 


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that circumstances so dictate. Further, 

the Bureau retains the discretion to do 

so on a license-by-license basis, and the 

discretion to limit (a) the amount by 

which a minimum acceptable bid for a 

license may increase compared with the 

corresponding provisionally winning 

bid, and (b) the amount by which an 

additional bid amount may increase 

compared with the immediately 

preceding acceptable bid amount. For 

example, the Bureau may set a $100,000 

limit on increases in minimum 

acceptable bid amounts over 

provisionally winning bids. Thus, if 

calculating a minimum acceptable bid 

using the activity-based formula results 

in a minimum acceptable bid amount 

that is $200,000 higher than the 

provisionally winning bid on a license, 

the minimum acceptable bid amount 

would instead be capped at $100,000 

above the provisionally winning bid. If 

the Bureau exercises this discretion, it 

will alert bidders by announcement in 

the FCC auction bidding system during 

the auction. 

c. Provisionally Winning Bids 

195. The FCC auction bidding system 

will determine provisionally winning 

bids consistent with practices in past 

auctions. At the end of each bidding 

round, the bidding system will 

determine a provisionally winning bid 

for each license based on the highest bid 

amount received for the license. A 

provisionally winning bid will remain 

the provisionally winning bid until 

there is a higher bid on the same license 

at the close of a later round. 

Provisionally winning bids at the end of 

Auction 101 become the winning bids. 

196. If identical high bid amounts are 

submitted on a license in any given 

round (i.e., tied bids), the FCC auction 

bidding system will use a pseudorandom number generator to select a 

single provisionally winning bid from 

among the tied bids. The remaining 

bidders, as well as the provisionally 

winning bidder, can submit higher bids 

in later rounds. However, if the auction 

were to end with no other bids being 

placed, the winning bidder would be 

the one that placed the provisionally 

winning bid. If the license receives any 

bids in a later round, the provisionally 

winning bid again will be determined 

by the highest bid amount received for 

the license. 

197. A provisionally winning bid will 

be retained until there is a higher bid on 

the license at the close of a later round, 

unless the provisionally winning bid is 

withdrawn. For Auction 101, a bid that 

was provisionally winning in a round 

counts toward bidding activity for 

purposes of the activity rule in the later 

round. 

d. Bid Removal and Bid Withdrawal 

(i) Bid Removal 

198. Each qualified bidder has the 

option of removing any bids placed in 

a round provided that such bids are 

removed before the close of that bidding 

round. By removing a bid within a 

round, a bidder effectively ‘‘unsubmits’’ 

the bid. A bidder removing a bid placed 

in the same round is not subject to 

withdrawal payments. Removing a bid 

will affect a bidder’s activity because a 

removed bid no longer counts toward 

bidding activity for the round. Once a 

round closes, a bidder may no longer 

remove a bid. 

(ii) Bid Withdrawal 

199. The Commission will allow each 

bidder to withdraw provisionally 

winning bids in no more than two 

rounds during the course of the auction. 

The two rounds in which a bidder may 

withdraw provisionally winning bids 

will be at the bidder’s discretion, and 

there is no limit on the number of 

provisionally winning bids that a bidder 

may withdraw in either of the rounds in 

which it withdraws bids. Withdrawals 

must be in accordance with the 

Commission’s rules, including the bid 

withdrawal payment provisions 

specified in § 1.2104(g). Once a bid 

withdrawal is submitted during a round, 

that withdrawal cannot be unsubmitted 

even if the round has not yet ended. 

200. If a provisionally winning bid is 

withdrawn, the minimum acceptable 

bid amount will equal the amount of the 

second highest bid received for the 

license, which may be less than, or in 

the case of tied bids, equal to, the 

amount of the withdrawn bid. The 

Bureau will retain the discretion to 

lower the minimum acceptable bid on 

such licenses in the next round or in 

later rounds. The Commission will serve 

as a placeholder provisionally winning 

bidder on the license until a new bid is 

submitted on that license. 

(iii) Calculation of Bid Withdrawal 

Payment 

201. Generally, the Commission 

imposes payments on bidders that 

withdraw provisionally winning bids 

during the course of an auction. If a 

bidder withdraws its bid and there is no 

higher bid in the same or later 

auction(s), the bidder that withdrew its 

bid is responsible for the difference 

between its withdrawn bid and the 

winning bid in the same or later 

auction(s). The payment will equal the 

lower of: (1) The difference between the 

net withdrawn bid and the subsequent 

net winning bid; or (2) the difference 

between the gross withdrawn bid and 

the subsequent gross winning bid. If 

there are multiple bid withdrawals on a 

single license and no subsequent higher 

bid is placed and/or the license is not 

won in the same auction, the payment 

for each bid withdrawal will be 

calculated based on the sequence of bid 

withdrawals and the amounts 

withdrawn. No withdrawal payment 

will be assessed for a withdrawn bid if 

either the subsequent winning bid or 

any subsequent intervening withdrawn 

bid, in either the same or later 

auction(s), equals or exceeds that 

withdrawn bid. Thus, a bidder that 

withdraws a bid will not be responsible 

for any final withdrawal payment if 

there is a subsequent higher bid in the 

same or later auction(s). 

202. However, if a license for which 

a bid had been withdrawn does not 

receive a subsequent higher bid or 

winning bid in the same auction, the 

FCC cannot calculate the final 

withdrawal payment until that license 

receives a higher bid or winning bid in 

a later auction. In such cases, when that 

final withdrawal payment cannot yet be 

calculated, the FCC imposes on the 

bidder responsible for the withdrawn 

bid an interim bid withdrawal payment, 

which will be applied toward any final 

bid withdrawal payment that is 

ultimately assessed. 

203. The amount of the interim bid 

withdrawal payment is established in 

advance of bidding in each auction and 

may range from three percent to twenty 

percent of the withdrawn bid amount. 

The Commission established an interim 

bid withdrawal payment of 15 percent 

of the withdrawn bid for Auction 101. 

Section 1.2104(g) provides specific 

examples showing application of the bid 

withdrawal payment rule. 

3. Auction Results 

204. After the Bureau announces the 

auction results, it will provide a means 

for the public to view and download 

bidding and results data. 

4. Auction Announcements 

205. The Commission and/or Bureau 

will use auction announcements to 

report necessary information to bidders, 

such as schedule changes. All auction 

announcements will be available by 

clicking a link in the FCC auction 

bidding system. 

B. Auction 102—24 GHz 

1. Auction Structure 

c. Clock and Assignment Phases 

206. The Commission will conduct 

Auction 102 using an ascending clock 


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auction design with two phases. In the 

first phase of the auction—the clock 

phase—bidders will indicate their 

demands for generic license blocks in 

specific geographic areas (i.e., PEAs). In 

the second phase—the assignment 

phase—winning clock-phase bidders 

will have the opportunity to bid for 

their preferred combinations of 

frequency-specific licenses, consistent 

with their clock-phase winnings, in a 

series of single sealed-bid rounds 

conducted by PEA or, in some cases, 

PEA group. 

207. The Bureau has prepared and 

released, concurrent with the Auctions 

101 and 102 Procedures Public Notice, 

updated technical guides that provide 

the mathematical details of the adopted 

auction design and algorithms for the 

clock and assignment phases of Auction 

102. The Auction 102 Clock Phase 

Technical Guide details the adopted 

procedures for the clock phase of 

Auction 102. The Auction 102 

Assignment Phase Technical Guide 

details the adopted procedures for the 

assignment phase. The information in 

the updated technical guides 

supplements the decisions in the 

Auctions 101 and 102 Procedures Public 

Notice. The guides may be found on the 

Commission’s website at: https://

www.fcc.gov/auction/102. 

d. Generic Blocks and Bidding 

Categories 

208. In the clock phase, the 

Commission will conduct bidding for 

generic blocks in two categories in most 

PEAs (i.e., those without an incumbent 

licensee). There generally will be two 

generic blocks in the lower 24 GHz 

segment (Category L) and five generic 

blocks in the upper 24 GHz segment 

(Category U). Therefore, in each round 

of the clock phase, a bidder will have 

the opportunity to bid for up to two 

blocks of spectrum in Category L and for 

up to five blocks in Category U, in each 

PEA without an incumbent licensee. 

209. An incumbent in the 24 GHz 

band, currently holds 100 megahertz in 

Block B in three PEAs (PEA 15— 

Phoenix, AZ; PEA 26—Las Vegas; PEA 

76—Reno, NV) and 25 megahertz in 

Block G in one PEA (PEA 75— 

Albuquerque, NM). The Commission 

will auction the remaining 75 megahertz 

in PEA 75—Albuquerque, NM, resulting 

in one additional category in the upper 

band (Category UI), for a total of three 

categories. 

210. Bidding in the auction will 

determine a single final clock phase 

price for the generic blocks in each 

category in each PEA. 

e. Auction Bidding System 

211. As is standard practice for FCC 

auctions, the Commission will conduct 

Auction 102 over the internet using the 

FCC auction bidding system. Bidders 

will also have the option of placing bids 

by telephone through a dedicated 

auction bidder line. There will be no onsite bidding during Auction 102. Please 

note that telephonic bid assistants are 

required to use a script when entering 

bids placed by telephone. Telephonic 

bidders are therefore reminded to allow 

sufficient time to bid by placing their 

calls well in advance of the close of a 

round. The length of a call to place a 

telephonic bid may vary; please allow a 

minimum of ten minutes. The toll-free 

telephone number for the auction bidder 

line will be provided to qualified 

bidders prior to the start of bidding in 

the auction. 

212. In order to access the bidding 

function of the FCC auction bidding 

system, bidders must be logged in 

during the bidding round using the 

passcode generated by the SecurID®

token and a PIN created by the bidder. 

Bidders are strongly encouraged to print 

a round summary for each round after 

they have completed all of their activity 

for that round. 

213. An Auction 102 bidder’s ability 

to bid on generic license blocks in 

specific PEAs is determined by two 

factors: (1) the PEA(s) selected on the 

bidder’s FCC Form 175; and (2) the 

bidder’s eligibility. The bid submission 

screens will allow bidders to submit 

bids only on categories of generic blocks 

in the PEA(s) the bidder selected on its 

FCC Form 175. 

214. In the first round of the clock 

phase, an eligible bidder will indicate 

how many blocks in a bidding category 

in a PEA it demands at the minimum 

opening bid price. The bidding system 

will not accept bids lower than these 

amounts. A bidder must have sufficient 

eligibility to place a bid on the 

particular license block(s). Bidders in 

Auction 102 may place bids only on 

individual license blocks in a category 

in a PEA—they will not be permitted to 

place any package bids (i.e., bids for 

multiple blocks in a ‘‘package’’). In each 

subsequent round, an eligible bidder 

will be able to express its demand for 

blocks in a category in a specific PEA 

at the clock price or at a price between 

the previous round’s price and the new 

clock price. The FCC auction bidding 

system also includes an upload function 

that allows text files containing bid 

information to be uploaded. 

215. During each round of the clock 

phase, a bidder may also remove bids 

placed in the current bidding round. If 

a bidder submits multiple bids for the 

same category in a PEA in a round, the 

system takes the last bid entered as that 

bidder’s bid for the round. 

216. After the clock phase concludes 

but before bidding begins in the 

assignment phase, the auction bidding 

system will provide to each clock phase 

winner a menu of assignment phase 

bidding options consisting of possible 

configurations of frequency-specific 

licenses on which it can bid in each 

category in each PEA in which it holds 

winning clock phase bids. A bidder can 

assign a price using a sealed bid to one 

or more possible frequency assignment 

options for which it wishes to express 

a preference, consistent with its 

winning bids for generic blocks in the 

clock phase. Participation in the 

assignment phase is voluntary. 

f. Stopping Rule 

217. The Commission will use a 

simultaneous stopping rule for the clock 

phase of Auction 102, under which all 

categories of blocks in all PEAs will 

remain available for bidding until the 

bidding stops on every category in every 

PEA. The clock phase of bidding will 

close for all categories of blocks in all 

PEAs after the first round in which there 

is no excess demand in any category in 

any PEA. Bidding will remain open on 

all categories of licenses in all PEAs 

until bidding stops on every category. 

Consequently, it is not possible to 

determine in advance how long the 

bidding in Auction 102 will last. 

218. The assignment phase of Auction 

102 will close after frequency-specific 

licenses in all PEAs have been assigned. 

g. Availability of Bidding Information 

219. The Commission will make 

public after each round of the clock 

phase of Auction 102, for each bidding 

category in each PEA: The supply; the 

aggregate demand; the posted price of 

the last completed round; and the clock 

price for the next round. The posted 

price of the previous round is, generally: 

the opening price if supply exceeds 

demand; the clock price of the previous 

round if demand exceeds supply; or the 

price at which a reduction caused 

demand to equal supply. The identities 

of bidders demanding blocks in a 

specific category or PEA will not be 

disclosed until after Auction 102 

concludes (i.e., after the close of bidding 

in the assignment phase). 

220. Each bidder will have access to 

additional information related to its 

own bidding and bid eligibility. 

Specifically, after the bids of a round 

have been processed, the bidding 

system will advise each bidder of the 

number of blocks it holds after the 


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round (its processed demand) for every 

category and PEA, and of its eligibility 

for the next round. 

221. After the clock phase concludes 

but before bidding begins in the 

assignment phase, the auction bidding 

system will provide to each assignment 

phase bidder a menu of bidding options 

consisting of possible configurations of 

frequency-specific licenses on which it 

can bid in each category in each PEA in 

which it holds winning clock-phase 

bids. These bidding options will be 

consistent with the bidder’s clock-phase 

winnings. The bidding system will also 

announce the order in which 

assignment rounds will take place and 

indicate which PEAs will be grouped 

together for bidding. The bidding 

system will provide clock phase 

winning bidders with this information 

as soon as possible and will announce 

a schedule of assignment phase rounds 

that will commence no less than five 

business days later. 

222. After each assignment round, the 

bidding system will advise each bidder 

of its own assignment and assignment 

payment for each PEA or PEA group 

assigned in the round. The bidding 

system will also provide each bidder 

with its current total payment (gross and 

net) for the PEAs for which an 

assignment round has already 

completed, as well as its corresponding 

capped and uncapped bidding credit 

discounts. This information will 

provide the bidder a running estimate 

during the assignment rounds of the 

dollar amount it will owe at the end of 

the auction. 

h. Auction Delay, Suspension, or 

Cancellation 

223. At any time before or during the 

bidding process, the Bureau may delay, 

suspend, or cancel bidding in Auction 

102 in the event of a natural disaster, 

technical obstacle, network 

interruption, administrative or weather 

necessity, evidence of an auction 

security breach or unlawful bidding 

activity, or for any other reason that 

affects the fair and efficient conduct of 

competitive bidding. The Bureau will 

notify participants of any such delay, 

suspension, or cancellation by public 

notice and/or through the FCC auction 

bidding system’s announcement 

function. If the bidding is delayed or 

suspended, the Bureau may, in its sole 

discretion, elect to resume the auction 

starting from the beginning of the 

current round or from some previous 

round, or cancel the auction in its 

entirety. The Bureau will exercise this 

authority solely at its discretion. 

2. Clock Phase Bid Collection and Bid 

Processing Procedures 

a. Round Structure 

224. The Commission will conduct 

the clock phase of Auction 102 in a 

series of rounds, with bidding being 

conducted simultaneously for all 

spectrum blocks available in the 

auction. During the clock phase, the 

Bureau will announce clock prices for 

blocks in each category in each 

geographic area, and qualified bidders 

will submit quantity bids for the 

number of blocks they seek. Bidding 

rounds will be open for predetermined 

periods of time, during which bidders 

will indicate their demands for blocks at 

the prices associated with the current 

round. The round’s clock price is the 

highest price associated with the round. 

The lowest price associated with a 

round is the posted price of the previous 

round. As in SMR auctions, bidders will 

be subject to activity and eligibility 

rules that govern the pace at which they 

participate in the auction. 

225. In each geographic area, the 

clock price for a category of generic 

blocks will increase from round to 

round if bidders indicate aggregate 

demand that exceeds the number of 

blocks available in the category. The 

clock rounds will continue until, for all 

categories of blocks in all geographic 

areas, the number of blocks demanded 

does not exceed the supply of available 

blocks. At that point, those bidders 

indicating demand in a category in a 

PEA at the final clock phase price will 

be deemed winning bidders. 

226. The initial bidding schedule will 

be announced in a public notice to be 

released at least one week before the 

start of bidding. 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 bidding 

strategies. Accordingly, the Bureau may 

change the amount of time for bidding 

rounds, the amount of time between 

rounds, or the numbers of rounds per 

day, depending upon bidding activity 

and other factors. 

b. Eligibility and Activity Rule 

227. Bidders are required to maintain 

a minimum, high level of activity in 

each clock round in order to maintain 

bidding eligibility, which will help 

ensure that the auction moves quickly 

and promote a sound price discovery 

process. The activity requirement will 

be set between 92 and 97 percent of a 

bidder’s bidding eligibility in all clock 

rounds. Further, the initial activity 

requirement will be set at 95 percent. 

Failure to maintain the requisite activity 

level will result in a reduction in the 

bidder’s eligibility, possibly curtailing 

or eliminating the bidder’s ability to 

place additional bids in the auction. 

228. The Commission will use upfront 

payments to determine initial 

(maximum) eligibility in terms of 

bidding units. Each spectrum block in a 

PEA will be assigned a specific number 

of bidding units based on the number of 

MHz-pops in the PEA. Each block 

available in a PEA will have the same 

number of bidding units. A bidder’s 

upfront payment will determine the 

maximum number of blocks as 

measured by their associated bidding 

units that a bidder can demand at the 

start of the auction. 

229. Generally, the activity rule will 

be satisfied when a bidder has bidding 

activity on blocks with bidding units 

that total at least 95 percent of its 

eligibility in the round. If the activity 

rule is met, then the bidder’s eligibility 

will not change in the next round. 

Bidding eligibility will be reduced as 

the auction progresses if a bidder does 

not meet the activity requirement. 

230. For this clock auction, a bidder’s 

activity in a round for purposes of the 

activity rule will be the sum of the 

bidding units associated with the 

bidder’s processed demands. For 

instance, if a bidder requests a reduction 

in the quantity of blocks it demands in 

a category, but the FCC auction bidding 

system does not accept the request 

because demand for the category would 

fall below the available supply, the 

bidder’s activity will reflect its 

unreduced demand. 

231. The Bureau will retain the 

discretion to change the activity 

requirement before and/or during the 

auction within the 92–97 percent range, 

as circumstances warrant. Any changes 

to the activity requirement will be 

announced in advance via the auction 

bidding system, giving bidders 

sufficient notice to adjust their bidding 

strategies if needed. 

232. Bidders are required to indicate 

their demands in every round, even if 

their demands at the new round’s prices 

are unchanged from the previous round. 

Missing bids—bids that are not 

reconfirmed—are treated by the auction 

bidding system as requests to reduce to 

a quantity of zero blocks for the 

category. If these requests are applied, 

or applied partially, a bidder’s bidding 

activity, and hence its bidding eligibility 

for the next round, will be reduced. 

233. The Commission will not 

provide for activity rule waivers to 

preserve a bidder’s eligibility in the 

event that its bidding activity does not 

meet the activity requirement in a 


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round. Allowing waivers would create 

uncertainty with respect to the exact 

level of bidder demand, interfering with 

the basic clock price-setting and winner 

determination mechanism. Moreover, 

uncertainty about the level of demand 

would affect the way bidders’ requests 

to reduce demand are processed by the 

FCC auction bidding system. 

c. Acceptable Bid Amounts 

(i) Reserve Price or Minimum Opening 

Bids 

234. The Commission established 

minimum opening bid amounts for 

Auction 102. In Round 1 of the clock 

phase, a bidder will indicate how many 

blocks in a bidding category in a PEA 

it demands at the minimum opening bid 

price. The bidding system will not 

accept bids lower than these amounts. 

235. Minimum opening bid amounts 

will be calculated using a formula based 

on 100 megahertz of bandwidth and 

license area population for blocks in all 

categories regardless of actual 

bandwidth for blocks in a category in a 

PEA. The Commission adopts a tiered 

approach, under which minimum 

opening bid amounts will vary by 

market population. For PEAs 1–50, 

minimum opening bid amounts are 

based on $0.002 per MHz/pop; for PEAs 

51–100, minimum opening bid amounts 

are based on $0.0004 per MHz/pop; and 

for all other PEAs, minimum opening 

bid amounts are based on $0.0002 per 

MHz/pop. A summary of the minimum 

opening bid amounts is set forth in 

Attachment A of the Auctions 101 and 

102 Public Notice. The specific 

minimum opening bid amount for each 

license offered in Auction 102 will be 

provided in electronic format only, 

available as a separate ‘‘Attachment A’’ 

file at www.fcc.gov/auction/102. The 

results of these calculations are subject 

to a minimum of $200 and will be 

rounded. 

(ii) Clock Price Increments 

236. After bidding in the first round 

and before each later round, the FCC 

auction bidding system will announce a 

clock price for the next round, which is 

the highest price to which bidders can 

respond during the round. For each 

round, the clock price for each category 

in each PEA will be set by adding a 

fixed percentage increment to the 

posted price for the previous round. As 

long as aggregate demand for blocks in 

a category exceeds the supply of blocks, 

the percentage increment will be added 

to the clock price from the prior round. 

If demand equaled supply at an intraround bid price in a previous round, 

then the clock price for the next round 

will be set by adding the percentage 

increment to the intra-round bid price. 

237. The initial increment will be set 

at ten percent. The Commission may 

adjust the increment as rounds 

continue. The five-to-fifteen percent 

increment range will allow the FCC to 

set a percentage that manages the 

auction pace, taking into account 

bidders’ needs to evaluate their bidding 

strategies while moving the auction 

along quickly. Increments may be 

changed during the auction on a PEAby-PEA or category-by-category basis 

based on bidding activity to ensure that 

the system can offer appropriate price 

choices to bidders. 

(iii) Intra-Round Bids 

238. The Commission will permit a 

bidder to make intra-round bids by 

indicating a price between the previous 

round’s posted price and the new clock 

price at which its demand for blocks in 

a category in a PEA changes. In placing 

an intra-round bid, a bidder will 

indicate a specific price and a quantity 

of blocks it demands if the price for 

blocks in the category in the PEA should 

increase beyond that price. For example, 

consider a round where the clock price 

increases from $100 to $110. A bidder 

indicated in the previous round that it 

demanded 3 blocks at $100, but its 

demand changes from 3 blocks to 2 

blocks when the price increases beyond 

$105 and up to $110. To indicate that 

preference, the bidder should submit an 

intra-round bid for 2 blocks at a price 

of $105. 

239. Intra-round bids are optional; a 

bidder may choose to express its 

demands only at the clock prices. 

(iv) Bid Removal and Bid Withdrawal 

240. The FCC auction bidding system 

allows a bidder to remove any of the 

bids it placed in a round before the 

close of that round. By removing a bid 

placed within a round, a bidder 

effectively ‘‘unsubmits’’ the bid. A 

bidder removing a bid placed in the 

same round is not subject to withdrawal 

payments. Removing a bid will affect a 

bidder’s activity because a removed bid 

no longer counts toward bidding 

activity for the round. Once a round 

closes, a bidder may no longer remove 

a bid. 

241. Bid withdrawals, analogous to 

withdrawals of provisionally winning 

bids in an SMR auction, are not 

available in Auction 102. However, 

bidders in Auction 102 may request to 

reduce demand for generic blocks in a 

bidding category. 

(v) No Bidding Aggregation 

242. The Commission does not adopt 

any package bidding procedures for the 

clock phase of Auction 102. A bidder 

may bid for multiple blocks in a bidding 

category in a PEA and may submit bids 

for multiple PEAs. The assignment 

phase will assign contiguous blocks to 

winners of multiple blocks in a category 

in a PEA, and give bidders an 

opportunity to express their preferences 

for specific frequency blocks, thereby 

facilitating aggregations of licenses. 

d. Changing Demand, Bid Types, and 

Bid Processing 

243. For each category in each PEA, 

a bidder can either bid to maintain its 

processed demand from the previous 

round at the current round’s clock price 

or bid to change its demand at a price 

associated with the round. A bid to 

change demand could involve either a 

decrease or an increase in the demanded 

quantity. 

244. Bids to maintain demand are 

always applied during bid processing. 

However, if a bidder demands fewer 

blocks in a category than its processed 

demand from the previous round, the 

bidding system will treat the bid as a 

request to reduce demand that will be 

implemented only if aggregate demand 

would not fall below the available 

supply of blocks in the category. If a 

bidder demands more blocks in a 

category than its processed demand 

from the previous round, the bidding 

system will treat the bid as a request to 

increase demand that will be 

implemented only if that would not 

cause the bidder’s activity to exceed its 

eligibility. 

245. The bidding system will process 

bids after a round ends in order of price 

point, where the price point represents 

the percentage of the bidding interval 

for the round. For example, if the posted 

price for the previous round is $5,000 

and the clock price of the current round 

is $6,000, a price of $5,100 will 

correspond to the 10 percent price 

point, since it is 10 percent of the 

bidding interval between $5,000 and 

$6,000. Once a round ends, the bidding 

system will process bids in ascending 

order of price point, first considering 

intra-round bids in order of price point 

and then bids at the clock price. The 

system will consider bids at the lowest 

price point for all categories in all PEAs, 

then look at bids at the next price point, 

and so on. In processing the bids 

submitted in the round, the FCC auction 

bidding system will determine the 

extent to which there is excess demand 

for each category in each PEA in order 

to determine whether a bidder’s 


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requested reduction(s) in demand can 

be implemented. In processing the bids 

submitted in the round, the FCC auction 

bidding system will also determine the 

bidding units associated with a bidder’s 

most recent processed demand in order 

to determine whether the bidder’s 

requested increase(s) in demand can be 

implemented. 

246. For a given category in a given 

PEA, the uniform price for all of the 

blocks in the category will stop 

increasing when aggregate demand no 

longer exceeds the available supply of 

blocks in the category. If no further bids 

are placed, the final clock phase price 

for the category will be the stopped 

price. 

247. In order to facilitate bidding for 

multiple blocks in a PEA, bidders will 

be permitted to make two types of bids: 

simple bids and switch bids. 

• A ‘‘simple’’ bid indicates a desired 

quantity of licenses in a category at a 

price (either the clock price or an intraround price). Simple bids may be 

applied partially. A simple bid that 

involves a reduction from the bidder’s 

previous demands may be implemented 

partially if aggregate excess demand is 

insufficient to support the entire 

reduction. A simple bid to increase a 

bidder’s demands in a category may be 

applied partially if the total number of 

bidding units associated with the 

bidder’s demand exceeds the bidder’s 

bidding eligibility for the round. 

• A ‘‘switch’’ bid allows the bidder to 

request to move its demand for a 

quantity of licenses from the L category 

to the U category, or vice versa, within 

the same PEA. Switch bids may not be 

made between Category U or L and 

Category UI. A switch bid may be 

applied partially, but the increase in 

demand in the ‘‘to’’ category will always 

match in quantity the reduction in the 

‘‘from’’ category. 

248. These bid types will allow 

bidders to express their demand for 

blocks in the next clock round without 

running the risk that they will be forced 

to purchase more spectrum at a higher 

price than they wish. When a bid to 

reduce demand can be applied only 

partially, the uniform price for the 

category will stop increasing at that 

point, since the partial application of 

the bid results in demand falling to 

equal supply. Hence, a bidder that 

makes a simple bid or a switch bid that 

cannot be fully applied will not face a 

price for the remaining demand that is 

higher than its bid price. 

249. Because in any given round some 

bidders may increase demands for 

licenses in a category while others may 

request reductions, the price point at 

which a bid is considered by the 

bidding system can affect whether it is 

accepted. However, bids not accepted 

because of insufficient aggregate 

demand or insufficient eligibility at a 

given price point will be held in a queue 

and considered, again in order, if there 

should be excess supply or sufficient 

eligibility later in the processing after 

other bids are processed. 

250. Once a round closes, the auction 

system will process the bids by first 

considering the bid submitted at the 

lowest price point and determine 

whether it can be accepted given 

aggregate demand as determined most 

recently and given the associated 

bidder’s eligibility. If the bid can be 

accepted, or partially accepted, the 

number of licenses the bidder demands 

will be adjusted, and aggregate demand 

will be recalculated accordingly. If the 

bid cannot be accepted in part or in full, 

the unfulfilled bid, or portion thereof, 

will be held in a queue to be considered 

later during bid processing for that 

round. The FCC auction bidding system 

will then consider the bid submitted at 

the next highest price point, accepting 

it in full, in part, or not at all, given 

recalculated aggregate demand and 

given the associated bidder’s eligibility. 

Any unfulfilled requests will again be 

held in a queue, and aggregate demand 

will again be recalculated. Every time a 

bid or part of a bid is accepted and 

aggregate demand has been recalculated, 

the unfulfilled bids held in queue will 

be reconsidered, in the order of their 

original price points (and by pseudorandom number, in the case of tied price 

points). The auction bidding system will 

not carry over unfulfilled bid requests to 

the next round, however. The bidding 

system will advise bidders of the status 

of their bids when round results are 

released. 

251. After the bids are processed in 

each round, the FCC auction bidding 

system will announce, for each bidding 

category in each PEA: the aggregate 

demand; the posted price; and the clock 

price for the next round, to indicate a 

range of acceptable bids for the next 

round. If demand fell to equal supply 

during the round, the posted price will 

be equal to the intra-round price at 

which that occurred. If there is excess 

demand, a fixed percentage increment 

will be added to the clock price for the 

previous round, and this percentage 

increment will be the same for all 

categories in all PEAs. However, if in 

the round, an intra-round bid brings 

demand down to the point at which it 

is equal to supply, the increment will be 

added to that intra-round price. Each 

bidder will also be informed of its own 

processed demand for every category 

and PEA and of its own eligibility for 

the next round. 

e. Winning Bids in the Clock Phase 

252. Bidders that hold processed 

demand in a category in a PEA at the 

time the stopping rule is met will 

become winning bidders and will be 

assigned frequency-specific licenses in 

the assignment phase. 

253. The final clock phase price is the 

posted price of the final round. This 

will be the price at which a reduction 

caused demand for the blocks to equal 

the supply of blocks in the category in 

the PEA. For categories in PEAs where 

supply exceeds demand, the final clock 

phase price will be the opening price. 

3. Assignment Phase Bid Collection and 

Bid Processing Procedures 

254. The assignment phase will 

determine which frequency-specific 

licenses will be won by the winning 

bidders of generic blocks during the 

clock phase. In the assignment phase, 

winning bidders will have the 

opportunity to bid for preferred 

combinations of frequency-specific 

licenses. A bidder can assign a price 

using a sealed bid to one or more 

possible frequency assignments for 

which it wishes to express a preference, 

consistent with its winning bids for 

generic blocks in the clock phase. For 

instance, if a bidder won two Category 

U blocks and one Category L block in 

the clock phase, then it will only be 

offered the option of bidding for 

frequency assignments with exactly two 

Category U licenses and for frequency 

assignments with exactly one Category 

U license. The bid prices will represent 

the maximum payment that the bidder 

is willing to pay for the frequencyspecific license assignment, in addition 

to the final price established in the 

clock phase for the generic blocks. 

These procedures will determine the 

optimal assignment of licenses within 

each PEA based on bid amounts in the 

assignment phase. As a simple example, 

assume two bidders won one Category 

L block each in a given PEA in the clock 

phase, so each was presented with 

bidding options Block A and Block B. 

One bidder bid 10 for Block A and 0 for 

Block B, the other bidder bid 12 for 

Block A and 0 for Block B in the 

assignment phase. The auction system 

will assign Block A to the second 

bidder, and Block B to the first bidder. 

255. Participation in the assignment 

phase is voluntary: A winning bidder in 

the clock phase of Auction 102 need not 

participate in order to be assigned a 

number of licenses corresponding to the 

outcome of the clock phase. Moreover, 

a bidder that wins multiple blocks in a 


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category in a PEA will be assigned 

contiguous blocks of licenses, even 

without participating in the assignment 

phase. A winner of a block in a category 

that includes only a single block will 

not bid for an assignment in the 

assignment phase. 

a. Round Structure: Sequencing and 

Grouping of Rounds 

256. Sequencing of rounds. The 

Commission will conduct assignment 

rounds for the largest markets first. The 

Commission will conduct a separate 

assignment round for each of the top 40 

PEAs sequentially, beginning with the 

largest PEAs. Top 40 PEAs are PEAs 1– 

40. Once the top 40 PEAs have been 

assigned, the Commission will conduct, 

for each Regional Economic Area 

Grouping (REAG), a series of assignment 

rounds for the remaining PEAs within 

that region. The Commission will 

sequence the assignment rounds within 

a REAG in descending order of 

population for a PEA group or 

individual PEA. 

257. Grouping of PEAs. To reduce the 

total amount of time required to 

complete the assignment phase, where 

feasible, the Commission will group into 

a single market for assignment any nontop 40 PEAs within a region in which 

the supply of blocks is the same in each 

category, the same bidders won the 

same number of blocks in each category, 

and all are subject to the small markets 

bidding cap or all not subject to the cap, 

which will also help maximize 

contiguity across PEAs. Accordingly, in 

markets where these criteria are met, a 

bidder will submit a single set of bids 

for assignment options that will apply to 

all the PEAs in the group and will be 

assigned the same frequency-specific 

licenses in each PEA. 

258. In addition, to the extent 

practical, the Commission will conduct 

the bidding for the different REAGs in 

parallel. That is, bidding for 

assignments in multiple PEAs or PEA 

groups will take place during the same 

timed bidding round. This will also 

help reduce the length of the assignment 

phase. 

b. Acceptable Bids and Bid Processing 

259. Prior to the start of the 

assignment phase, the bidding system 

will provide each bidder with bidding 

options for all possible contiguous 

frequency assignments for each category 

in each PEA in which the bidder won 

blocks in the clock phase. In each 

assignment round, a bidder will be 

asked to assign a price to one or more 

of the bidding options for which it 

wishes to express a preference, 

consistent with its winning bid(s) for 

generic blocks in the clock phase. The 

price will represent a maximum 

payment that the bidder is willing to 

pay, in addition to the base price 

established in the clock phase for the 

generic blocks, for the frequencyspecific license or licenses in its bid. 

260. A bidder will submit its 

preferences for blocks it won in the 

upper and lower segments separately, 

rather than submitting bids for 

preferences that include blocks in both 

segments. That is, if a bidder won one 

block in the lower segment and two 

blocks in the upper segment, it would 

not be able to submit a single bid 

amount for an assignment that included 

all three blocks. Instead, it would 

submit its bid for an assignment in the 

lower segment separately from its bid or 

bids for assignments in the upper 

segment. 

261. An optimization approach will 

be used to determine the winning 

frequency assignment for each category 

in each PEA or PEA group. The 

Commission adopts procedures such 

that the auction bidding system will 

select the assignment that maximizes 

the sum of bid amounts among all 

assignments where every bidder is 

assigned contiguous spectrum. If 

multiple blocks in Category U in a PEA 

remain unsold, the unsold licenses will 

be contiguous. 

262. Further, the additional price a 

bidder will pay for a specific frequency 

assignment (above the final clock phase 

price) will be calculated consistent with 

a generalized ‘‘second price’’ 

approach—that is, the winner will pay 

a price that would be just sufficient to 

result in the bidder receiving that same 

winning frequency assignment while 

ensuring that no group of bidders is 

willing to pay more for an alternative 

assignment where every bidder is 

assigned contiguous spectrum. This 

price will be less than or equal to the 

price the bidder indicated it was willing 

to pay for the assignment. Determining 

prices in this way encourages bidders to 

bid their full value for the assignment, 

knowing that if the assignment is 

selected, they will pay no more than 

would be necessary to ensure that the 

outcome is competitive. 

c. Assignment Phase Payment 

Calculations 

263. When all assignment rounds 

have completed, a bidder’s final 

payment is determined by summing the 

final clock phase prices across all 

licenses that it won and its assignment 

payments across all assignment phase 

markets, and then applying any 

applicable bidding credit discounts to 

the sum. 

4. Calculating Individual License Prices 

264. While final auction payments for 

winning bidders will be calculated with 

bidding credit caps and assignment 

payments applied on an aggregate basis, 

rather than to individual licenses, the 

auction bidding system will also 

calculate a per-license price for each 

license. Such individual prices may be 

needed if a licensee later incurs licensespecific obligations, such as unjust 

enrichment payments. 

265. After the assignment phase, the 

auction bidding system will determine a 

net and gross post-auction price for each 

license that was won by a bidder by 

apportioning assignment payments and 

bidding credit discounts (only 

applicable for the net price) across all 

the licenses that the bidder won. To 

calculate the gross per-license price, the 

auction bidding system will apportion 

the assignment payment to licenses in 

proportion to the final clock phase price 

of the licenses that the bidder is 

assigned in that category and market. To 

calculate the net price, the auction 

bidding system will first apportion any 

applicable bidding credit discounts to 

each category and assignment phase 

market in proportion to the gross 

payment for that category and that 

market. Then, for each assignment 

phase market, the auction bidding 

system will apportion the assignment 

payment and the discount to licenses in 

proportion to the final clock phase price 

of the licenses that the bidder is 

assigned in that category for that market. 

5. Auction Results 

266. After the Bureau announces the 

auction results, it will provide a means 

for the public to view and download 

bidding and results data. 

6. Auction Announcements 

267. The Commission and/or Bureau 

will use auction announcements to 

report necessary information to bidders, 

such as schedule changes. All auction 

announcements will be available by 

clicking a link in the FCC auction 

bidding system. 

V. Post-Auction Procedures 

268. Shortly after bidding has ended 

in each auction, the Commission will 

issue a public notice declaring that the 

respective auction closed and 

establishing the deadlines for 

submitting down payments, final 

payments, and the long-form 

applications (FCC Form 601) for the 

auction. 

A. Down Payments 

269. Within 10 business days after 

release of the auction closing public 


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notices for Auctions 101 and 102, 

respectively, each winning bidder must 

submit sufficient funds (in addition to 

its upfront payment) to bring its total 

amount of money on deposit with the 

Commission for the applicable auction 

to 20 percent of the net amount of its 

winning bids (gross bids less any 

applicable bidding credits). 

B. Final Payments 

270. Each winning bidder will be 

required to submit the balance of the net 

amount for each of its winning bids for 

each auction within 10 business days 

after the applicable deadline for 

submitting down payments. 

C. Long-Form Application (FCC Form 

601) 

271. The Commission’s rules provide 

that, within 10 business days after 

release of the auction closing public 

notice for a particular auction (i.e., 

Auction 101 or Auction 102), winning 

bidders must electronically submit a 

properly completed post-auction 

application (FCC Form 601) for the 

license(s) they won through the auction. 

272. A winning bidder claiming 

eligibility for a small business bidding 

credit or a rural service provider 

bidding credit must demonstrate its 

eligibility in its FCC Form 601 postauction application for the bidding 

credit sought. Further instructions on 

these and other filing requirements will 

be provided to winning bidders in the 

auction closing public notices for 

Auctions 101 and 102, respectively. 

273. Winning bidders organized as 

bidding consortia must comply with the 

FCC Form 601 post-auction application 

procedures set forth in § 1.2107(g) of the 

Commission’s rules. Specifically, 

license(s) won by a consortium must be 

applied for as follows: (a) An individual 

member of the consortium or a new 

legal entity comprising two or more 

individual consortium members must 

file for licenses covered by the winning 

bids; (b) each member or group of 

members of a winning consortium 

seeking separate licenses will be 

required to file a separate FCC Form 601 

for its/their respective license(s) in their 

legal business name; (c) in the case of 

a license to be partitioned or 

disaggregated, the member or group 

filing the applicable FCC Form 601 shall 

include the parties’ partitioning or 

disaggregation agreement with the FCC 

Form 601; and (d) if a DE credit is 

sought (either small business or rural 

service provider), the applicant must 

meet the applicable eligibility 

requirements in the Commission’s rules 

for the credit. 

D. Ownership Disclosure Information 

Report (FCC Form 602) 

274. Within 10 business days after 

release of the auction closing public 

notices for Auctions 101 and 102, 

respectively, each winning bidder must 

also comply with the ownership 

reporting requirements in §§ 1.913, 

1.919, and 1.2112 of the Commission’s 

rules by submitting an ownership 

disclosure information report for 

wireless telecommunications services 

(FCC Form 602) with its FCC Form 601 

post-auction application. 

275. If a winning bidder already has 

a complete and accurate FCC Form 602 

on file in the FCC’s Universal Licensing 

System (ULS), it is not necessary to file 

a new report, but the winning bidder 

must certify in its FCC Form 601 

application that the information on file 

with the Commission is complete and 

accurate. If the winning bidder does not 

have an FCC Form 602 on file, or if it 

is not complete and accurate, it must 

submit one. 

276. When a winning bidder submits 

an FCC Form 175, ULS automatically 

creates an ownership record. This 

record is not an FCC Form 602, but may 

be used to pre-fill the FCC Form 602 

with the ownership information 

submitted on the winning bidder’s FCC 

Form 175 application. A winning bidder 

must review the pre-filled information 

and confirm that it is complete and 

accurate as of the filing date of the FCC 

Form 601 post-auction application 

before certifying and submitting the FCC 

Form 602. Further instructions will be 

provided to winning bidders in the 

auction closing public notices for 

Auctions 101 and 102, respectively. 

E. Tribal Lands Bidding Credit 

277. A winning bidder that intends to 

use its license(s) to deploy facilities and 

provide services to federally recognized 

tribal lands that are unserved by any 

telecommunications carrier or that have 

a wireline penetration rate equal to or 

below 85 percent is eligible to receive a 

tribal lands bidding credit as set forth in 

§§ 1.2107 and 1.2110(f) of the 

Commission’s rules. A tribal lands 

bidding credit is in addition to, and 

separate from, any other bidding credit 

for which a winning bidder may qualify. 

278. Unlike other bidding credits that 

are requested prior to the auction, a 

winning bidder applies for the tribal 

lands bidding credit after the auction 

when it files its FCC Form 601 postauction application. When initially 

filing the post-auction application, the 

winning bidder will be required to 

advise the Commission whether it 

intends to seek a tribal lands bidding 

credit, for each license won in the 

auction, by checking the designated 

box(es). After stating its intent to seek a 

tribal lands bidding credit, the winning 

bidder will have 180 days from the close 

of the post-auction application filing 

window to amend its application to 

select the specific tribal lands to be 

served and provide the required tribal 

government certifications. Licensees 

receiving a tribal lands bidding credit 

are subject to performance criteria as set 

forth in § 1.2110(f)(3)(vii). For 

additional information on the tribal 

lands bidding credit, including how the 

amount of the credit is calculated, 

applicants should review the 

Commission’s rulemaking proceeding 

regarding tribal lands bidding credits 

and related public notices. 

F. Default and Disqualification 

279. Any winning bidder that defaults 

or is disqualified after the close of an 

auction (i.e., fails to remit the required 

down payment by the specified 

deadline, fails to submit a timely longform application, fails to make a full 

and timely final payment, or is 

otherwise disqualified) is liable for 

default payments as described in 

§ 1.2104(g)(2). This payment consists of 

a deficiency payment, equal to the 

difference between the amount of the 

bidder’s winning bid and the amount of 

the winning bid the next time a license 

covering the same spectrum is won in 

an auction, plus an additional payment 

equal to a percentage of the defaulter’s 

bid or of the subsequent winning bid, 

whichever is less. 

280. The percentage of the applicable 

bid to be assessed as an additional 

payment for defaults in a particular 

auction is established in advance of the 

auction. The Commission set the 

additional default payment for Auctions 

101 and 102 at 15 percent of the 

applicable bid. 

281. In case they are needed for postauction administrative purposes, the 

bidding system will calculate individual 

per-license prices that are separate from 

final auction payments, which are 

calculated on an aggregate basis. The 

bidding system will apportion to 

individual licenses any assignment 

phase payments and any capped 

bidding credit discounts, since in both 

cases, a single amount may apply to 

multiple licenses. 

282. Finally, in the event of a default, 

the Commission has the discretion to reauction the license or offer it to the next 

highest bidder (in descending order) at 

its final bid amount. In addition, if a 

default or disqualification involves 

gross misconduct, misrepresentation, or 

bad faith by an applicant, the 


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Commission may declare the applicant 

and its principals ineligible to bid in 

future auctions and may take any other 

action that it deems necessary, 

including institution of proceedings to 

revoke any existing authorizations held 

by the applicant. 

G. Refund of Remaining Upfront 

Payment Balance 

283. All refunds of upfront payment 

balances will be returned to the payer of 

record as identified on the FCC Form 

159 unless the payer submits written 

authorization instructing otherwise. 

Since the upfront payments for each 

auction will be deposited and 

maintained in separate accounts, the 

Commission will not apply a bidder’s 

refund of its upfront payment balance 

from Auction 101 to its upfront payment 

balance for Auction 102. Bidders are 

encouraged to use the Refund 

Information icon found on the Auction 

Application Manager page or the 

Refund Form link available on the 

Auction Application Submit 

Confirmation page in the FCC Auction 

Application System to access the form. 

After the required information is 

completed on the blank form, the form 

should be printed, signed, and 

submitted to the Commission by mail, 

fax, or email as instructed in the 

Auctions 101 and 102 Procedures Public 

Notice. 

284. If an applicant elected not to 

access the Refund Form through the 

Auction Application Manager page, the 

information requested in paragraph 299 

of the Auctions 101 and 102 Procedures 

Public Notice must be supplied in 

writing and submitted by fax to the 

Revenue & Receivables Operations 

Group/Auctions at (202) 418–2843, by 

email to RROGWIREFAXES@fcc.gov, or 

by mail to the Federal Communications 

Commission, Financial Operations, 

Revenue & Receivables Operations 

Group/Auctions, Gail Glasser, 445 12th 

Street SW, Room 1–C864, Washington, 

DC 20554. Refund processing generally 

takes up to two weeks to complete. 

Bidders with questions about refunds 

should contact Gail Glasser at (202) 

418–0578 or Theresa Meeks at (202) 

418–2945. 

VI. Supplemental Final Regulatory 

Flexibility Analysis 

285. As required by the Regulatory 

Flexibility Act of 1980, as amended 

(RFA), Initial Regulatory Flexibility 

Analyses (Spectrum Frontiers IRFAs) 

were incorporated in the Notice of 

Proposed Rulemakings in the 2016 

Spectrum Frontiers Order, 2017 

Spectrum Frontiers Order, and 2018 

Spectrum Frontiers Order (collectively, 

Spectrum Frontiers Orders) and other 

Commission orders pursuant to which 

Auctions 101 and 102 will be 

conducted. A Supplemental Initial 

Regulatory Flexibility Analysis 

(Supplemental IRFA) was incorporated 

in the Auctions 101 and 102 Comment 

Public Notice. The Commission sought 

written public comment on the 

proposals in NPRMs and the Auctions 

101 and 102 Comment Public Notice, 

including comments on the Spectrum 

Frontiers IRFAs and the Supplemental 

IRFA. No comments were filed 

addressing the Spectrum Frontiers 

IRFAs or the Supplemental IRFA. Final 

Regulatory Flexibility Analyses (FRFAs) 

were also incorporated in the Spectrum 

Frontiers Orders pursuant to which 

Auctions 101 and 102 will be 

conducted. The Supplemental Final 

Regulatory Flexibility Analysis 

(Supplemental FRFA) supplements the 

Spectrum Frontiers FRFAs to reflect the 

actions taken in the Auctions 101 and 

102 Procedures Public Notice and 

conforms to the RFA. 

286. Need for, and Objectives of, the 

Public Notice. The Auctions 101 and 

102 Procedures Public Notice 

implements competitive bidding rules 

adopted by the Commission in multiple 

notice-and-comment rulemaking 

proceedings as well as establishes 

additional procedures to be used by the 

Bureau, on delegated authority, for 

competitive bidding in Auctions 101 

and 102 for 5,984 UMFUS licenses. The 

rules and procedures adopted for 

Auctions 101 and 102 seek to balance 

three goals: (1) Promoting competition 

in the auction; (2) avoiding undue 

burdens on the applicants; and (3) 

assigning mmW band licenses as 

expeditiously as possible. More 

specifically, the Auctions 101 and 102 

Procedures Public Notice provides an 

overview of the procedures, the auction 

dates and deadlines, requirements for 

participants, terms and conditions 

governing Auctions 101 and 102 and the 

post-auction application and payment 

processes, as well as setting the 

minimum opening bid amounts for each 

of the licenses offered in Auctions 101 

and 102. 

287. To promote the efficient and fair 

administration of the competitive 

bidding process for all Auction 101 and 

Auction 102 participants, the 

Commission in the Auctions 101 and 

102 Procedures Public Notice adopted 

the following procedures: 

• Use of separate application and 

bidding processes for Auctions 101 and 

102, including concurrent application 

filing windows; 

• application of the current rules 

prohibiting certain communications 

among and between applicants in either 

auction; 

• identification of AT&T, Sprint, TMobile and Verizon Wireless as 

‘‘nationwide providers’’ for the purpose 

of implementing the Commission’s 

competitive bidding rules in Auctions 

101 and 102; 

• establishment of bidding credit caps 

for eligible small businesses and rural 

service providers in Auctions 101 and 

102; 

• use of a simultaneous multipleround auction format for Auction 101, 

consisting of sequential bidding rounds 

with a simultaneous stopping rule (with 

discretion by the Bureau to exercise 

alternative stopping rules under certain 

circumstances); 

• use of a clock auction format for 

Auction 102 under which each qualified 

bidder will indicate in successive clock 

bidding rounds its demands for 

categories of generic blocks in specific 

geographic areas; 

• a specific minimum opening bid 

amount for each license available in 

Auction 101 and for generic blocks in 

each PEA available in Auction 102; 

• a specific upfront payment amount 

for each license available in Auction 

101 and for generic blocks in each PEA 

available in Auction 102; 

• establishment of a bidder’s initial 

bidding eligibility in bidding units 

based on that bidder’s upfront payment 

through assignment of a specific number 

of bidding units for each license 

(Auction 101) or generic block (Auction 

102); 

• use of an activity rule that would 

require bidders to bid actively during 

the auction rather than waiting until late 

in the auction before participating; 

• for Auction 101, a two-stage auction 

in which a bidder is required to be 

active on 80 percent of its bidding 

eligibility in each round of the first stage 

and on 95 percent of its bidding 

eligibility in each round of the second 

stage; 

• for Auction 102, a requirement that 

bidders be active on between 92 and 97 

percent of their bidding eligibility in all 

regular clock rounds; 

• for Auction 101, provision of three 

activity rule waivers for each bidder to 

allow it to preserve eligibility during the 

course of the auction; 

• for Auction 101, use of minimum 

acceptable bid amounts and additional 

bid increments, along with a 

methodology for calculating such 

amounts, with the Bureau retaining 

discretion to change its methodology if 

circumstances dictate; 

• for Auction 102, establishment of 

acceptable bid amounts, including clock 

price increments and intra-round bids, 


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along with a methodology for 

calculating such amounts; 

• for Auction 102, use of two bid 

types, along with a methodology for 

processing bids and requests to reduce 

demand; 

• for Auction 101, a procedure for 

breaking ties if identical high bid 

amounts are submitted on a license in 

a given round; 

• bid removal procedures; 

• for Auction 101, provisions for bid 

withdrawals, including the 

establishment of an interim bid 

withdrawal percentage of 15 percent of 

the withdrawn bid; 

• for Auction 102, prohibition of 

withdrawals; 

• for Auction 102, establishment of 

an assignment phase that will determine 

which frequency-specific licenses will 

be won by the winning bidders of 

generic blocks during the clock phase; 

and 

• establishment of an additional 

default payment of 15 percent under 

§ 1.2104(g)(2) of the rules in the event 

that a winning bidder defaults or is 

disqualified after either auction. 

288. Summary of Significant Issues 

Raised by Public Comments in Response 

to the IRFA. There were no comments 

filed that addressed the procedures and 

policies proposed in the Spectrum 

Frontiers IRFAs or the Supplemental 

IFRA. 

289. Response to Comments by the 

Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small 

Business Administration. Pursuant to 

the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, 

which amended the RFA, the 

Commission is required to respond to 

any comment filed by the Chief Counsel 

for Advocacy of the Small Business 

Administration (SBA) and to provide a 

detailed statement of any change made 

to the proposed procedures as a result 

of those comments. 

290. The Chief Counsel did not file 

any comments in response to the 

proposed procedures in the Auctions 

101 and 102 Comment Public Notice. 

291. Description and Estimate of the 

Number of Small Entities to Which the 

Proposed Procedures Will Apply. The 

RFA directs agencies to provide a 

description of, and where feasible, an 

estimate of the number of small entities 

that may be affected by the proposed 

rules and policies, if adopted herein. 

The RFA generally defines the term 

‘‘small entity’’ as having the same 

meaning as the terms ‘‘small business,’’ 

‘‘small organization,’’ and ‘‘small 

governmental jurisdiction.’’ In addition, 

the term ‘‘small business’’ has the same 

meaning as the term ‘‘small business 

concern’’ under the Small Business Act. 

A ‘‘small business concern’’ is one 

which: (1) Is independently owned and 

operated; (2) is not dominant in its field 

of operation; and (3) satisfies any 

additional criteria established by the 

SBA. 

292. FRFAs were incorporated into 

the Spectrum Frontiers Orders. In those 

analyses, the Commission described in 

detail the small entities that might be 

significantly affected. In the Auctions 

101 and 102 Procedures Public Notice, 

the Commission hereby incorporates by 

reference the descriptions and estimates 

of the number of small entities from the 

previous FRFAs in the Spectrum 

Frontiers Orders. 

293. Description of Projected 

Reporting, Recordkeeping, and Other 

Compliance Requirements for Small 

Entities. The Commission has designed 

the auction application process itself to 

minimize reporting and compliance 

requirements for applicants, including 

small business applicants. In the first 

part of the Commission’s two-phased 

auction application process, parties 

desiring to participate in an auction file 

streamlined, short-form applications in 

which they certify under penalty of 

perjury as to their qualifications. 

Eligibility to participate in bidding is 

based on an applicant’s short-form 

application and certifications, as well as 

its upfront payment. The Auctions 101 

and 102 Procedures Public Notice 

provides instructions for each Auction 

101 and 102 applicant to maintain the 

accuracy of its respective short-form 

application electronically using the FCC 

Auction Application System and/or by 

direct communication with the 

Auctions and Spectrum Access 

Division. Small entities and other 

Auction 101 and Auction 102 applicants 

will be qualified to bid in the respective 

auction(s) only if they comply with the 

following: (1) Submission of a separate 

short-form application for each auction 

in which they wish to participate that is 

timely and is found to be substantially 

complete, and (2) timely submission of 

a sufficient upfront payment for at least 

one of the licenses offered in Auctions 

101 or 102, respectively. The timely 

submitted payment must be 

accompanied by a complete and 

accurate FCC Remittance Advice Form 

(FCC Form 159), and made by 6:00 p.m. 

ET on October 23, 2018, for Auction 101 

and on a date to be announced for 

Auction 102, following the procedures 

and instructions set forth in the FCC 

Form 159 Instructions. An applicant 

whose application is found to contain 

deficiencies will have a limited 

opportunity to bring its application into 

compliance with the Commission’s 

competitive bidding rules during a 

resubmission window. All qualified 

bidders will automatically be registered 

for the auction and mailed the necessary 

registration materials. 

294. In the second phase of the 

process, there are additional compliance 

requirements for winning bidders. As 

with other winning bidders, any small 

entity that is a winning bidder will be 

required to comply with the following: 

(1) Within 10 business days of release of 

the auction closing public notice for 

each auction (i.e., Auction 101 or 

Auction 102), submit as a down 

payment sufficient funds (in addition to 

its upfront payment) to bring its total 

amount of money on deposit with the 

Commission for the applicable auction 

to 20 percent of the net amount of its 

winning bids; (2) within 10 business 

days after the down payment deadline 

submit the balance of the net amount for 

each of its winning bids; and (3) within 

30 days following the close of bidding 

and notification to the winning bidders, 

unless a longer period is specified by 

public notice, electronically submit a 

properly completed long-form 

application (FCC Form 601) and 

required exhibits for each license won 

through Auctions 101 and 102, 

respectively. A winning bidder claiming 

eligibility for a small business bidding 

credit or a rural service provider 

bidding credit must demonstrate its 

eligibility in its FCC Form 601 postauction application for the bidding 

credit sought. 

295. Steps Taken to Minimize the 

Significant Economic Impact on Small 

Entities, and Significant Alternatives 

Considered. The RFA requires an 

agency to describe any significant, 

specifically small business, alternatives 

that it has considered in reaching its 

approach, which may include the 

following four alternatives (among 

others): (1) The establishment of 

differing compliance or reporting 

requirements or timetables that take into 

account the resources available to small 

entities; (2) the clarification, 

consolidation, or simplification of 

compliance and reporting requirements 

under the rule for such small entities; 

(3) the use of performance rather than 

design standards; and (4) an exemption 

from coverage of the rule, or any part 

thereof, for such small entities. 

296. The Commission believes that 

the adopted procedures to facilitate 

participation in Auctions 101 and 102 

will result in both operational and 

administrative cost savings for small 

entities and other auction participants. 

For example, in order to reduce the 

financial burden on small entities and 

other potential auction participants, as 

well as to reduce potential exposure 

risk, the Commission will accept 


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upfront payments for Auction 102 after 

the close of Auction 101. Additionally, 

for Auctions 101 and 102, two levels of 

bidding credits will be available to 

eligible small businesses and consortia 

thereof up to a maximum amount of $25 

million per auction ($50 million 

combined for both auctions). This 

application of bidding credit caps 

separately to each auction should 

provide additional opportunities for 

participation by small businesses. Also, 

public data on Auction 101 results will 

be made available prior to the start of 

bidding in Auction 102. This data 

should provide potential Auction 102 

bidders with sufficient information to 

analyze and understand price levels and 

demand for UMFUS licenses in Auction 

101. 

297. In light of the numerous 

resources that will be available from the 

Commission at no cost, the processes 

and procedures adopted for Auctions 

101 and 102 should result in minimal 

economic impact on small entities. For 

example, prior to each auction, the 

Commission will hold a mock auction to 

allow eligible bidders the opportunity to 

familiarize themselves with both the 

processes and systems that will be used 

in Auctions 101 and 102. During the 

auctions, participants will be able to 

access and participate in the auctions 

via the internet using a web-based 

system, or telephonically, providing two 

cost effective methods of participation 

avoiding the cost of travel for in-person 

participation. Further, small entities as 

well as other auction participants will 

be able to avail themselves of hotlines 

for assistance with auction processes 

and procedures as well as technical 

support hotlines to assist with issues 

such as access to or navigation within 

the electronic FCC Form 175 and use of 

the FCC’s auction bidding system. In 

addition, all auction participants will 

have access to various other sources of 

information and databases through the 

Commission that will aid in both their 

understanding and participation in the 

process. These steps coupled with the 

advanced communication of the bidding 

procedures ‘‘rules of the road’’ in 

Auctions 101 and 102 should ensure 

that the auctions will be administered 

efficiently and fairly, with certainty for 

small entities as well as other auction 

participants. 

298. Report to Congress. The 

Commission will send a copy of the 

Auctions 101 and 102 Procedures Public 

Notice, including this Supplemental 

FRFA, in a report to Congress pursuant 

to the Congressional Review Act. In 

addition, the Commission will send a 

copy of the Auctions 101 and 102 

Procedures Public Notice, including this 

Supplemental FRFA, to the Chief 

Counsel for Advocacy of the SBA. A 

copy of the Auctions 101 and 102 

Procedures Public Notice (or summaries 

thereof) will also be published in the 

Federal Register. 

Federal Communications Commission. 

Marlene Dortch, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2018–18692 Filed 8–29–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6712–01–P 


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