Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 71 / Wednesday, April 13, 2022 / Rules and Regulations 21755 

Name of non-regulatory SIP 

revision Applicable geographic area State submittal date EPA approval date Additional explanation 

*******

2017 Base Year Emissions Inventories for the Washington, DC-MDVA Nonattainment Area for the 

2015 Ozone National Ambient Air 

Quality Standard.

The District of Columbia portion of 

the Washington, DC-MD-VA nonattainment area for the 2015 

ozone NAAQS (i.e., the District of 

Columbia).

11/4/2020 4/13/2022, [INSERT 

Federal Register CITATION].

Docket 2022–03863. 

Subpart V—Maryland 

■ 3. In § 52.1070, the table in paragraph 

(e) is amended by adding an entry for 

‘‘2017 Base Year Emissions Inventories 

for the Washington, DC-MD-VA 

Nonattainment Area for the 2015 Ozone 

National Ambient Air Quality 

Standard’’ at the end of the table to read 

as follows: 

§ 52.1070 Identification of plan. 

* * * * * 

(e) * * * 

Name of non-regulatory SIP 

revision Applicable geographic area State submittal date EPA approval date Additional explanation 

*******

2017 Base Year Emissions Inventories for the Washington, DCMD-VA Nonattainment Area for 

the 2015 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard.

Maryland portion of the Washington, DC-MD-VA nonattainment area for the 2015 ozone 

NAAQS.

10/7/2020 4/13/2022, [INSERT 

Federal Register 

CITATION].

The Maryland portion consists 

of Calvert, Charles, Frederick, 

Montgomery, and Prince 

George’s counties. 

Subpart VV—Virginia 

■ 4. In § 52.2420, the table in paragraph 

(e)(1) is amended by adding an entry for 

‘‘2017 Base Year Emissions Inventories 

for the Washington, DC-MD-VA 

Nonattainment Area for the 2015 Ozone 

National Ambient Air Quality 

Standard’’ at the end of the table to read 

as follows: 

§ 52.2420 Identification of plan. 

* * * * * 

(e) * * * 

(1) * * * 

Name of non-regulatory SIP 

revision Applicable geographic area State submittal date EPA approval date Additional explanation 

*******

2017 Base Year Emissions Inventories for the Washington, DCMD-VA Nonattainment Area for 

the 2015 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard.

The Virginia portion of the 

Washington, DC-MD-VA nonattainment area for the 2015 

ozone NAAQS (i.e., the District of Columbia).

12/11/2020 4/13/2022, [insert 

Federal Register 

citation].

The Virginia portion consists of 

Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, 

and Prince William counties 

and Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls 

Church, Manassas, and Manassas Park cities. 

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. 2022–07816 Filed 4–12–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS 

COMMISSION 

47 CFR Parts 1 and 27 

[AU Docket No. 20–429; FCC 22–24; FR ID 

81075] 

Auction of Flexible-Use Licenses in the 

2.5 GHz Band for Next-Generation 

Wireless Services; Notice and Filing 

Requirements, Minimum Opening Bids, 

Upfront Payments, and Other 

Procedures for Auction 108; Bidding 

Scheduled To Begin July 29, 2022 

AGENCY: Federal Communications 

Commission. 

ACTION: Final action; requirements and 

procedures. 

SUMMARY: This document summarizes 

the procedures, deadlines, and upfront 

payment and minimum opening bid 

amounts for the upcoming auction of 

approximately 8,000 new flexible-use 

geographic overlay licenses in the 2.5 

GHz band (Auction 108). The Auction 

108 Procedures Public Notice 

summarized here provides details 

regarding the procedures, terms, 

conditions, dates, and deadlines 

governing participation in Auction 108 

bidding, as well as overview of the postauction application and payment 

process. The Auction 108 Procedures 

Public Notice released on March 21, 

2022, was corrected by an erratum 

released on April 1, 2022. The changes 

made by the erratum are included in 

this document. 

DATES: Applications to participate in 

Auction 108 must be submitted before 6 

p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on May 10, 

2022. Upfront payments for Auction 108 

must be received by 6 p.m. ET on June 

23, 2022. Bidding in Auction 108 is 

scheduled to start on July 29, 2022. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

General Auction 108 Information: 

FCC Auctions Hotline at 888–225–5322, 

option two; or 717–338–2868. 

Auction 108 Legal Information: 

Lyndsey Grunewald, Daniel Habif or 

Scott Mackoul at (202) 418–0660. 

2.5 GHz Band Licensing Information: 

Madelaine Maior or Nadja SodosWallace at (202) 418–2487. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a 

summary of the Commission’s 


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document, Auction 108 Procedures 

Public Notice, in AU Docket No. 20– 

429, FCC 22–24, released on March 21, 

2022. The complete text of this 

document, including attachments and 

any related document, is available on 

the Commission’s website at http://

www.fcc.gov/auction/108 or by using 

the search function for on the 

Commission’s Electronic Comment 

Filing System (ECFS) web page at 

www.fcc.gov/ecfs. 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 Auction 108 Procedures 

Public Notice, the Commission 

establishes the procedures to be used for 

Auction 108, the auction of 

approximately 8,000 new flexible-use 

geographic overlay licenses in the 2.5 

GHz band. Auction 108 will offer the 

single largest contiguous portion of 

available mid-band spectrum below 3 

GHz, and the licenses made available in 

this auction will help extend 5G service 

beyond the most populated areas. 

2. Bidding in Auction 108 is 

scheduled to commence on July 29, 

2022. Auction 108 will be conducted 

using an ascending clock auction with 

a supply of one in each category of 

frequency-specific channel blocks, 

referred to as the clock-1 auction format. 

The Auction 108 Procedures Public 

Notice provides details regarding the 

procedures, terms, conditions, dates, 

and deadlines governing participation 

in Auction 108 bidding, as well as an 

overview of the post-auction application 

and payment processes. 

B. Background and Relevant Authority 

3. In the 2.5 GHz Report and Order, 

84 FR 57343, July 11, 2019, the 

Commission made available 117.5 

megahertz of spectrum in the 2.5 GHz 

band for new licensed use. In that 

Order, the Commission established a 

Rural Tribal Priority Window to enable 

federally-recognized Tribal Nations an 

opportunity to obtain 2.5 GHz licenses 

to provide service using unassigned 

spectrum in the former Educational 

Broadband Service (EBS) band on rural 

Tribal lands before the remaining 

unassigned spectrum is made generally 

available through competitive bidding. 

Among other things, the Commission 

authorized both fixed and mobile 

operations in the 2.5 GHz band using 

geographic area licensing, replaced the 

regulatory regime of the EBS with new 

flexible-use licensing and operating 

rules, and decided to use its competitive 

bidding rules to assign remaining 

overlay licenses following the close of 

the Rural Tribal Priority Window. 

4. On January 13, 2021, in accordance 

with section 309(j)(3) of the 

Communications Act of 1934, as 

amended (Communications Act), the 

Commission released the Auction 108 

Comment Public Notice, 86 FR 12146, 

March 2, 2021, seeking comment on 

certain competitive bidding procedures 

and various other procedures to be used 

in Auction 108. Interested parties filed 

16 comments and 26 reply comments in 

response to the Auction 108 Comment 

Public Notice. On February 9, 2022, the 

Commission’s Office of Economics and 

Analytics (OEA) and Wireless 

Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) 

released the Auction 108 Further 

Comment Public Notice, 87 FR 8764, 

February 16, 2022, seeking further 

comment on multiple-round auction 

procedures for Auction 108. 

Specifically, OEA and WTB sought 

comment on whether a clock auction 

would address commenters’ concerns 

and suggestions regarding the 

simultaneous multiple-round (SMR) and 

single-round, sealed bid auction formats 

proposed in the Auction 108 Comment 

Public Notice. Interested parties filed 13 

comments in response to the Auction 

108 Further Comment Public Notice. On 

February 18, 2022, OEA and WTB 

released the Auction 108 Inventory 

Comment Public Notice, 87 FR 11379, 

March 1, 2022, that announced an 

updated auction inventory and sought 

comment whether any procedures need 

to be adjusted for all the licenses 

available in Auction 108 in light of 

additions to the initial license 

inventory. Interested parties filed eight 

comments in response to the Auction 

108 Inventory Comment Public Notice. 

In the Auction 108 Procedures Public 

Notice, the Commission resolves all 

open issues raised in the Auction 108 

Comment Public Notice, the Auction 

108 Further Comment Public Notice, 

and the Auction 108 Inventory 

Comment Public Notice and address the 

comments received. 

5. Other Commission rules and 

decisions provide the underlying 

authority for the procedures the 

Commission adopts for Auction 108. 

Among other things, prospective 

applicants should familiarize 

themselves with the Commission’s 

general competitive bidding rules, 

including amendments and 

clarifications thereto, as well as 

Commission decisions regarding 

competitive bidding procedures, 

application requirements, and 

obligations of Commission licensees. 

Prospective applicants also should 

familiarize themselves with the 

Commission’s rules regarding the 2.5 

GHz band, as well as the licensing and 

operating rules that are applicable to all 

Part 27 services. In addition, applicants 

must be thoroughly familiar with the 

procedures, terms, and conditions 

contained in the Auction 108 

Procedures Public Notice and any future 

public notices that may be released in 

this proceeding. 

6. 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 generally applicable 

information to applicants. Pursuant to 

the Commission’s rules, OEA and WTB 

also retain the authority to implement 

further procedures during the course of 

Auction 108. It is the responsibility of 

all applicants to remain current with all 

Commission rules and with all public 

notices pertaining to Auction 108. 

C. Description of Licenses To Be Offered 

in Auction 108 

7. Consistent with the Commission’s 

determination, any remaining 

unassigned EBS spectrum will be made 

available in Auction 108. Auction 108 

will offer geographic overlay licenses for 

unassigned spectrum in the 2.5 GHz 

(2496–2690 MHz) band. The 

Commission will offer up to three 

blocks of spectrum—49.5 megahertz, 

50.5 megahertz, and 17.5 megahertz 

blocks, respectively—licensed on a 

county basis. Specifically, the first 

channel block will include channels 

A1–A3, B1–B3, C1–C3 (49.5 megahertz); 

the second channel block will include 

channels D1–D3, the J channels, and 

channels A4, B4, C4, D4, and G4 (50.5 

megahertz); and the third channel block 

will include channels G1–G3 and the 

relevant K channels (16.5 megahertz of 

contiguous spectrum and 1 megahertz of 

the K channels associated with the G 

channel group, for a total of 17.5 

megahertz). New overlay licenses in the 

EBS portion of the 2.5 GHz band will be 

issued for 10-year, renewable license 

terms. A licensee in this band may 

provide any services permitted under 

terrestrial fixed or mobile allocations, as 

set forth in the non-Federal Government 

column of the Table of Frequency 

Allocations in 47 CFR 2.106. 

8. Concurrent with the release of the 

Auction 108 Comment Public Notice, 

OEA and WTB made available a file 

listing all county and channel block 


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combinations potentially available for 

Auction 108. Several commenters, 

including some incumbent licensees, 

noted potential discrepancies between 

the Commission’s initial list of 

potentially available licenses and 

commenters’ own analyses of available 

white space in the band. These 

commenters and others urged the 

Commission to audit the preliminary 

list of licenses available in Auction 108 

to ensure that the final list of available 

licenses is complete and accurate. In 

light of these comments, WTB staff 

performed additional geographic 

information systems (GIS) analysis of 

existing 2.5 GHz licenses and prepared 

a new list of potentially available 

licenses based on license service area 

data extracted from the Universal 

Licensing System (ULS) on February 2, 

2022. The revised list also took into 

account licenses issued pursuant to 

Rural Tribal Priority Window 

applications and information provided 

by commenters. OEA and WTB released 

that updated list of potentially available 

licenses, which added 189 licenses to 

the list and removed 370, on February 

18, 2022, and requested comment on 

whether any of the procedures proposed 

in the Auction 108 Comment Public 

Notice or the Auction 108 Further 

Comment Public Notice needed to be 

adjusted in light of licenses added to the 

initial license inventory. 

9. Many of the issues raised by 

commenters in response to the Auction 

108 Comment Public Notice were 

addressed in the revised inventory 

released with the Auction 108 Inventory 

Comment Public Notice. The revised list 

of licenses also excluded county/ 

channel block combinations where the 

only areas with unassigned spectrum 

were over large bodies of water such as 

the Atlantic Ocean or the Great Lakes. 

Since a licensee may only place base 

stations within their geographic service 

area (GSA) and limit the power flux 

density of their signal within their GSA, 

there would be no prospect for a 

licensee to deploy service to land-based 

populations in that scenario. 

10. The revised license inventory 

released in conjunction with the 

Auction 108 Procedures Public Notice 

incorporates WTB’s comprehensive 

review of the inventory in response to 

additional GIS analyses and feedback 

from interested parties including 

incumbent licensees and lessees. The 

Commission declines a request by 

certain parties to implement a more 

formal process by which interested 

parties may submit data to challenge the 

revised license inventory. Interested 

parties had multiple opportunities to 

provide input on the development of the 

license inventory, as WTB has 

continued to refine and revise the 

inventory in response to feedback from 

interested parties. Most recently, several 

parties submitted additional 

information in response to the Auction 

108 Inventory Comment Public Notice, 

and WTB has taken that information 

into account in developing the most 

recent inventory listing reflected in the 

updated Attachment A that is being 

released in conjunction with the 

Auction 108 Procedures Public Notice. 

Second, a new, formal process at this 

time would significantly delay the 

auction of critical mid-band spectrum. 

11. On March 15, 2022, WTB granted 

seven additional Rural Tribal Priority 

Window applications in Alaska. As a 

result of those grants, all 2.5 GHz 

spectrum in Bristol Bay and Lake and 

Peninsula Boroughs in Alaska was 

assigned on all three channel blocks. 

Accordingly, the three licenses for those 

boroughs have been removed from the 

list of available licenses. 

12. In light of comments, the 

Commission has also excluded from its 

analysis of active licensees’ geographic 

service areas the potential effect of 

licenses that expired before January 10, 

2005, and were not reinstated prior to 

March 10, 2008. As a result, the 

Commission removed 80 licenses in 57 

counties from the auction inventory. 

13. Concurrent with the release of the 

Auction 108 Procedures Public Notice, 

the Commission makes available an 

updated file listing all county and 

channel block combinations potentially 

available for Auction 108. This file is 

listed as an Attachment A file on the 

Auction 108 website at www.fcc.gov/ 

auction/108. This inventory of overlay 

licenses available in Auction 108 

released concurrently with the Auction 

108 Procedures Public Notice removes 

87 licenses from the revised inventory 

released on February 18, 2022, based on 

OEA and WTB review of comments and 

the results of the Rural Tribal Priority 

Window. If additional licenses are 

removed from inventory because of 

future Rural Tribal Priority Window 

grants, those actions will be announced 

by subsequent public notice(s). 

14. The Commission has also made 

available resources to assist applicants 

in conducting due diligence research 

regarding potential encumbrances in the 

band. These resources include a new 

mapping tool to help identify and view 

existing licenses and Rural Tribal 

Priority Window applications. The new 

mapping tool is being made available to 

all potential bidders in Auction 108, 

and the public generally, concurrently 

with the release of the Auction 108 

Procedures Public Notice. It can be 

found under the Education tab on the 

Auction 108 website at www.fcc.gov/ 

auction/108. Potential applicants are 

reminded, however, that this mapping 

tool is merely a graphical aid for 

potential applicants and does not 

represent official licensing information; 

all information should be confirmed in 

the Universal Licensing System (ULS) 

for any specific license or area. 

15. The Commission will not adopt an 

expansion of existing requirements on 

incumbent licensees and lessors in this 

band that would mandate disclosure of 

additional details of spectrum lease 

agreements to potential bidders. The 

Commission finds that adoption of 

proponents’ expanded disclosure 

requirement is beyond the bounds of the 

existing spectrum leasing rules and the 

Commission’s prior determinations 

supporting those disclosure 

requirements. The Commission’s 

spectrum leasing rules already provide 

that each licensee that enters into a 

leasing agreement must disclose to the 

Commission a significant amount of 

information pertaining to the agreement, 

including the identity of the lessee, the 

term, and the spectrum and geographic 

area covered, and that such information 

is publicly available through ULS. 

Given the spectrum lease information 

already available, the Commission finds 

that proponents of disclosure have not 

supported their assertion that additional 

information is necessary in making 

decisions about whether or how to 

participate in this auction. Finally, even 

if additional information may be helpful 

or material to one or more bidders—and 

the Commission makes no such 

finding—the Commission is not 

convinced that the benefits to potential 

bidders of obtaining such information 

would outweigh the potential 

competitive harm to the leaseholders 

from disclosure. 

16. Each potential bidder is solely 

responsible for investigating and 

evaluating all technical and marketplace 

factors that may have a bearing on the 

potential uses of a license that it may 

seek in Auction 108, including the 

availability of unassigned white space 

in any particular license area. In 

addition to the typical due diligence 

considerations encouraged of bidders in 

all auctions, the Commission calls 

particular attention in Auction 108 to 

potential encumbrances due to existing 

licenses and pending applications. In 

particular there will be a substantial 

number of licenses in the inventory 

where the amount of unassigned area or 

unassigned spectrum is very small. For 

example, there could be licenses in 

Channel Block 2 where as little as .333 

megahertz of spectrum is unassigned. 


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There are also a substantial number of 

licenses where the area with unassigned 

spectrum is smaller than one square 

mile. Each applicant should carefully 

consider these issues and the technical 

and economic implications for 

commercial use of the 2.5 GHz band. 

D. Auctions Specifics 

1. Auction Title and Start Date 

17. The auction of licenses in the 2.5 

GHz band will be referred to as Auction 

108. Bidding in Auction 108 will begin 

on Friday, July 29, 2022. Pre-bidding 

dates and deadlines are listed below. 

The initial schedule for bidding rounds 

in Auction 108 will be announced by 

public notice at least one week before 

bidding begins. 

18. Unless otherwise announced, 

bidding on all licenses will be 

conducted on each business day until 

bidding has stopped on all licenses. 

2. Auction Dates and Deadlines 

19. The following dates and deadlines 

apply to Auction 108: 

Auction Application Tutorial Available (via internet) ......................... No later than April 5, 2022. 

Short-Form Application (FCC Form 175) Filing Window Opens ........ April 27, 2022, 12 p.m. Eastern Time (ET). 

Short-Form Application (FCC Form 175) Filing Window Deadline .... May 10, 2022, 6 p.m. ET. 

Upfront Payments (via wire transfer) ..................................................... June 23, 2022, 6 p.m. ET. 

Bidding Tutorial Available (via internet) .............................................. No later than July 13, 2022. 

Mock Auction .......................................................................................... July 26–27, 2022. 

Bidding Begins in Auction 108 .............................................................. July 29, 2022. 

3. Requirements for Participation 

20. Those wishing to participate in 

Auction 108 must: 

• Submit a short-form application 

(FCC Form 175) electronically prior to 6 

p.m. ET on May 10, 2022, following the 

electronic filing procedures and other 

instructions set forth in the Auction 108 

Procedures Public Notice and in the 

FCC Form 175 Instructions. 

• Submit a sufficient upfront 

payment and an FCC Remittance Advice 

Form (FCC Form 159) by 6 p.m. ET on 

June 23, 2022, following the procedures 

and instructions set forth in the Auction 

108 Procedures Public Notice. 

• Comply with all provisions 

outlined in the Auction 108 Procedures 

Public Notice and applicable 

Commission rules. 

II. Applying To Participate in Auction 

108 

A. Certification of Notice of Auction 108 

Requirements and Procedures 

21. For the reasons set forth in the 

Auction 108 Comment Public Notice, 

the Commission adopts the proposal to 

require any applicant seeking to 

participate in Auction 108 to certify in 

its short-form application, under 

penalty of perjury, that it has read the 

Auction 108 Procedures Public Notice 

adopting procedures for Auction 108 

and that it has familiarized itself with 

these procedures and with the 

requirements for obtaining a license and 

operating facilities in the 2.5 GHz band. 

No commenter opposed the proposed 

certification, and one commenter, 

T-Mobile, supports it. 

22. This certification is designed to 

bolster applicants’ efforts to educate 

themselves about the procedures for 

auction participation and to ensure that, 

prior to submitting their short-form 

applications, applicants understand 

their obligation to stay abreast of 

relevant, forthcoming information. 

Familiarity with the Commission’s rules 

and procedures governing Auction 108 

may also help bidders avoid the 

consequences to them associated with 

defaults, which also cause harm to other 

applicants and the public by reducing 

the efficiency of the auction process and 

reducing the likelihood that the license 

will be assigned to the bidder that 

values it the most. This certification, 

along with the other certifications 

required pursuant to 47 CFR 1.2105(a), 

will promote submission of applications 

that meet the Commission’s 

requirements, thereby leading to a more 

efficient application process. 

23. A substantively similar 

requirement was recently instituted for 

Auction 110, a Commission auction of 

flexible-use licenses in the 3.45–3.55 

GHz band. That requirement furthered a 

long-standing policy under which the 

Commission expressly places a burden 

upon each applicant to be thoroughly 

familiar with the procedures, terms, and 

conditions contained in the relevant 

Procedures Public Notice and any future 

public notices that may be released in 

the auction proceeding. While the 

certification the Commission adds refers 

to information regarding auction 

procedures and licensing that is 

available at the time of certification, 

potential auction applicants are on 

notice that their educational efforts 

must continue even after their shortform applications are filed. Commission 

staff routinely makes available detailed 

educational materials, such as 

interactive, online tutorials and 

technical guides, to enhance interested 

parties’ comprehension of the prebidding and bidding processes and to 

help minimize the need for applicants 

to engage outside engineers, legal 

counsel, or other auction experts. 

24. For these reasons, the Commission 

will require each Auction 108 applicant 

to certify as follows in its short-form 

application: That the applicant has read 

the public notice adopting procedures 

for the auction and that it has 

familiarized itself both with the auction 

procedures and with the requirements 

for obtaining a license and operating 

facilities in the 2.5 GHz band. 

25. An applicant must provide this 

certification under penalty of perjury, 

consistent with 47 CFR 1.2105(a). This 

certification is in addition to the 

certifications already required under 47 

CFR 1.2105. Consistent with the other 

certifications required in the short-form 

application, an applicant’s failure to 

make this certification in its FCC Form 

175 by the May 10, 2022 filing deadline 

will render its application unacceptable 

for filing, and its application will be 

dismissed with prejudice. 

B. General Information Regarding ShortForm Applications 

26. An application to participate in 

Auction 108, 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/or financial 

qualifications to participate in a 

Commission auction for spectrum 

licenses or permits. 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 

108 must file a short-form application in 

which it certifies, under penalty of 

perjury, that it is qualified to 

participate. Eligibility to participate in 

Auction 108 is determined based on an 

applicant’s short-form application and 

certifications and on the applicant’s 

upfront payment. After bidding closes, 

in the second phase of the process, each 

winning bidder in Auction 108 must file 

a more comprehensive post-auction 

long-form application (FCC Form 601) 

for the licenses it wins in the auction, 


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and it must have a complete and 

accurate ownership disclosure 

information report (FCC Form 602) on 

file with the Commission. 

27. A party seeking to participate in 

Auction 108 must file an FCC Form 175 

electronically via the Auction 

Application System prior to 6 p.m. ET 

on May 10, 2022, following the 

procedures prescribed in the FCC Form 

175 Instructions. If an applicant claims 

eligibility for a bidding credit, then the 

information provided in its FCC Form 

175 will be used to determine whether 

the applicant appears to be eligible for 

the claimed bidding credit, with the 

final determination of bidding credit 

eligibility to occur based on a winning 

bidder’s post-auction long-form 

application. Below the Commission 

describes more fully the information 

disclosures and certifications required 

in the short-form application. Each 

Auction 108 applicant will be subject to 

the Commission’s rule prohibiting 

certain communications. An applicant 

is subject to the prohibition beginning at 

the deadline for filing short-form 

applications—6 p.m. ET on May 10, 

2022. 

28. An Auction 108 applicant bears 

full responsibility for submitting an 

accurate, complete, and timely shortform application. Pursuant to the 

Commission’s competitive bidding 

rules, an 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 

an applicant must confirm that it is 

legally, technically, financially, and 

otherwise qualified to hold a license. As 

noted above, each participant in 

Auction 108 must also certify that it has 

read the Auction 108 Procedures Public 

Notice and familiarized itself both with 

the auction procedures and with the 

requirements for obtaining a license and 

operating facilities in the 2.5 GHz band. 

If an Auction 108 applicant fails to 

make the required certifications in its 

FCC Form 175 by the filing deadline, 

then its application will be deemed 

unacceptable for filing and cannot be 

corrected after the filing deadline. 

29. 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. 

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. 

30. 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 

generally has held 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. In 

this regard, the Commission specifically 

has held that information submitted in 

support of receiving bidding credits in 

auction proceedings should be made 

available to the public. 

31. An applicant must designate 

between one and three individuals as 

authorized bidders in its FCC Form 175. 

The Commission’s rules prohibit an 

individual from serving as an 

authorized bidder for more than one 

auction applicant. 

32. In order to access the auction 

bidding system, each authorized bidder 

will be required to have a unique email 

address associated with an FCC 

Username Account that is linked to the 

applicant’s FCC Registration Number 

(FRN) in the Commission Registration 

System (CORES). This added security 

measure is newly implemented for 

bidding in Commission auctions. If an 

authorized bidder does not provide an 

FCC Username Account linked to the 

applicant’s FRN in the applicant’s FCC 

Form 175, that bidder will be unable to 

place or submit bids. For further details, 

applicants should refer to the FCC Form 

175 Instructions for Auction 108. 

33. No individual or entity may file 

more than one short-form application or 

have a controlling interest in more than 

one short-form application. If a party 

submits multiple short-form 

applications for an auction, then only 

one application may form the basis for 

that party to become qualified to bid in 

that auction. 

34. Similarly, and consistent with the 

Commission’s general prohibition on 

joint bidding agreements, a party 

generally is permitted to participate in 

a Commission auction only through a 

single bidding entity. Accordingly, the 

filing of applications in Auction 108 by 

multiple entities controlled by the same 

individual or set of individuals 

generally will not be permitted. As 

noted by the Commission in adopting 

the prohibition on applications by 

commonly controlled entities, this rule, 

in conjunction with the prohibition 

against joint bidding agreements, 

protects the competitiveness of the 

Commission’s auctions. 

35. After the initial short-form 

application filing deadline, Commission 

staff will review all timely submitted 

applications for Auction 108 to 

determine whether each application 

complies with the application 

requirements and whether the applicant 

has provided all required information 

concerning its qualifications for 

bidding. After this review is completed, 

a public notice will be released 

announcing the status of applications 

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 filed an 

application that is deemed complete 

after the deadline for correcting any 

identified deficiencies), and must make 

a timely and sufficient upfront payment. 

Qualified bidders will be identified by 

public notice at least 10 days prior to 

the mock auction. 

36. The Commission discusses below 

additional details regarding certain 

information required to be submitted in 

the FCC Form 175. An applicant should 

consult the Commission’s rules to 

ensure that, in addition to the materials 

described below, all required 

information is included in its short-form 

application. To the extent the 

information in the Auction 108 

Procedures Public Notice does not 

address an applicant’s specific operating 

structure, or if the applicant needs 

additional information or guidance 

concerning the described disclosure 

requirements, the applicant should 

review the educational materials for 

Auction 108 (see the Education section 

of the Auction 108 website at 

www.fcc.gov/auction/108) and use the 

contact information provided in the 

Auction 108 Procedures Public Notice to 

consult with Commission staff to better 

understand the information that it must 

submit in its short-form application. 

C. License Area Selection 

37. An applicant must select all of the 

license areas on which it may want to 

bid from the list of available counties on 

its FCC Form 175. An applicant must 

carefully review and verify its license 

area (i.e., county) selections before the 


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FCC Form 175 filing deadline because 

those selections cannot be changed after 

the auction application filing deadline. 

An applicant is not required to place 

bids on licenses in any or all of the 

license areas selected, but the FCC 

Auction Bidding System (bidding 

system) will not accept bids for licenses 

in license areas (i.e., counties) that the 

applicant did not select in its FCC Form 

175. 

38. When two or more short-form 

applications (FCC Form 175) are 

submitted selecting the same licenses in 

Auction 108, mutual exclusivity exists 

for auction purposes as to those 

licenses, and the licenses must be 

awarded by competitive bidding 

procedures. Once mutual exclusivity 

exists for auction purposes, even if only 

one applicant is qualified to bid for a 

particular license, that applicant is 

required to submit a bid in order to 

obtain the license. An applicant may 

select licenses on its Form 175 by using 

the select all licenses checkbox or by 

selecting any particular county. 

Selection of a county will allow the 

applicant to bid on any available license 

within that county, provided that it 

otherwise becomes a qualified bidder 

and has sufficient bidding eligibility. 

D. Disclosure of Agreements and 

Bidding Arrangements 

39. 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. In connection with 

the agreement disclosure requirement, 

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 to which it (or any 

party that controls it or that it controls) 

is a party. Moreover, since each 

applicant must maintain the accuracy 

and completeness of the information in 

its pending auction application, if it 

enters into any agreement relating to the 

licenses being auctioned after the FCC 

Form 175 filing deadline, then that 

agreement is subject to these same 

disclosure requirements. 

40. For purposes of making the 

required agreement disclosures on the 

FCC Form 175, if parties agree in 

principle on all material terms prior to 

the application filing deadline, then 

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. Parties that have not 

agreed in principle by the FCC Form 

175 filing deadline should not describe, 

or include the names of parties to, the 

discussions on their applications. 

41. The Commission’s rules generally 

prohibit joint bidding and other 

arrangements involving auction 

applicants (including any party that 

controls or is controlled by such 

applicants). For purposes of the 

prohibition, a joint bidding arrangement 

includes any arrangement relating to the 

licenses being auctioned that addresses 

or communicates, directly or indirectly, 

bidding in the auction, bidding 

strategies, including arrangements 

regarding price or the specific licenses 

on which to bid, and any such 

arrangement relating to the post-auction 

market structure. 

42. 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 at 

least one party to the arrangement is an 

applicant for the auction. In the 

Updating Part 1 Report and Order, 80 

FR 56763, Sep. 18, 2015, the 

Commission stated that entities that 

qualify as nationwide providers 

generally would be identified in 

procedures public notices released 

before each auction. To that end, and 

consistent with the Commission’s 

decisions in recent spectrum auctions 

and in the 2020 Communications 

Marketplace Report, the Commission 

considers AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon 

to be nationwide providers for the 

purpose of implementing the 

competitive bidding rules in Auction 

108. 

43. Under certain circumstances, a 

non-nationwide provider may enter into 

an agreement to form a consortium or a 

joint venture (as applicable) that results 

in a single party applying to participate 

in an auction. Specifically, a designated 

entity can participate in one consortium 

or joint venture in an auction, and nonnationwide providers that are not 

designated entities may participate in an 

auction through only one joint venture. 

A non-nationwide provider may enter 

into only one agreement to form a 

consortium or joint venture (as 

applicable), and such consortium or 

joint venture shall be the exclusive 

bidding vehicle for its members in the 

auction. The general prohibition on 

joint bidding arrangements excludes 

certain agreements, including those that 

are solely operational in nature, as 

defined in 47 CFR 1.2105(a)(2)(ix)(A)– 

(C). 

44. To implement the prohibition on 

joint bidding arrangements, the 

Commission’s rules require each 

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. 

45. 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. 

46. Applicants should bear in mind 

that a winning bidder will be required 

to disclose, in its post-auction long-form 

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 

47. Each applicant must comply with 

the applicable part 1 ownership 

disclosure requirements and provide 

information required by 47 CFR 1.2105 

and 1.2112, and, where applicable, 47 

CFR 1.2110. Specifically, in completing 

FCC Form 175, an applicant must fully 


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disclose information regarding the real 

party- or parties-in-interest in the 

applicant or application and the 

ownership structure of the applicant, 

including both direct and indirect 

ownership interests of 10% or more, as 

prescribed in 47 CFR 1.2105 and 1.2112 

and, where applicable, 47 CFR 1.2110. 

Each applicant is responsible for 

ensuring that information submitted in 

its short-form application is complete 

and accurate. 

48. 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. If the applicant used the same 

FCC Registration Number (FRN) the 

applicant is using to submit its FCC 

Form 175, the most current ownership 

information contained in any such filing 

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. 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 

49. 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. 

Section 310 applies 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 

FCC Form 175, an applicant is 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 47 U.S.C. 

310(b), then it may seek to participate in 

Auction 108 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 the auction, the applicant 

either is in compliance with the foreign 

ownership provisions of 47 U.S.C. 310 

or has filed a petition for declaratory 

ruling requesting Commission approval 

to exceed the applicable foreign 

ownership limit or benchmark in 47 

U.S.C. 310(b) that is pending before, or 

has been granted by, the Commission. 

G. Information Procedures During the 

Auction Process 

50. Consistent with past practice in 

many prior spectrum license auctions, 

the Commission adopts the proposal to 

limit information available in Auction 

108 in order to prevent the 

identification of bidders placing 

particular bids until after the bidding 

has closed. Specifically, the 

Commission will not make public until 

after bidding has closed: (1) The license 

areas that an applicant selects for 

bidding in its short-form application, (2) 

the amount of any upfront payment 

made by or on behalf of an applicant for 

Auction 108, (3) any applicant’s bidding 

eligibility, and (4) any other biddingrelated information that might reveal the 

identity of the bidder placing a bid. 

51. Once bidding begins in Auction 

108, under the limited information 

procedures (sometimes also referred to 

as anonymous bidding), information to 

be made public after each round of 

bidding will include, for each license, 

the aggregate demand, the posted price 

of the completed round, and the clock 

price for the next round. The identities 

of bidders placing specific bids will not 

be disclosed until after the close of 

bidding. 

52. Throughout the auction, bidders 

will have access to additional 

information related to their own bidding 

and bidding eligibility through the 

Commission’s bidding system. 

Specifically, after the bids of a round 

have been processed, the bidding 

system will inform each bidder of its 

processed demand, whether the bidder 

has a proxy instruction in place for each 

license, and its eligibility for the next 

round. 

53. After the close of bidding, bidders’ 

license area selections, upfront payment 

amounts, bidding eligibility, bids, and 

other bidding-related actions will be 

made publicly available. Bids placed 

according to a bidder’s proxy 

instructions will be available, but a 

bidder’s proxy instructions will not be 

disclosed. 

54. The Commission warns applicants 

that direct or indirect communication to 

other applicants or the public disclosure 

of non-public information (e.g., 

reductions in eligibility, identities of 

bidders) could violate the Commission’s 

rule prohibiting certain 

communications. Therefore, to the 

extent an applicant believes that such a 

disclosure is required by law or 

regulation, including regulations issued 

by the U.S. Securities and Exchange 

Commission (SEC), the Commission 

strongly urges that the applicant consult 

with Commission staff in the Auctions 

Division before making such disclosure. 

H. Prohibited Communications and 

Compliance With Antitrust Laws 

55. The rules prohibiting certain 

communications set forth in 47 

CFR1.2105(c) apply to each applicant in 

Auction 108. Section 1.2105(c)(1) 

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. 

1. Entities Subject to Section 1.2105(c) 

56. 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% 

or more of the entity (including 

institutional investors and asset 

management companies), and all 

officers and directors of that entity. 

Under 47 CFR 1.2105(c), a party that 

submits an application becomes an 

applicant under the rule, which goes 

into effect at the application deadline, 

and that status does not change based 

on later developments. 

57. As proposed in the Auction 108 

Comment Public Notice, the 

Commission considers AT&T, T-Mobile, 

and Verizon to be nationwide providers 

for the purposes of the prohibited 

communications rule for Auction 108. 

2. Prohibition Applies Until Down 

Payment Deadline 

58. The prohibition in 47 CFR 

1.2105(c) 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. 


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3. Scope of Prohibition on Certain 

Communications; Prohibition on Joint 

Bidding Agreements 

59. Section 1.2105(c) prohibits certain 

communications between applicants for 

an auction, regardless of whether the 

applicants seek permits or licenses in 

the same geographic area or market. The 

rule also applies to communications by 

applicants with non-applicant 

nationwide providers of 

communications services and by 

nationwide applicants with nonapplicant, non-nationwide providers. 

The rule further prohibits joint bidding 

arrangements, 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 post-auction market structure. 

The rule allows for limited exceptions 

for communications 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 communicate pursuant 

to any pre-existing agreements, 

arrangements, or understandings 

relating to the licenses being auctioned 

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. 

60. In addition to express statements 

of bids and bidding strategies, 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. 

61. Parties subject to 47 CFR 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 to be conveyed 

to the other applicant through the 

shared officer, which creates an 

apparent violation of the rule. 

62. Subject to the limited exceptions 

for communications within the scope of 

any arrangement consistent with the 

exclusion from the Commission’s rule 

prohibiting joint bidding, 47 CFR 

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. The 

Prohibited Communications Guidance 

Public Notice, 80 FR 63215, October 19, 

2015, released in advance of the 

broadcast incentive auction (Auction 

1000) reviewed the scope of the 

prohibition generally, as well as in that 

specific auction’s forward auction of 

spectrum licenses and reverse auction to 

relinquish broadcast licenses. As the 

Commission explained therein, a 

communication conveying bids or 

bidding strategies (including postauction 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. The Commission 

consistently has made clear that 

application of the rule prohibiting 

communications has never required 

total suspension of essential ongoing 

business. Entities subject to the 

prohibition may negotiate agreements 

during the prohibition period, provided 

that the communications involved do 

not relate to both: (1) The licenses being 

auctioned and (2) bids or bidding 

strategies or post-auction market 

structure. 

63. Accordingly, business discussions 

and negotiations that do not convey 

information about the bids or bidding 

strategies, including the post-auction 

market structure, of an applicant 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 108 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. 

64. While 47 CFR 1.2105(c) does not 

prohibit business discussions and 

negotiations among auction applicants 

that are unrelated to the auction, 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. 

65. 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. 

Moreover, the Commission 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 it 

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. 

66. Likewise, when completing a 

short-form application, each applicant 

should avoid any statements or 

disclosures that may violate 47 CFR 

1.2105(c), particularly in light of the 

limited information procedures in effect 

for Auction 108. Specifically, an 

applicant should avoid including any 

information in its short-form application 

that might convey information regarding 

its license area selections, such as 

referring to counties or other geographic 

areas in describing agreements, 

including any information in 

application attachments that will be 

publicly available that may otherwise 

disclose the applicant’s license area 

selections, or using applicant names 

that refer to licenses being offered. 

67. Applicants also should be mindful 

that communicating non-public 

application or bidding information 

publicly or privately to another 

applicant may violate 47 CFR 1.2105(c) 

even though that information 

subsequently may be made public 

during later periods of the application 

or bidding processes. 


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4. Communicating With Third Parties 

68. 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. An applicant should take 

appropriate steps, however, 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. 

69. As the Commission has noted in 

other spectrum auctions, in the case of 

an individual, the objective 

precautionary measure of a firewall is 

not available. As a result, 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 will 

take the same approach to interpreting 

the prohibited communications rule in 

Auction 108. 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. 

70. 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. Furthermore, the 

same third-party individual could 

continue to give advice after the shortform deadline regarding the application, 

provided that no information pertaining 

to bids or bidding strategies, including 

license areas, or counties, selected on 

the short-form application, is conveyed 

to that individual. 

71. 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, even though communicating 

that it has applied to participate in the 

auction will not violate the rule, an 

applicant’s statement to the press that it 

intends to stop bidding in an auction 

could give rise to a finding of a 47 CFR 

1.2105 violation. Similarly, an 

applicant’s public statement of intent 

not to place bids during bidding in 

Auction 108 could also violate the rule. 

5. Section 1.2105(c) Certifications 

72. By electronically submitting its 

FCC Form 175, each applicant for 

Auction 108 certifies its compliance 

with 47 CFR 1.2105(c). The mere filing 

of a certifying statement as part of an 

application, however, 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 

73. 47 CFR 1.2105(c)(4) requires that 

any applicant that makes or receives a 

communication that appears to violate 

47 CFR 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 

74. A party reporting any information 

or communication pursuant to 47 CFR 

1.65(a), 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 47 CFR 

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. 

75. An applicant 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 rule is 

designed to minimize the risk of 

inadvertent dissemination of 

information in such reports. Any reports 

required by 47 CFR 1.2105(c) must be 

filed consistent with the instructions set 

forth in the Auction 108 Procedures 

Public Notice. For Auction 108, such 

reports must be filed with the Chief of 

the Auctions Division, Office of 

Economics and Analytics, by the most 

expeditious means available. Any such 

report should be submitted by email to 

the Auctions Division Chief and sent to 

auction108@fcc.gov. If you choose 

instead to submit a report in hard copy, 

contact Auctions Division staff at 

auction108@fcc.gov or (202) 418–0660 

for guidance. 

76. Given the potential competitive 

sensitivity of public disclosure of 

information in such a report, 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 47 

CFR 0.459. The Commission encourages 

such parties to coordinate with the 

Auctions Division staff about the 

procedures for submitting such reports. 

8. Winning Bidders Must Disclose 

Terms of Agreements 

77. 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. 

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 on Certain Communications 

in Commission Auctions 

78. A summary listing of documents 

issued by the Commission and OEA/ 

WTB addressing the application of 47 

CFR 1.2105(c) is available on the 

Commission’s auction web page at 

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

10. Antitrust Laws 

79. Regardless of compliance with the 

Commission’s rules, applicants remain 


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subject to the antitrust laws, which are 

designed to prevent anticompetitive 

behavior in the marketplace. 

Compliance with the disclosure 

requirements of 47 CFR 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. 

80. To the extent the Commission 

becomes aware of specific allegations 

that suggest that violations of the federal 

antitrust laws may have occurred, they 

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, then it may be subject 

to a forfeiture and may be prohibited 

from participating further in Auction 

108 and in future auctions, among other 

sanctions. 

I. Provisions for Small Businesses and 

Rural Service Providers 

81. A bidding credit represents an 

amount by which a bidder’s overall 

payment across all of the licenses won 

will be discounted, subject to the caps 

discussed below. As set forth in 47 CFR 

1.2110, and as described below, the 

designated entity rules include, but are 

not limited to: (1) A two-pronged 

standard for evaluating eligibility for 

small business benefits, (2) an 

attribution rule for certain disclosable 

interest holders of applicants claiming 

designated entity benefits, (3) updated 

gross revenue amounts defining 

eligibility for small business benefits, (4) 

a bidding credit for eligible rural service 

providers, and (5) caps on the total 

amount of designated entity benefits any 

eligible winning bidder may receive. 

82. In Auction 108, designated entity 

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). These 

bidding credits will not be cumulative— 

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. In 

addition to the information provided 

below, each applicant should review 

carefully the Commission’s decisions 

regarding the designated entity 

provisions as well as the part 1 rules. 

83. In particular, 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 they seek bidding 

credits or not), against changes in 

ownership of the applicant that would 

constitute an assignment or transfer of 

control after the initial filing deadline 

for FCC Form 175. 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. This policy 

will help to ensure compliance with the 

Commission’s rules applicable to the 

award of bidding credits prior to the 

conduct of the auction, which will 

involve competing bids from those that 

do and do not seek bidding credits, and 

thus preserves the integrity of the 

auction process. The Commission also 

believes that this will meet the 

Commission’s objectives in awarding 

licenses through the competitive 

bidding process. 

1. Small Business Bidding Credit 

84. For Auction 108, bidding credits 

will be available to eligible small 

businesses and consortia thereof, subject 

to the caps discussed below. Under the 

service rules applicable to the 2.5 GHz 

band licenses to be offered in Auction 

108, the level of bidding credit available 

is determined as follows: 

• A bidder that qualifies as a small 

business—i.e., one with attributed 

average annual gross revenues that do 

not exceed $55 million for the preceding 

five years—is eligible to receive a 15% 

discount on its overall payment. 

• A bidder that qualifies as a very 

small business—i.e., one with attributed 

average annual gross revenues that do 

not exceed $20 million for the preceding 

five years—is eligible to receive a 25% 

discount on its overall payment. 

85. In adopting this two-tiered 

approach in the 2.5 GHz Report and 

Order, the Commission observed that 

this approach would provide 

consistency and predictability for small 

businesses. 

86. Small business bidding credits are 

not cumulative; an eligible applicant 

may receive either the 15% or the 25% 

bidding credit on its overall payment, 

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 at least the same level of 

small business bidding credit. 

87. Each applicant claiming a small 

business bidding credit must disclose 

the gross revenues for the preceding five 

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 may 

be won by the applicant in Auction 108. 

In addition, to the extent that an 

applicant has an agreement with any 

disclosable interest holder for the use of 

more than 25% of the spectrum capacity 

of any license that may be won in 

Auction 108, the applicant must 

disclose the identity and the attributable 

gross revenues of any such disclosable 

interest holder. 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 108. If an applicant 

is applying as a consortium of small 

businesses, then the disclosures 

described in this paragraph must be 

provided for each consortium member. 

2. Rural Service Provider Bidding Credit 

88. An eligible applicant may request 

a 15% discount on its overall payment 

using a rural service provider bidding 

credit, subject to the cap discussed 

below. 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. 

Rural areas are defined as counties with 

a population density of 100 or fewer 

persons per square mile. An applicant 

seeking a rural service provider bidding 

credit must provide the number of 

subscribers served as of the short-form 


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application deadline. An applicant may 

count any subscriber as a single 

subscriber even if that subscriber 

receives more than one service. 

89. Each applicant seeking a rural 

service provider bidding credit must 

disclose the number of its subscribers, 

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 may 

be won by the applicant in Auction 108. 

In addition, to the extent that an 

applicant has an agreement with any 

disclosable interest holder for the use of 

more than 25% of the spectrum capacity 

of any license that may be won in 

Auction 108, the identity and the 

attributable subscribers of any such 

disclosable interest holder must be 

disclosed. Like applicants seeking 

eligibility for small business bidding 

credits, eligible rural service providers 

may also form a consortium. If an 

applicant is applying as a consortium of 

rural service providers, then the 

disclosures described in this paragraph, 

including the certification, must be 

provided for each consortium member. 

3. Caps on Bidding Credits 

90. Eligible applicants claiming either 

a small business or rural service 

provider bidding credit will be subject 

to specified caps on the total bidding 

credit discount that they may receive. 

The Commission adopts the bidding 

credit caps for Auction 108 at the 

amounts proposed for the reasons 

discussed by the Commission in the 

Auction 108 Comment Public Notice. 

Specifically, the Commission adopts a 

$25 million cap on the total bidding 

credit discount that may be awarded to 

an eligible small business, and a $10 

million cap on the total bidding credit 

discount that may be awarded to an 

eligible rural service provider. 

Additionally, to create parity among 

eligible small businesses and rural 

service providers competing against 

each other in smaller markets, no 

winning designated entity bidder may 

receive more than $10 million in 

bidding credit discounts in total for 

licenses won in counties located within 

any partial economic area (PEA) with a 

population of 500,000 or less. 

4. Attributable Interests 

a. Controlling Interests and Affiliates 

91. Pursuant to 47 CFR 1.2110, 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% 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% 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; and 

• the entity plays an integral role in 

management decisions. 

92. Additionally, for attribution 

purposes, officers and directors of an 

applicant seeking a bidding credit are 

considered to have a controlling interest 

in the applicant. Applicants should 

refer to 47 CFR 1.2110(c)(2) and the FCC 

Form 175 Instructions to understand 

how certain interests are calculated in 

determining control for purposes of 

attributing gross revenues. 

93. 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 

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 47 CFR 1.2110(c)(2) and 

(5) respectively, as well as the FCC 

Form 175 Instructions. 

94. 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 discussed above; and (2) 

retaining control, on a license-by-license 

basis, over the spectrum associated with 

the licenses for which it seeks small 

business benefits. For purposes of the 

first prong of the standard, 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. In addition, 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 47 

CFR 1.2110, an applicant is certifying 

that it does not have any spectrum use 

or other agreements that would confer 

either de jure or de facto control of any 

license it seeks to acquire with bidding 

credits. 

95. Applicants should note that, 

under this standard for evaluating 

eligibility for small business bidding 

credits, if an applicant executes a 

spectrum use agreement that does not 

comply with the Commission’s relevant 

standard of de facto control, then 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 47 U.S.C. 310(d) and related 

regulations, which require Commission 

approval of transfers of control. If that 

spectrum use agreement (either alone or 

in combination with the designated 

entity controlling interest and 

attribution rules described above) goes 

so far as to confer control of the 

applicant’s overall business, then 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. 

b. Limitation on Spectrum Use 

96. Under 47 CFR 1.2110(c)(2)(ii)(J), 

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% 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. For purposes of this 

requirement, a disclosable interest 

holder of an applicant seeking 

designated entity benefits is defined as 


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any individual or entity holding a 10% 

or greater interest of any kind in the 

applicant, including but not limited to, 

a 10% 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 108 will be 

subject to this attribution rule and must 

make the requisite disclosures. 

97. Certain disclosable interest 

holders may be excluded from this 

attribution rule. Specifically, 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 

disclosable interest holder’s spectrum 

use and any spectrum use agreements 

are 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. 

Consistent with the Commission’s 

limited information procedures, the 

Commission intends to withhold from 

public disclosure all information 

contained in any such attachments until 

after the close of Auction 108. 

c. Exceptions From Attribution Rules for 

Small Businesses and Rural Service 

Providers 

98. 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, the Commission will 

not attribute to the applicant the 

personal net worth, including personal 

income, of its officers and directors. 

However, 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. Moreover, if an officer or 

director operates a separate business, 

then the gross revenues derived from 

that business would be attributed to the 

applicant. 

99. The Commission has also 

exempted 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 47 CFR 

1.2110(b)(4)(iii) are met. An applicant 

claiming this exemption must 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 47 CFR 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. 

100. 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. Because each member of 

the rural partnership must individually 

qualify for the bidding credit, by 

definition, a partnership that includes a 

nationwide provider as a member will 

not be eligible for the benefit. 

101. Finally, a consortium of small 

businesses or rural service providers 

may seek an exception from the 

Commission’s attribution rules. Under 

the Commission’s 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, however, 

to ensure that each consortium member 

qualifies for the bidding credit sought 

by the consortium. 

J. Tribal Lands Bidding Credit 

102. A winning bidder that intends to 

use its license(s) to deploy facilities and 

provide services to qualifying Tribal 

lands that have a wireline penetration 

rate equal to or below 85% is eligible to 

receive a Tribal lands bidding credit. A 

tribal lands bidding credit is in addition 

to, and separate from, any other bidding 

credit for which a winning bidder may 

qualify. Unlike other bidding credits 

that are requested prior to an auction, a 

winning bidder applies for a Tribal 

lands bidding credit after the auction 

when it files its FCC Form 601 postauction application. 

K. Provisions Regarding Former and 

Current Defaulters 

103. Pursuant to the rules governing 

competitive bidding, 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 108, but a former 

defaulter or delinquent may participate 

so long as it is otherwise qualified and 

makes an upfront payment that is 50% 

more than would otherwise be 

necessary. Accordingly, 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 they are not delinquent on any nontax 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 the exclusions described 

below. For purposes of making these 

certifications, the term controlling 

interest is defined in 47 CFR 

1.2105(a)(4)(i). 

104. Under the Commission’s rule 

regarding applications by former 

defaulters, an applicant is considered a 

former defaulter or a former delinquent 

when, as of the FCC Form 175 filing 

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. For purposes of 

the certification under 47 CFR 

1.2105(a)(2)(xii), 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 


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default or delinquency was the subject 

of a legal or arbitration proceeding and 

was cured upon resolution of the 

proceeding. With respect to the first 

exclusion, 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. Additionally, for the third 

exclusion, 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. 

105. In addition to the Auction 108 

Procedures Public Notice, applicants are 

encouraged to review 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 Auctions Division staff if they have 

any questions about default and 

delinquency disclosure requirements. 

106. The Commission considers 

outstanding debts owed to the United 

States Government, in any amount, to be 

a serious matter. The Commission has 

previously 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. 

When adopting that rule, the 

Commission explicitly declared, 

however, that its competitive bidding 

rules are not affected by the red light 

rule. As a consequence, 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 47 CFR 1.2105 and 

1.2106, with regard to current and 

former defaults or delinquencies. 

107. The Commission reminds each 

applicant, however, that any indication 

in the Commission’s 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 

47 CFR 1.2105. Thus, 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). 

Moreover, a prospective applicant in 

Auction 108 should note that any longform applications filed after the close of 

bidding 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 longform application. The Commission 

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. 

L. Optional Applicant Status 

Identification 

108. Applicants owned by members of 

minority groups and/or women, as 

defined in 47 CFR 1.2110(c)(3), and 

rural telephone companies, as defined 

in 47 CFR 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 

109. After the initial FCC Form 175 

filing deadline, an Auction 108 

applicant will be permitted to make 

only minor amendments to its 

application consistent with the 

Commission’s rules. Examples of minor 

changes include the deletion or addition 

of authorized bidders (to a maximum of 

three) and the revision of addresses and 

telephone numbers of the applicant, its 

responsible party, and its contact 

person. Major amendments to an FCC 

Form 175 (e.g., change of license area 

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 47 CFR 

1.2105(b)(2), the major amendment will 

not be accepted and may result in the 

dismissal of the application. 

2. Duty To Maintain Accuracy and 

Completeness of FCC Form 175 

110. Pursuant to 47 CFR 1.65, 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 

108. Consistent with the requirements 

for prior spectrum auctions, an 

applicant for Auction 108 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 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 and FCC Form 175 

111. As noted above, a party seeking 

to participate in Auction 108 must file 

an FCC Form 175 electronically via the 

FCC’s Auction Application System. 

During the initial filing window, an 

applicant will be able to make any 

necessary modifications to its 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; however, 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. 

112. 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. 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 47 CFR 1.65 and 

1.2105(b)(4), then it must make the 

change(s) in the Auction Application 

System and re-certify and re-submit its 

application to confirm and effect the 

change(s). 

113. 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 


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window and the opening of the 

application resubmission filing window, 

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, and contact 

information (e.g., name, address, 

telephone number) 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 pursuant to 47 CFR 1.65 and 

1.2105(b)(4), then the applicant must 

submit a letter briefly summarizing the 

changes to its FCC Form 175 via email 

to auction108@fcc.gov. The email 

summarizing the changes must include 

a subject line referring to Auction 108 

and the name of the applicant, for 

example, Re: Changes to Auction 108 

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. 

114. 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, then it 

must submit a written request by email 

to the Auctions Division Chief, via 

auction108@fcc.gov 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 resubmit its FCC Form 175 in the Auction 

Application System to confirm and 

effect the change(s). 

115. As with filing the FCC Form 175, 

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. 

116. Applicants must not submit 

application-specific material through 

the Commission’s Electronic Comment 

Filing System. Further, as discussed 

above, 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 47 CFR 1.2105(c) or the limited 

information procedures adopted for 

Auction 108. An applicant seeking to 

submit, outside of the Auction 

Application System, information that 

might reflect non-public information, 

such as an applicant’s county 

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 on certain 

communications pursuant to 47 CFR 

1.2105(c). 

117. Questions about FCC Form 175 

amendments should be directed to the 

Auctions Division at (202) 418–0660. 

III. Preparing for Bidding in Auction 

108 

A. Due Diligence 

118. The Commission reminds each 

potential bidder that it 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 108 and that it is required to 

certify, under penalty of perjury, that it 

has read the Auction 108 Procedures 

Public Notice and has familiarized itself 

with the auction procedures and the 

service rules for the 2.5 GHz band. 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 

particular service, technology, or 

product, nor does a Commission license 

constitute a guarantee of business 

success. 

119. An applicant should perform its 

due diligence research and analysis 

before proceeding, as it would with any 

new business venture. In particular, the 

Commission 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 108 

license, it will be able to build and 

operate facilities that will fully comply 

with all applicable technical and legal 

requirements. The Commission urges 

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 

(NEPA), the National Historic 

Preservation Act (NHPA), and any other 

environmental statutes that may apply. 

120. As noted above, applicants must 

carefully consider potential 

encumbrances on existing licenses. The 

Commission notes in particular that 

there will be a substantial number of 

licenses in inventory where the amount 

of unassigned area or unassigned 

spectrum is very small. For example, 

there could be licenses in Channel 

Block 2 where as little as .333 megahertz 

of spectrum is unassigned. There are 

also a substantial number of licenses 

where the area with unassigned 

spectrum is smaller than one square 

mile. Each applicant should carefully 

research the existence of incumbent 

licenses and the technical and economic 

implications for commercial use of the 

2.5 GHz band. 

121. The Commission also encourages 

each applicant in Auction 108 to 

continue to conduct its own research 

throughout the auction 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. 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 Auction 108 Procedures Public 

Notice do not constitute an exhaustive 

list of steps that should be undertaken 

prior to participating in Auction 108. As 

always, 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. For example, applicants 

should pay particular attention to the 


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results applications filed in the Rural 

Tribal Priority Window, which will 

determine the final inventory of licenses 

available for bidding in Auction 108. 

The Commission emphasizes again that 

licenses granted through applications 

received during the Rural Tribal Priority 

Window have incumbent status vis-a`-vis 

licenses awarded in Auction 108. In 

other words, any winning bidder 

awarded a license in Auction 108 will 

not be allowed to operate within the 

license area of a successful Rural Tribal 

Priority Window applicant, even if that 

application remains pending today or at 

the time of issuance of the overlay 

license. In addition, the Commission 

reminds applicants that the tools made 

available to assess the available licenses 

in Auction 108, including the mapping 

tool described above, may not represent 

official licensing information and all 

information should be confirmed in 

ULS for any specific license or area. 

122. 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 

Auction 108. Each potential bidder is 

responsible for undertaking research to 

ensure that any licenses won in the 

auction 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. 

123. 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 Issues 

124. Potential applicants in Auction 

108 should carefully review the new 

rules applicable to the 2.5 GHz band as 

well as the results of applications filed 

in the Rural Tribal Priority Window, 

which will determine the final license 

inventory for Auction 108, when 

developing business plans, assessing 

market conditions, and evaluating the 

availability of equipment for 2.5 GHz 

operations. Each applicant should 

closely follow releases from the 

Commission concerning these issues 

and consider carefully the technical and 

economic implications for commercial 

use of the 2.5 GHz band. 

2. International Coordination 

125. Potential bidders seeking 

licenses for geographic areas adjacent to 

the Canadian and Mexican borders 

should be aware that the use of the 2.5 

GHz frequencies they acquire in 

Auction 108 are subject to current and 

future agreements with the governments 

of Canada and Mexico. 

126. 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 2.5 

GHz band must not cause harmful 

interference across the border, 

consistent with the terms of the 

agreements currently in force. 

3. Environmental Review Requirements 

127. Licensees must comply with the 

Commission’s rules for environmental 

review under the NEPA, the NHPA, and 

any other environmental statutes that 

may apply. Licensees and other 

applicants that propose to build certain 

types of communications facilities for 

licensed service must follow 

Commission procedures implementing 

obligations under NEPA and NHPA 

prior to constructing the facilities. 

Under NEPA, a licensee or applicant 

must assess if certain environmentally 

sensitive conditions specified in the 

Commission’s rules are relevant to the 

proposed facilities, and prepare an 

environmental assessment when 

applicable. If an environmental 

assessment is required, then facilities 

may not be constructed until 

environmental processing is completed. 

Under NHPA, a licensee or applicant 

must follow the procedures in 47 CFR 

1.1320, the Nationwide Programmatic 

Agreement for Collocation of Wireless 

Antennas and the Nationwide 

Programmatic Agreement Regarding the 

Section 106 National Historic 

Preservation Act Review Process. 

Compliance with section 106 of the 

NHPA requires Tribal consultation, and 

if construction of the communications 

facilities would have adverse effects on 

historic or Tribally significant 

properties, an environmental 

assessment must be prepared. 

4. Mobile Spectrum Holdings Policies 

128. The Commission reminds 

bidders of the Commission’s mobile 

spectrum holdings policies applicable to 

the 2.5 GHz band. Specifically, the 

Commission did not impose a preauction bright-line limit on acquisitions 

of the 2.5 GHz band. The Commission 

determined that ‘‘EBS white space 

spectrum should be considered 

available for purposes of the spectrum 

screen.’’ In addition, the Commission 

eliminated the EBS white space 

discounts and ended the 5% exclusion 

of spectrum from the screen. The 

Commission also concluded that it 

would perform case-by-case review of 

secondary market transactions to assess 

the effect of educational use restrictions 

in existing spectrum leases in particular 

local markets. 

C. Bidder Education 

129. Before the opening of the shortform filing window for Auction 108, 

detailed educational information will be 

provided in various formats to would-be 

participants on the Auction 108 web 

page. Specifically, the Commission 

directs OEA to provide various 

materials on the pre-bidding processes 

in advance of the opening of the shortform application window, beginning 

with the release of step-by-step 

instructions for completing the FCC 

Form 175, which OEA will make 

available in the Education section of the 

Auction 108 website at www.fcc.gov/ 

auction/108. In addition, OEA will 

provide an online application 

procedures tutorial for the auction, 

covering information on pre-bidding 

preparation, completing short-form 

applications, and the application review 

process. 

130. In advance of the start of the 

mock auction, OEA will provide 

educational materials on the bidding 

procedures for Auction 108, including a 

user guide for the bidding system, 

bidding system file formats, and an 

online bidding procedures tutorial. 

These materials will provide detailed 

information on bidding features specific 

to the ascending clock auction format, 

including intra-round bidding and 

proxy bids. The Commission recognizes 

the importance of these materials to 

applicants’ and bidders’ comprehension 

of the bidding procedures adopted in 

the Auction 108 Procedures Public 

Notice. Accordingly, the educational 

materials shall be released as soon as 

reasonably possible to provide potential 

applicants and bidders with time to 


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understand them and ask questions 

before bidding begins. 

131. The Commission believes that 

parties interested in participating in 

Auction 108 will find the interactive, 

online tutorials an efficient and effective 

way to further their understanding of 

the application and bidding processes. 

The online tutorials will allow viewers 

to navigate the presentation outline, 

review written notes, and listen to audio 

of the notes. Additional features of this 

web-based tool include links to auctionspecific Commission releases, email 

links for contacting Commission staff, 

and screen shots of the online 

application and bidding systems. The 

online tutorials will be accessible in the 

Education section of the Auction 108 

website at www.fcc.gov/auction/108. 

Once posted, the tutorials will remain 

continuously accessible. 

D. Short-Form Applications: Due Before 

6 p.m. ET on May 10, 2022 

132. In order to be eligible to bid in 

Auction 108, an applicant must first 

follow the procedures to submit a shortform application (FCC Form 175) 

electronically via the Auction 

Application System, following the 

instructions set forth in the FCC Form 

175 Instructions. The short-form 

application will become available with 

the opening of the initial filing window 

and must be submitted prior to 6 p.m. 

ET on May 10, 2022. Late applications 

will not be accepted. No application fee 

is required for short-form applications. 

133. Applications may be filed at any 

time beginning at noon ET on April 27, 

2022, until the filing window closes at 

6 p.m. ET on May 10, 2022. 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 on May 10, 2022. 

134. 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 using the 

contact information provided in Section 

VI.D. (Contact Information), below. In 

order to provide better service to the 

public, all calls to Technical Support 

are recorded. 

E. Application Processing and Minor 

Modifications 

1. Public Notice of Applicants’ Initial 

Application Status and Opportunity for 

Minor Modifications 

135. 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. OEA 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 an electronic copy will be sent by 

email to the contact address listed in the 

FCC Form 175 for each applicant. 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 contact information 

of a Commission staff member who can 

answer questions specific to the 

application. 

136. After the initial application filing 

deadline on May 10 2022, applicants 

can make only minor modifications to 

their applications. Major modifications 

(e.g., change of license area selection, 

change 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 108. 

137. 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 auction108@

fcc.gov. 

2. Public Notice of Applicants’ Final 

Application Status After Upfront 

Payment Deadline 

138. After Commission staff reviews 

resubmitted applications and upfront 

payments, OEA will release a public 

notice identifying applicants that have 

become qualified bidders for the 

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 and that have 

made a sufficient upfront payment. 

F. Upfront Payments 

139. In order to be eligible to bid in 

Auction 108, a sufficient upfront 

payment and a complete and accurate 

FCC Remittance Advice Form (FCC 

Form 159, Revised 2/03) must be 

submitted before 6 p.m. ET on June 23, 

2022. 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 the information on the 

form, including payment amounts, is 

accurate. Instructions for completing 

FCC Form 159 for Auction 108 are 

provided below. 

1. Making Upfront Payments by Wire 

Transfer for Auction 108 

140. Upfront payments for Auction 

108 must be wired to, and will be 

deposited in, the U.S. Treasury. 

141. Wire transfer payments for 

Auction 108 must be received before 6 

p.m. ET on June 23, 2022. No other 

payment method is acceptable. To avoid 

untimely payments, applicants should 

discuss arrangements (including bank 

closing schedules and other specific 

bank wire transfer requirements, such as 

an in-person written request before a 

specified time of day) with their bankers 

several days before they plan to make 

the wire transfer, and must allow 

sufficient time for the transfer to be 

initiated and completed before the 

deadline. The following information 

will be needed: 

ABA Routing Number: 021030004. 

Receiving Bank: TREAS NYC, 33 

Liberty Street, New York, NY 10045. 

Beneficiary: FCC, 45 L Street NE, 3rd 

Floor, Washington, DC 20554. 

Account Number: 827000001002. 

Originating Bank Information (OBI 

Field): (Skip one space between each 

information item). 


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‘‘AUCTIONPAY’’ 

Applicant FCC Registration Number 

(FRN): (use the same FRN as used on the 

applicant’s FCC Form 159, block 21). 

Payment Type Code: (same as FCC 

Form 159, block 24A: ‘‘U108’’). 

Note: The beneficiary account number 

(BNF Account Number) is specific to the 

upfront payments for Auction 108. Do 

not use a BNF Account Number from a 

previous auction. 

142. 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 108’’. To meet the 

upfront payment deadline, an 

applicant’s payment must be credited to 

the Commission’s account for Auction 

108 before the deadline. 

143. 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. As a regulatory 

requirement, the U.S. Treasury screens 

all payments from all financial 

institutions before deposits are made 

available to specified accounts. If wires 

are suspended, the U.S. Treasury may 

direct questions regarding any transfer 

to the financial institution initiating the 

wire. Each applicant must take care to 

assure that any questions directed to its 

financial institution(s) are addressed 

promptly. To receive confirmation from 

Commission staff, contact Scott 

Radcliffe of the Office of Managing 

Director’s Revenue & Receivables 

Operations Group/Auctions at (202) 

418–7518 or Theresa Meeks at (202) 

418–2945. 

144. Please note the following 

information regarding upfront 

payments: 

• All payments must be made in U.S. 

dollars. 

• All payments must be made by wire 

transfer. 

• Upfront payments for Auction 108 

go to an account number different from 

the accounts used in previous FCC 

auctions. 

145. Failure to deliver a sufficient 

upfront payment as instructed in the 

Auction 108 Procedures Public Notice 

by the upfront payment deadline will 

result in dismissal of the short-form 

application and disqualification from 

participation in the auction. 

2. Completing and Submitting FCC 

Form 159 

146. The following information 

supplements the standard instructions 

for FCC Form 159 (Revised 2/03) and is 

provided to help ensure correct 

completion of FCC Form 159 for upfront 

payments for Auction 108. Applicants 

need to complete FCC Form 159 

carefully, because: 

• Mistakes may affect bidding 

eligibility; and 

• Lack of consistency between 

information provided in FCC Form 159 

(Revised 2/03), FCC Form 175, longform application (FCC Form 601), and 

correspondence about an application 

may cause processing delays. 

147. Therefore, appropriate crossreferences between the FCC Form 159 

Remittance Advice and the short-form 

application (FCC Form 175) are 

described below. 

Block No. Required information 

1 ........................ LOCKBOX #—Leave Blank. 

2 ........................ Payer Name—Enter the name of the person or company making the payment. If the applicant itself is the payer, this entry 

would be the same name as in FCC Form 175. 

3 ........................ Total Amount Paid—Enter the amount of the upfront payment associated with the FCC Form 159 (Revised 2/03). 

4–8 .................... Street Address, City, State, ZIP Code—Enter the street mailing address (not post office box number) where mail should be 

sent to the payer. If the applicant is the payer, these entries would be the same as FCC Form 175 from the Applicant Information section. 

9 ........................ Daytime Telephone Number—Enter the telephone number of a person knowledgeable about this upfront payment. 

10 ...................... Country Code—For addresses outside the United States, enter the appropriate postal country code (available from the Mailing Requirements Department of the U.S. Postal Service). 

11 ...................... Payer FRN—Enter the payer’s 10-digit FCC Registration Number (FRN) registered in the Commission Registration System 

(CORES). 

21 ...................... Applicant FRN (Complete only if applicant is different than payer)—Enter the applicant’s 10-digit FRN registered in CORES. 

24A ................... Payment Type Code—Enter ‘‘U108’’. 

25A ................... Quantity—Enter the number ‘‘1’’. 

26A ................... Fee Due—Amount of Upfront Payment 

27A ................... Total Fee—Will be the same amount as 26A. 

28A ................... FCC Code 1—Enter the number ‘‘108’’ (indicating Auction 108). 

Notes: 

• Do not use Remittance Advice (Continuation Sheet), FCC Form 159–C, for upfront payments. 

• If applicant is different from the payer, complete blocks 13 through 21 for the applicant, using the same information shown on FCC Form 

175. Otherwise leave them blank. 

• No signature is required on FCC Form 159 for auction payments 

• Since credit card payments will not be accepted for upfront payments for an auction, leave Section E blank. 

3. Upfront Payments and Bidding 

Eligibility 

148. 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 


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insincere bidding and provide the 

Commission with a source of funds from 

which to collect payments owed at the 

close of bidding. 

149. Applicants that are former 

defaulters must pay upfront payments 

50% greater than non-former defaulters. 

For purposes of classification as a 

former defaulter or a former delinquent, 

defaults and delinquencies of the 

applicant itself and its controlling 

interests are included. 

150. An applicant must make an 

upfront payment sufficient to obtain 

bidding eligibility on the licenses on 

which it will bid. The Commission 

adopts the proposals to set upfront 

payments based on the total potential 

MHz-pops of each license offered in the 

auction and to determine an applicant’s 

initial bidding eligibility, the maximum 

number of bidding units on which a 

bidder may place bids in any single 

round, based on the amount of the 

upfront payment. In order to bid for a 

license, qualified bidders must have a 

current eligibility level that meets or 

exceeds the number of bidding units 

assigned to that license. At a minimum, 

therefore, an applicant’s total upfront 

payment must be enough to establish 

eligibility to bid on at least one license 

in one of the license areas selected on 

its FCC Form 175 for Auction 108, or 

else the applicant will not become 

qualified to participate in the auction. 

The total upfront payment does not 

affect the total dollar amount the bidder 

may bid. 

151. In the Auction 108 Comment 

Public Notice, the Commission 

proposed to require applicants to submit 

upfront payments based on $0.003 per 

MHz-pop with a minimum of $500 per 

license. Because upfront payments 

protect against frivolous or insincere 

bidding and provide the Commission 

with a source of funds from which to 

collect payments owed at the close of 

bidding, the Commission adopts the 

proposal. For the 49.5-megahertz and 

50.5-megahertz channel blocks, the 

calculation will be based on 50 

megahertz, which is beneficial for the 

purpose of allowing switch bids because 

it will result in the same number of 

bidding units, as described below, for 

each of those channel blocks within a 

county. For the 17.5-megahertz channel 

block, the calculation will be based on 

the 16.5 megahertz of contiguous 

spectrum not including the 1-megahertz 

guard band. The Commission uses the 

16.5 megahertz of contiguous spectrum 

and excludes the 1-megahertz guard 

band for comparability with the larger 

blocks that consist of contiguous 

spectrum only. The upfront payment 

amount per license potentially available 

in Auction 108 is set forth in the 

Attachment A file on the Auction 108 

website at www.fcc.gov/auction/108. 

152. For the reasons set forth in the 

Auction 108 Comment Public Notice, 

the Commission also adopts the 

proposal to assign each license a 

specific number of bidding units, equal 

to one bidding unit per $100 of the 

upfront payment, which is necessary for 

implementing the activity requirement 

described in Section IV.F. (Activity 

Rule) below, and facilitates the efficient 

conduct of the auction. The number of 

bidding units for a given license is fixed 

and does not change during the 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 bid in any single round, and submit 

an upfront payment amount covering 

that number of bidding units. In order 

to make this calculation, an applicant 

should add together the bidding units 

for the licenses 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. 

EXAMPLE: UPFRONT PAYMENTS AND BIDDING ELIGIBILITY

County State Channel 

block 

Bandwidth 

(MHz) 

Bidding 

units 

Upfront 

payment 

Lake ............................................................................................. IN 2 50.5 700 $70,000 

Porter ........................................................................................... IN 2 50.5 200 20,000 

Under the clock-1 format, if a bidder wishes to bid on the 50.5-megahertz license in both of the above counties in a round, it must have selected both counties on its FCC Form 175 and purchased at least 900 bidding units (700 + 200) of bidding eligibility. If a bidder only wishes to 

bid on one, but not both, purchasing 700 bidding units would meet the eligibility requirement for the 50.5-megahertz license in either county. The 

bidder would be able to bid on the license in either county, but not both at the same time. If the bidder purchased only 200 bidding units, the bidder would have enough eligibility to bid for the license in Porter County but not for the one in Lake County. 

153. If an applicant is a former 

defaulter, it must calculate its upfront 

payment for the maximum number of 

licenses on which it plans to bid 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 

calculate the number of bidding units a 

non-former defaulter would get for the 

upfront payment received, divide that 

number by 1.5, and round the result up 

to the nearest bidding unit. 

G. Auction Registration 

154. All qualified bidders for Auction 

108 are automatically registered for the 

auction. Registration materials will be 

distributed prior to the auction 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. 

155. Qualified bidders that do not 

receive this registration mailing will not 

be able to submit bids. Therefore, any 

qualified bidder for Auction 108 that 

has not received this mailing by noon 

on July 20, 2022, should call the 

Auctions Hotline at (717) 338–2868. 

Receipt of this registration mailing is 

critical to participating in the auction, 

and each applicant is responsible for 

ensuring it has received all the 

registration materials. 

156. In the event that a SecurID®

token is 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 a replacement. To request a 

replacement, 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 

157. Bidders will be able to 

participate in Auction 108 over the 

internet using the FCC Auction Bidding 

System (bidding system). Only qualified 

bidders are permitted to bid. 

158. Each authorized bidder must 

have his or her own SecurID® token, 

which the Commission will provide at 

no charge. Each applicant will be issued 

three SecurID® tokens. A bidder cannot 

bid without his or her SecurID® token. 


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In order to access the bidding function 

of the 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. 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 Auction 108. Please note 

that the SecurID® tokens can be 

recycled, and the Commission requests 

that bidders return the tokens to the 

FCC. Pre-addressed envelopes will be 

provided to return the tokens once the 

auction has ended. 

159. The Commission makes no 

warranties whatsoever, and shall not be 

deemed to have made any warranties, 

with respect to the bidding 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 bidding 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 

bidding system. 

160. To the extent an issue arises with 

the bidding system itself, the 

Commission will take all appropriate 

measures to resolve such issues quickly 

and equitably. Should an issue arise that 

is outside the bidding 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 

bidding 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 bidding 

system. 

I. Mock Auction 

161. All qualified bidders will be 

eligible to participate in a mock auction. 

The mock auction, which will begin on 

July 26, 2022, will enable qualified 

bidders to become familiar with the 

bidding system and to practice 

submitting bids prior to the auction. The 

Commission 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 auction may reduce the likelihood 

of a bidder making a mistake during the 

auction. Details regarding the mock 

auction will be announced in the 

Qualified Bidders Public Notice for 

Auction 108. 

J. Auction Delay, Suspension, or 

Cancellation 

162. At any time before or during the 

bidding process, OEA, in conjunction 

with WTB, may delay, suspend, or 

cancel bidding in Auction 108 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. This approach has proven 

effective in resolving exigent 

circumstances in previous auctions, and 

the Commission finds no reason to 

depart from it for Auction 108. OEA will 

notify participants of any such delay, 

suspension, or cancellation by public 

notice and/or through the bidding 

system’s announcement function. If the 

bidding is delayed or suspended, then 

OEA 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 Commission 

emphasizes that OEA will exercise this 

authority at its discretion. 

K. Fraud Alert 

163. As is the case with many 

business investment opportunities, 

some unscrupulous parties may attempt 

to use Auction 108 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. 

164. 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 

www.fcc.gov/general/frauds-scams-andalerts-guides. 

• The FTC at (877) FTC–HELP ((877) 

382–4357) or by visiting 

consumer.ftc.gov. 

• The SEC at (202) 942–7040 or by 

visiting www.sec.gov/investor. 

165. Complaints about specific 

deceptive telemarketing investment 

schemes should be directed to the FTC, 

the SEC, or the National Consumer 

League’s Fraud Center at fraud.org or 

(202) 835–3323, Ext. 815. 

IV. Bidding Procedures 

166. The Auction 108 Comment 

Public Notice and the Auction 108 

Further Comment Public Notice sought 

comment on three different auction 

formats for Auction 108: A single-round 

auction format with user-defined 

package bidding, a simultaneous 

multiple-round (SMR) auction format, 

and an ascending clock auction format. 

The Auction 108 Inventory Comment 

Public Notice also sought comment on 

the previously-detailed auction 

procedures in light of additions to the 

initial license inventory. As discussed 

below, there are arguments for and 

against each auction format. After 

consideration of the record, the 

Commission finds on balance the record 

supports using an ascending clock 

auction format for Auction 108 by 

which bidding will be conducted 

simultaneously for all licenses available 

in the auction and bidders will be able 

to bid for specific licenses. Accordingly, 

the Commission selects the clock-1 

auction format for Auction 108. This 


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format will be similar to the clock phase 

of past Commission ascending clock 

auctions, but rather than offering 

multiple generic spectrum blocks in a 

category in a geographic area, it will 

offer only a single frequency-specific 

license in a category in a county. Thus, 

by using a supply of 1 in each category, 

a clock-1 auction format allows bidders 

to bid on frequency-specific licenses 

and negates the need for an assignment 

phase, which have been typical of past 

Commission ascending clock auctions. 

167. In response to the Auction 108 

Comment Public Notice, interested 

parties filed numerous comments that 

were split fairly evenly between parties 

that favored the single-round auction 

format and those that favored an SMR 

auction. OEA and WTB subsequently 

released the Auction 108 Further 

Comment Public Notice, suggesting an 

alternative clock auction format that 

would address two frequently-cited 

commenter concerns. Specifically, the 

clock-1 format would be familiar to 

bidders that have participated in FCC 

auctions previously (addressing 

concerns about the unfamiliarity of the 

single-round format) and would 

incorporate elements to help mitigate a 

drawback of an SMR auction—its likely 

long duration—by both potentially 

shortening the length of the auction and 

making it easier for bidders to 

participate in a longer auction. In 

response to the Auction 108 Further 

Comment Public Notice, interested 

parties filed comments in favor of the 

single-round auction format and others 

in favor of the multiple-round clock-1 

auction. Many commenters that 

originally supported an SMR auction 

format in response to the Auction 108 

Comment Public Notice support use of 

the clock-1 format as proposed in the 

Auction 108 Further Comment Public 

Notice. Recognizing that there are 

advantages and disadvantages to each 

auction format for each individual 

bidder, on the whole, the Commission 

finds that for Auction 108 the clock-1 

format balances these competing 

interests. 

168. The Commission directs OEA, in 

conjunction with WTB, to prepare and 

release, concurrently with this Public 

Notice, an updated technical guide 

(Auction 108 Technical Guide) that 

provides the mathematical details of the 

adopted auction design and algorithms 

for the clock phase of Auction 108. The 

information in the Auction 108 

Technical Guide, which is available in 

the Education section of the Auction 

108 website (www.fcc.gov/auction/108), 

supplements the decisions in the 

Auction 108 Procedures Public Notice. 

A. Clock-1 Auction Design 

169. Under the clock-1 format that the 

Commission adopts, each bidder will be 

able to bid for licenses in the license 

areas selected on its short-form 

application, where a specific license 

will be identified by a category and a 

county. The auction will proceed in a 

series of rounds, with bidding 

conducted simultaneously for all 

licenses available in the auction. 

Consistent with prior FCC clock 

auctions, for each bidding round, the 

bidding system will announce a clock 

price for each license, and a bidder will 

indicate its demand for licenses at the 

prices associated with the current 

round. The prices associated with the 

round are prices between the start-ofround price and the clock price, 

inclusive. 

170. The clock price for a license will 

increase from round to round if more 

than one bidder indicates demand for 

that license. The bidding rounds will 

continue until, for all licenses—that is, 

all categories in all counties—the 

number of bidders demanding each 

license does not exceed one. Once 

bidding rounds stop, the bidder with 

demand for a license becomes the 

winning bidder. 

B. Single Licenses in Three Bidding 

Categories 

171. Auction 108 will offer geographic 

overlay licenses for unassigned 

spectrum in the 2.5 GHz (2496–2690 

MHz) band offered in up to three 

channel blocks of spectrum—49.5 

megahertz, 50.5 megahertz, and 17.5 

megahertz blocks—licensed on a county 

basis. For bidding in this clock auction, 

in the counties where available, the 

Commission adopts bidding categories 

as follows: The 49.5 megahertz channel 

block is bidding category 1 (C1); the 

50.5 megahertz channel block is bidding 

category 2 (C2); and the 17.5 megahertz 

channel block is bidding category 3 

(C3). Therefore, the combination of a 

bidding category and a county would 

define a single specific license, and 

bidding for a category and a county 

under the clock-1 auction format would 

constitute license-by-license bidding. 

C. Bidding Rounds 

172. Auction 108 will consist of 

sequential bidding rounds, each 

followed by the release of round results. 

The Commission will conduct bidding 

simultaneously for all licenses—all 

categories in all counties available in 

the auction. In the first bidding round 

of Auction 108, a bidder will indicate, 

for each category and county, whether it 

demands the license at the minimum 

opening bid price. Before each 

subsequent bidding round, the bidding 

system will announce a start-of-round 

price and a clock price for each license, 

and during the round, qualified bidders 

will indicate the licenses for which they 

wish to bid at the prices associated with 

the current round. Bidding rounds will 

be open for predetermined periods of 

time. Bidders will be subject to activity 

and eligibility rules that govern the pace 

at which they participate in the auction. 

173. For each category and county— 

that is, each license—the clock price 

will increase from round to round if 

more than one bidder indicates demand 

for that license. The bidding rounds will 

continue until, for every license, 

demand does not exceed one. At that 

point, the bidder still indicating 

demand for a license will be the 

winning bidder. 

174. The initial bidding schedule will 

be announced in a public notice to be 

released at least one week before the 

start of bidding. Details on viewing 

round results, including the location 

and format of downloadable results files 

for each round, will be released 

concurrent with or prior to that public 

notice. 

175. The Commission will conduct 

Auction 108 over the internet. A bidder 

will be able to submit its bids using the 

bidding system’s upload function, 

which allows bid files in a commaseparated values (CSV) text format to be 

uploaded. 

176. The bidding system will allow a 

bidder to submit bids only for licenses 

in license areas (i.e., counties) the 

bidder selected on its FCC Form 175 

and for which the bidder has sufficient 

bidding eligibility. 

177. During each round of the 

bidding, a bidder will be able to modify 

its bids placed in the current bidding 

round. It can do so by uploading a new 

file of all its bids, including the 

modifications, which would replace 

bids previously submitted in the round. 

The system will take the last bid file 

submission as that bidder’s bids for the 

round. The Commission urges bidders 

to verify their bids in each round. 

Information on how to do so will be 

made available in educational materials 

that OEA will provide, including a 

bidding system user guide and an online 

bidding procedures tutorial. 

178. The Commission adopts the 

proposal that OEA 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 OEA 

to change the amount of time for 

bidding rounds, the amount of time 


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between rounds, or the number of 

rounds per day, depending upon 

bidding activity and other factors. 

D. Stopping Rule 

179. For Auction 108, 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 for all licenses after the first 

round in which demand does not 

exceed one for any license. 

Consequently, under this approach, it is 

not possible to determine in advance 

how long Auction 108 will last. 

E. Availability of Bidding Information 

180. The Commission adopts the 

proposal to make public after each clock 

phase bidding round, for each license, 

the aggregate demand, the posted price 

of the last completed round, and the 

clock price for the next round. The 

identities of bidders making specific 

bids will not be disclosed until after the 

close of bidding in the auction. 

181. 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 inform each bidder of the 

licenses it currently demands (its 

processed demand), whether it has 

proxy instructions for those licenses, 

and its eligibility for the next round. 

F. Activity Rule 

182. Activity Requirement. For the 

reasons set forth in the Auction 108 

Comment Public Notice, the 

Commission adopts the proposal to 

employ an activity rule that requires 

bidders to bid actively throughout the 

auction, rather than wait until late in 

the auction before participating. 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 demands as 

applied by the auction system during 

bid processing. Bidders are required to 

be active on a specific percentage (the 

activity requirement percentage) of their 

current bidding eligibility during each 

round of the auction. 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 

bids in subsequent rounds of the 

auction. 

183. The Commission adopts the 

proposal to require that bidders 

maintain a fixed, high level of activity 

in each round of Auction 108 in order 

to maintain bidding eligibility. The 

clock auction requires a high level of 

certainty about bidder demand in order 

to set accurate prices and provide 

reliable information to bidders. 

Consistent with past practice, bidders 

must be active on between 90% and 

100% of their bidding eligibility in all 

clock rounds, with the specific 

percentage within this range to be set for 

each round by OEA. Thus, the activity 

rule will be satisfied when a bidder has 

bidding activity on blocks with bidding 

units that total 90% to 100% of its 

current eligibility in the round. OEA 

The Commission will set the activity 

requirement percentage initially at 95%. 

If the activity rule is met, then the 

bidder’s eligibility will not change for 

the next round. If the activity rule is not 

met in a round, then the bidder’s 

eligibility will be reduced to an amount 

that brings the bidder into compliance 

with the rule. Bidding activity will be 

based on the bids that are applied by the 

FCC auction bidding system. That is, if 

a bidder bids to reduce its demand for 

a license, but the FCC auction bidding 

system cannot apply the request because 

demand for that license would fall 

below one, then the bidder’s activity 

would reflect its unreduced demand. 

184. OEA retains the discretion to 

change the activity requirement 

percentage during the auction. The 

bidding system will announce any such 

changes in advance of the round in 

which they would take effect, giving 

bidders adequate notice to adjust their 

bidding strategies. 

185. Contingent Bidding Limit. 

Because a bidder’s eligibility for the 

next round is calculated based on the 

bidder’s demands as applied by the 

auction system during bid processing, a 

bidder’s eligibility may be reduced even 

if the bidder submitted bids with 

activity that exceeds the required 

activity for the round. To help a bidder 

avoid potentially having its eligibility 

reduced as a result of submitted bids 

that could not be applied during bid 

processing, the Commission adopts 

procedures to allow a bidder to submit 

bids with associated bidding activity 

greater than its current bidding 

eligibility. However, the Commission 

emphasizes that even under these 

additional procedures, the bidder’s 

activity as applied by the auction 

system during bid processing will not 

exceed the bidder’s current bidding 

eligibility. That is, even if a bidder 

submits bids with associated bidding 

units exceeding 100% of its current 

bidding eligibility, its processed activity 

cannot exceed its eligibility. 

186. Under these procedures, after 

Round 1, a bidder may submit bids with 

bidding units totaling up to a contingent 

bidding limit greater than or equal to the 

bidder’s current bidding eligibility for 

the round times a contingent bidding 

percentage equal to or greater than 

100%. The Commission adopts an 

initial contingent bidding percentage of 

120%, which will apply starting in 

Round 2. The Commission finds that 

120% provides a useful amount of 

flexibility to a bidder trying to guard 

against loss of eligibility when 

requesting a reduction in its demand. 

This limit will be subject to change in 

subsequent rounds within a range of 

100% to 140%. If it appears that the 

contingent bidding limit is being 

misused, OEA may use its discretion to 

change the contingent bidding limit 

percentage. In any bidding round, the 

auction bidding system will advise the 

bidder of its current bidding eligibility, 

its required bidding activity, and its 

contingent bidding limit. The Auction 

108 Technical Guide provides examples 

of use of the contingent bidding limit, 

and bidders are encouraged to review 

them. 

187. As with the activity requirement 

percentage, OEA will retain the 

discretion to change the contingent 

bidding percentage during the auction 

and will announce any such changes in 

advance of the round in which they 

would take effect. 

188. For Auction 108, the 

Commission will not provide for 

activity rule waivers to preserve a 

bidder’s eligibility. The Commission 

notes that the contingent bidding limit, 

which permits a bidder to submit bids 

with bidding activity greater than its 

eligibility, within the precise limits set 

forth above, and allowing bidders to 

submit proxy instructions will address 

some of the circumstances under which 

a bidder risks losing bidding eligibility 

and otherwise could wish to use a 

bidding activity waiver, while 

minimizing any potential adverse 

impacts on bidder incentives to bid 

sincerely and on the price setting 

mechanism of the clock auction. This 

approach not to allow waivers is 

consistent with the ascending clock 

auction procedures used in other FCC 

clock auctions. The clock auction relies 

on precisely identifying the point at 

which demand decreases to equal 

supply to determine winning bidders 

and final prices. Allowing waivers 

would create uncertainty with respect to 

the exact level of bidder demand and 

would interfere 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 bidding 

system, as addressed below. 


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G. Acceptable Bids 

1. Minimum Opening Bids 

189. As is typical for each auction, the 

Commission sought comment on the use 

of a minimum opening bid amount and/ 

or reserve price, as mandated by 47 

U.S.C. 309(j). The Commission will 

establish minimum opening bid 

amounts for Auction 108. The bidding 

system will not accept bids lower than 

the minimum opening bids for each 

license. Based on the Commission’s 

experience in past auctions, setting 

minimum opening bid amounts 

judiciously is an effective tool for 

accelerating the competitive bidding 

process. 

190. The Commission establishes the 

minimum bid amounts in Auction 108 

using the total potential MHz-pops of 

each license offered in the auction, 

rather than on available white space in 

each block. The Commission bases these 

calculations on $0.006 per MHz-pop, 

with a minimum of $500 per license. 

Consistent with the calculations for 

upfront payments and bidding units 

adopted in the Auction 108 Procedures 

Public Notice, for the 49.5-megahertz 

and 50.5-megahertz blocks, the 

Commission bases the calculation on 50 

megahertz. For the 17.5-megahertz 

channel block, the calculation will be 

based on the 16.5 megahertz of 

contiguous spectrum not including the 

1-megahertz guard band. Additionally, 

when calculating minimum bid 

amounts, the Commission rounds the 

results of calculations as follows: 

Results below $1,000 will be rounded 

down to the nearest $100; results 

between $1,000 and $10,000 will be 

rounded down to the nearest $1,000; 

results between $10,000 and $100,000 

will be rounded down to the nearest 

$10,000; and results above $100,000 

will be rounded down to the nearest 

$100,000. The rounding procedures will 

lessen the differences between 

minimum bid amounts for licenses in 

counties with similar population 

instead of reflecting relatively small 

differences in total potential MHz-pops 

that are not necessarily representative of 

the available white space. 

191. The minimum opening bid 

amounts for each license offered in 

Auction 108 are set forth in the 

Attachment A file on the Auction 108 

website at www.fcc.gov/auction/108. 

2. Clock Price Increments 

192. The Commission adopts the 

procedures regarding clock price 

increments described in the Auction 108 

Further Comment Public Notice. 

Therefore, after bidding in the first 

round and before each subsequent 

round, for each license, the FCC auction 

bidding system will announce the startof-round price and the clock price for 

the upcoming round—that is, the lowest 

price and the highest price at which 

bidders can indicate their demand for 

the license during the round. As long as 

aggregate demand for the license 

exceeds one, the start-of-round price 

will be equal to the clock price from the 

prior round. If aggregate demand 

equaled one at a price in a previous 

round, then the start-of-round price for 

the next round will be equal to the price 

at which aggregate demand equaled one. 

If aggregate demand was zero in the 

previous round, then the start-of-round 

price for the next round will not 

increase. 

193. The Commission will set the 

clock price for a license for a round by 

adding a percentage increment to the 

start-of-round price. The Commission 

will set the initial increment percentage 

at 10% and OEA may adjust within a 

range of 5% to 30% inclusive as rounds 

continue. The Commission recognizes 

that an increment larger than the initial 

10% may be useful in managing the 

length of the auction, and OEA may 

increase the percentage increment 

during the auction, but OEA will take 

bidding activity into account before 

deciding to do so and will announce 

any change in advance. To ensure that 

an increase in the percentage increment 

does not result in an unduly large 

increase for a license, the total dollar 

amount of the increment (the difference 

between the clock price and the start-ofround price) will be capped at a certain 

amount. The Commission will set this 

cap on the increment initially at $10 

million and OEA may adjust the cap as 

rounds continue. The 5% to 30% 

increment range and cap will allow us 

to set a percentage that manages the 

auction pace and takes into account 

bidders’ needs to evaluate their bidding 

strategies while moving the auction 

along quickly. 

3. Intra-Round Bids 

194. As described in the Auction 108 

Further Comment Public Notice, in any 

round after the first round, the 

Commission will permit a bidder to 

make intra-round bids by indicating a 

point between the start-of-round price 

and the clock price at which its demand 

for a license changes. In placing an 

intra-round bid for a license, a bidder 

will indicate a specific price and the 

changed quantity it demands (either 

zero or one) if the price for the license 

should increase beyond that price. For 

example, if a bidder has processed 

demand for a license at the start-ofround price of $200, but no longer 

wants the license if the price increases 

by more than $10, the bidder would 

indicate a bid quantity of zero at a price 

of $210. Similarly, if the bidder wishes 

to reduce its demand to zero if the price 

increases at all above $200, the bidder 

would indicate a bid quantity of zero at 

the start-of-round price of $200. 

195. Intra-round bids are optional; a 

bidder may choose to express its 

demands only at the start-of-round price 

or the clock price. Using intra-round 

bidding will allow the auction system to 

use relatively large percentage 

increments, thereby speeding up the 

auction, without running the risk that a 

jump in the clock price will overshoot 

the market clearing price—the point at 

which only one bidder demands the 

license—because bidders can specify a 

price lower than the clock price. 

196. Intra-round bid amounts will be 

limited to multiples of $10 for prices 

below $10,000; to multiples of $100 for 

prices between $10,000 and $100,000, 

inclusive; and to multiples of $1,000 for 

prices above $100,000. 

4. Proxy Bids 

197. The Commission adopts the 

proposal to provide each bidder with 

the option to use proxy bidding under 

the clock-1 format. Accordingly, a 

bidder will be allowed to submit a 

proxy instruction to the bidding system 

to reduce its demand for a license to 

zero at a price higher than the current 

round’s clock price. Proxy instructions 

to increase a bidder’s demand for a 

license at a given price will not be 

permitted. 

198. Under these procedures, if a 

proxy instruction has been submitted, 

the bidding system will automatically 

submit a proxy bid to maintain the 

bidder’s demand for the license in every 

subsequent round as long as the clock 

price for the round is less than the 

proxy instruction price. In the first 

round in which the clock price is greater 

than or equal to the proxy instruction 

price, the bidding system will submit a 

proxy bid on behalf of the bidder to 

reduce the bidder’s demand for that 

license to zero at the proxy instruction 

price. For example, if a bidder has 

processed demand for a license with a 

clock price of $1,000, but the bidder is 

willing to purchase the license for a 

price up to $1,800, the bidder could 

submit a proxy instruction to reduce its 

demand for the license to 0 at $1,800. 

In that case, the bidding system will 

submit proxy bids to maintain the 

bidder’s demand for the license in each 

subsequent round as long as the clock 

price is less than $1,800. 

199. In the case that a bid to reduce 

demand, placed according to proxy 


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instructions or submitted by the bidder 

in the round, is not applied during bid 

processing, the bidding system will 

automatically generate a proxy 

instruction at the bid price and, in the 

following rounds, submit proxy bids on 

behalf of the bidder according to that 

proxy instruction. For example, suppose 

that the start-of-round price for a license 

is $10,000, the clock price is $12,000, 

and a bidder with processed demand for 

the license submits a bid to reduce its 

demand to 0 at price $11,500. If the bid 

is not applied during bid processing 

(e.g., because there were no other bids 

for the license in the round), in the 

following round the bidding system will 

submit a proxy bid on behalf of the 

bidder to reduce demand for the license 

to 0 at price $11,500. The proxy 

instruction preserves in the bidding 

system the bidder’s interest in retaining 

demand for the license at a price no 

higher than $11,500, which may help 

avoid having the license sold later in the 

auction to another bidder at a price less 

than what the initial bidder is willing to 

pay. 

200. In any round, a bidder can 

remove or modify any existing proxy 

instructions or proxy bids for the round 

by uploading a new bid file, including 

the modifications, which would replace 

any bids and proxy instructions 

previously submitted. The system will 

take the last bid file submission as that 

bidder’s bids and proxy instructions. 

201. As is the case for intra-round bid 

amounts, proxy instruction prices will 

be limited to multiples of $10 for prices 

below $10,000; to multiples of $100 for 

prices between $10,000 and $100,000, 

inclusive; and to multiples of $1,000 for 

prices above $100,000. Proxy 

instructions will not be publicly 

released either during or after the 

auction. 

5. Bid Types 

202. Under the clock-1 auction format 

adopted for Auction 108, as in other 

FCC spectrum clock auctions, a bidder 

will indicate in each round the licenses 

it demands at the prices associated with 

the round. Bidders will be permitted to 

make two types of bids: Simple bids and 

switch bids. 

203. A simple bid indicates a desired 

quantity (in this auction, one or zero) at 

a price. A bidder that is willing to 

maintain its demand for a license at the 

new clock price would bid for the 

license at the clock price, indicating that 

it is willing to pay up to that price, if 

need be, for the license. A bidder that 

wishes to change the quantity it 

demands for a license (relative to its 

processed demand from the previous 

round) would express the price (either 

the clock price or an intra-round price) 

at which it wishes to change its 

demand. 

204. A switch bid allows the bidder 

to request to move its demand for a 

license from C1 to C2, or vice versa, 

within the same county at a price for the 

from category (either the clock price or 

an intra-round price). Switch bids are 

allowed only in counties with both an 

available category 1 license and an 

available category 2 license. 

205. Bids to maintain demand will 

always be applied by the auction 

bidding system during bid processing. 

Simple bids to change demand and 

switch bids will not necessarily be 

applied during bid processing. 

6. Missing Bids 

206. Under the clock-1 auction 

format, a bidder is required to indicate 

its demands in every round or have a 

proxy instruction in place, even if its 

demands at the new round’s prices are 

unchanged from the previous round. If 

a bidder does not submit a new bid for 

a license for which it had processed 

demand from the previous round and 

does not have a proxy instruction in 

place, the system will consider that a 

missing bid. 

207. Missing bids are treated by the 

auction bidding system as requests to 

reduce demand to a quantity of zero for 

the license. If these requests are applied, 

then a bidder’s bidding activity, and its 

bidding eligibility for the next round, 

may be reduced. Unlike in previous FCC 

clock auctions for spectrum licenses, 

under the clock1 format for Auction 

108, a bidder is permitted to enter proxy 

instructions. Thus, a bidder that is 

unable to indicate its demands in every 

round can avoid having missing bids by 

entering appropriate proxy instructions. 

H. Bid Processing 

208. The Commission adopts bid 

processing procedures that the auction 

bidding system will use, after each 

bidding round, to process bids to change 

demand to determine the processed 

demand of each bidder for each license 

and a posted price for each license that 

will serve as the start-of-round price for 

the next round. 

1. No Excess Supply Rule for Bids To 

Reduce Demand 

209. Under the clock-1 auction 

format, the FCC auction bidding system 

will not allow a bidder to reduce its 

demand for a license if the reduction 

would cause aggregate demand to fall 

below one. Therefore, if a bidder has 

been bidding for a specific license but 

submits a simple bid to reduce its 

demand to zero for the license if the 

price should increase above the price in 

its bid, the FCC auction bidding system 

will treat the bid as a request to reduce 

demand that will be applied only if the 

no excess supply rule would be 

satisfied. Similarly, if a bidder submits 

a switch bid to move its demand from 

the C1 license to the C2 license in the 

same county, the FCC auction bidding 

system will treat the bid as a request 

that will be applied only if the no excess 

supply rule would be satisfied for C1 in 

the county, and vice versa. 

2. Eligibility Rule for Bids To Increase 

Demand 

210. The bidding system will not 

allow a bidder to increase its demands 

for licenses if the total number of 

bidding units associated with the 

bidder’s demands exceeds the bidder’s 

bidding eligibility for the round. 

Therefore, if a bidder submits a simple 

bid to add a license for which it did not 

have processed demand in the previous 

round, the FCC auction bidding system 

will treat the bid as a request to increase 

demand that will be applied only if that 

would not cause the bidder’s processed 

activity to exceed its eligibility. 

3. Processed Demand 

211. The Commission adopts the 

procedures described in the Auction 108 

Further Comment Public Notice to 

determine the order in which the 

bidding system will process bids after a 

round ends. After a round ends, the 

bidding system will first consider and 

apply all bids to maintain demand, and 

then it will process bids to change 

demand in order of price point, where 

the price point represents the 

percentage of the bidding interval for 

the round. The bidding system will 

process bids to change demand 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 across all 

licenses, then look at bids at the next 

price point across all licenses, and so 

on. As it considers each submitted bid 

during bid processing, the FCC auction 

bidding system will determine whether 

there is excess demand for a license at 

that point in the processing in order to 

determine whether a bidder’s request to 

reduce demand for that license can be 

applied. Likewise, the auction bidding 

system will evaluate the activity 

associated with the bidder’s most 

recently determined demands at that 

point in the processing to determine 

whether a request to increase demand 

can be applied. 

212. Because in any given round some 

bidders may request to increase demand 


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for licenses while others may request 

reductions, the price point at which a 

bid is considered by the auction bidding 

system can affect whether it is applied. 

In addition, bids that were not applied 

because demand would fall below one 

or because the bidder’s activity (as 

applied by the auction system) would 

exceed its eligibility will be held in a 

queue and considered, again in price 

point order, if there should be excess 

demand or if the bidder’s activity (as 

applied by the auction system) is 

reduced sufficiently later in the 

processing after other bids are 

processed. 

213. Therefore, once a round closes, 

the auction system will process bids to 

change demand by first considering the 

bid submitted at the lowest price point 

and determining whether that bid can 

be applied given bidders’ demands as 

determined at that point in the bid 

processing. If the bid can be applied, the 

licenses that the bidder holds at that 

point in the processing will be adjusted, 

and aggregate demand for the license 

will be recalculated accordingly. If the 

bid cannot be applied, the unfulfilled 

bid 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 lowest price point, 

applying it or not given the most 

recently determined demands of 

bidders. Any unfulfilled requests will 

again be held in the queue, and 

aggregate demand will again be 

recalculated. Every time a bid is 

applied, the unfulfilled bids held in the 

queue will be reconsidered, in the order 

of the original price points of the bids 

(and by pseudo-random 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. 

4. Price Determination 

214. As described in the Auction 108 

Further Comment Public Notice, the 

FCC auction bidding system further will 

determine, based on aggregate demand, 

the posted price for each license for the 

round that will serve as the start-ofround price for the next round. The 

price for a license will increase from 

round to round as long as there is excess 

demand for the license but will not 

increase if only a single bidder demands 

the license. 

215. If, at the end of a round, the 

aggregate demand for a license exceeds 

the supply of one, the posted price will 

equal the clock price for the round. If a 

reduction in demand was applied 

during the round and caused demand to 

fall to one, the posted price will be the 

price at which the reduction was 

applied. If aggregate demand is zero, or 

aggregate demand is one and no bid to 

reduce demand was applied for the 

license, then the posted price will equal 

the start-of-round price for the round. 

The range of acceptable bid amounts for 

the next round will be set by adding the 

percentage increment to the posted 

price. 

216. Under the clock-1 auction 

format, if a bid to reduce demand is not 

applied, it is because there is not excess 

demand for the license and, therefore, 

the posted price will not increase. 

Hence, a bidder that makes a bid to 

reduce demand that cannot be applied 

will not face a price for the license that 

is higher than its bid price. 

217. After the bids of the round have 

been processed, if the stopping rule has 

not been met, the FCC auction bidding 

system will announce clock prices to 

indicate a range of acceptable bids for 

the next round. Each bidder will be 

informed of the licenses for which it has 

processed demand and of the aggregate 

demand for each license. 

I. Winning Bids 

218. Under the clock-1 auction 

format, a bidder with processed demand 

for a license at the time the stopping 

rule is met will become the winning 

bidder for the license. The final price for 

a license will be the posted price for the 

final round. 

V. Post-Auction Procedures 

219. The public notice announcing 

the close of the bidding and auction 

results will be released within several 

days after bidding has ended in Auction 

108. The Auction 108 Procedures Public 

Notice will also establish the deadlines 

for submitting down payments, final 

payments, and the long-form 

applications (FCC Form 601) for the 

auction. 

A. Down Payments 

220. The Commission’s rules provide 

that, unless otherwise specified by 

public notice, within 10 business days 

after the release of the auction closing 

public notice for Auction 108, 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 

to 20% of the net amount of its winning 

bids (less any bidding credits, if 

applicable). 

B. Final Payments 

221. Each winning bidder will be 

required to submit the balance of the net 

amount for each of its winning bids 

within 10 business days after the 

deadline for submitting down payments. 

C. Long-Form Application (FCC Form 

601) 

222. The Commission’s rules provide 

that, within 10 business days after 

release of the auction closing public 

notice, winning bidders must 

electronically submit a properly 

completed post-auction application 

(FCC Form 601), including the 

applicable filing fee, for the license(s) 

they won through the auction. 

223. A winning bidder claiming 

eligibility for a small business bidding 

credit or a rural service provider 

bidding credit must demonstrate its 

eligibility for the bidding credit sought 

in its FCC Form 601 post-auction 

application. Further instructions on 

these and other filing requirements will 

be provided to winning bidders in the 

auction closing public notice for 

Auction 108 

224. Winning bidders organized as 

bidding consortia must comply with the 

FCC Form 601 post-auction application 

procedures set forth in 47 CFR 

1.2107(g). 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 designated entity 

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) 

225. Within 10 business days after 

release of the auction closing public 

notice for Auction 108, each winning 

bidder must also comply with the 

ownership reporting requirements in 47 

CFR 1.913, 1.919, and 1.2112 by 

submitting an ownership disclosure 

information report for wireless 

telecommunications services (FCC Form 

602) with its FCC Form 601 post-auction 

application. 


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226. If a winning bidder already has 

a complete and accurate FCC Form 602 

on file in the FCC’s Universal Licensing 

System (ULS), then 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 the 

form on file is not complete and 

accurate, then the winning bidder must 

submit a new one. 

227. When a winning bidder submits 

an FCC Form 175, ULS automatically 

creates an ownership record. This 

record is not an FCC Form 602, but it 

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 notice. 

E. Tribal Lands Bidding Credit 

228. As noted above, a winning 

bidder that intends to use its license(s) 

to deploy facilities and provide services 

to qualifying Tribal lands 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 47 CFR 1.2107 and 1.2110(f). A Tribal 

lands bidding credit is in addition to, 

and separate from, any other bidding 

credit for which a winning bidder may 

qualify. 

229. Unlike other bidding credits that 

are requested prior to an auction, a 

winning bidder applies for a 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 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 qualifying 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 47 CFR 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 

230. 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 47 

CFR 1.2104(g)(2). A default 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. 

231. 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. For the reasons set forth in the 

Auction 108 Comment Public Notice, 

the Commission adopts the proposal to 

set the additional default payment for 

Auction 108 at 15% of the applicable 

bid for winning bids. 

232. 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, then the 

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 

233. If a refund is due, the Bidder 

must request a refund in writing with 

the information listed below and to the 

email listed below. All refunds of 

upfront payment balances will be 

returned to the payer of record as 

identified on the FCC Form 159, or on 

the wire transfer, unless the payer 

submits written authorization 

instructing otherwise. 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 below. 

234. If you have elected not to access 

the Refund Form through the Auction 

Application Manager page, the 

Commission is requesting that all 

information listed below be supplied in 

writing. 

Name, address, contact and phone 

number of Bank 

ABA Number (capable to accept ACH 

payments) 

Account Number to Credit 

Name of Account Holder 

FCC Registration Number (FRN) 

The refund request must be submitted 

by fax to the Revenue & Receivables 

Operations Group/Auctions at (202) 

418–2843, by email to 

RROGWireFaxes@fcc.gov. 

Note: Refund processing generally 

takes up to two weeks to complete. 

Bidders with questions about refunds 

should contact Scott Radcliffe at (202) 

418–7518 or Theresa Meeks at (202) 

418–2945. 

VI. Procedural Matters 

A. Paperwork Reduction Act Analysis 

235. The Office of Management and 

Budget (OMB) has approved the 

information collections in the 

Application to Participate in an FCC 

Auction, FCC Form 175. The Auction 

108 Procedures Public Notice does not 

contain new or substantively modified 

information collection requirements 

subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act 

of 1995 (PRA), Public Law 104–13. 

Therefore, it does not contain any new 

or modified information collection 

burden for small business concerns with 

fewer than 25 employees pursuant to 

the Small Business Paperwork Relief 

Act of 2002, Public Law 107–198. The 

Commission will be submitting a nonsubstantive change request to OMB 

concerning OMB 3060–0600 related to 

the certification requirement for 

Auction 108 applicants adopted in the 

Auction 108 Procedures Public Notice, 

and the Commission will not require 

Auction 108 applicants to make this 

certification on FCC Form 175 until 

OMB has approved the non-substantive 

change request. 

B. Congressional Review Act 

236. The Commission has determined, 

and Administrator of the Office of 

Information and Regulatory Affairs, 

Office of Management and Budget, 

concurs, that this rule is non-major 


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under the Congressional Review Act, 5 

U.S.C. 804(2). The Commission will 

send a copy of the Auction 108 

Procedures Public Notice to Congress 

and the Government Accountability 

Office pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 801(a)(1)(A). 

C. Supplemental Final Regulatory 

Flexibility Analysis 

237. As required by the Regulatory 

Flexibility Act of 1980, as amended 

(RFA), a Supplemental Initial 

Regulatory Flexibility Analysis 

(Supplemental IRFA) was incorporated 

in the Auction 108 Comment Public 

Notice released in January 2021. In 

February 2022, a Second Supplemental 

Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis 

(Second Supplemental IRFA) was 

incorporated in the Auction 108 Further 

Comment Public Notice, and a Third 

Supplemental Initial Regulatory 

Flexibility Analysis (Third 

Supplemental IRFA) was incorporated 

in the Auction 108 Revised Inventory 

Public Notice. The Commission sought 

public comment on the proposals in all 

three public notices, including 

comments on the three supplemental 

IRFAs. No comments were filed 

addressing the Supplemental IRFA, 

Second Supplemental IRFA, or Third 

Supplemental IRFA. The Auction 108 

Procedures Public Notice establishes the 

procedures to be used for Auction 108. 

The Supplemental Final Regulatory 

Flexibility Analysis (Supplemental 

FRFA) reflects actions taken in the 

Auction 108 Procedures Public Notice, 

and supplements the Final Regulatory 

Flexibility Analyses completed by the 

Commission in the 2.5 GHz Report and 

Order and other Commission orders 

pursuant to which Auction 108 will be 

conducted. The present FRFA conforms 

to the RFA. 

238. Need for, and Objectives of, the 

Rules. The Auction 108 Procedures 

Public Notice resolves all open issues, 

and addresses comments filed in 

response to the Auction 108 Comment 

Public Notice, the Auction 108 Further 

Comment Public Notice, and the 

Auction 108 Revised Inventory Public 

Notice. The Auction 108 Procedures 

Public Notice implements auction 

procedures for those entities that seek to 

bid in Auction 108 to acquire new 

flexible-use geographic overlay licenses 

in the 2.5 GHz band. Auction 108 will 

offer the single largest contiguous 

portion of available mid-band spectrum 

below 3 GHz, and the licenses made 

available in Auction 108 will help 

extend 5G service beyond the most 

populated areas. The Auction 108 

Procedures Public Notice adopts 

procedural rules and terms and 

conditions governing Auction 108, and 

the post-auction application and 

payment processes, as well as sets the 

minimum opening bid amounts for new 

flexible-use overlay licenses in the 2.5 

GHz band that will be offered in 

Auction 108. 

239. To promote the efficient and fair 

administration of the competitive 

bidding process for all Auction 108 

participants, the Commission adopts the 

following procedures for Auction 108: 

• A requirement that any applicant 

seeking to participate in Auction 108 

certify in its short-form application, 

under penalty of perjury, that it has read 

the public notice adopting procedures 

for Auction 108 and that it has 

familiarized itself with those procedures 

and the requirements for a license and 

operating facilities in the 2.5 GHz band; 

• provision of discretionary authority 

to OEA, in conjunction with WTB, to 

delay, suspend, or cancel bidding in 

Auction 108 for any reason that affects 

the ability of the competitive bidding 

process to be conducted fairly and 

efficiently; 

• establishment of bidding credit caps 

for eligible small businesses, very small 

businesses, and rural service providers 

in Auction 108; 

• designation of AT&T, T-Mobile, and 

Verizon Wireless as nationwide 

providers for purposes of the 

prohibition of certain communications; 

• use of anonymous bidding/limited 

information procedures which will not 

make public until after bidding has 

closed: (1) The license areas that an 

applicant selects for bidding in its shortform application (FCC Form 175), (2) 

the amount of any upfront payment 

made by or on behalf of an applicant for 

Auction 108, (3) any applicant’s bidding 

eligibility, and (4) any other biddingrelated information that might reveal the 

identity of the bidder placing a bid; 

• establishment of an additional 

default payment of 15% under 47 CFR 

1.2104(g)(2)in the event that a winning 

bidder defaults or is disqualified after 

the auction; 

• a specific upfront payment amount 

for each license available in Auction 

108; 

• 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; 

• establishment of minimum opening 

bid amounts based on $0.006 per MHzpop, with a minimum of $500 per 

license; 

• use of an ascending clock auction 

format for Auction 108 under which 

each qualified bidder will indicate in 

successive clock bidding rounds its 

demand for the single frequencyspecific license in each category in each 

county. Categories are determined based 

on the framework set forth in the 2.5 

GHz Report and Order, in which the 

49.5 megahertz block is bidding 

category 1 (C1); the 50.5 megahertz 

block is bidding category 2 (C2); and the 

17.5 megahertz block is bidding 

category 3 (C3); 

• use of a simultaneous stopping rule 

for Auction 108, under which all 

licenses remain available for bidding 

until bidding stops on every license; 

• retention by OEA of discretion to 

adjust the bidding schedule as necessary 

in order to manage the pace of Auction 

108; 

• permission for bidders to make two 

types of bids: Simple bids and switch 

bids. A simple bid indicates a desired 

quantity (one or zero) at a price (either 

the clock price or an intra-round price). 

A switch bid allows the bidder to 

request to move its demand for a license 

from C1 to C2, or vice versa, within the 

same county at a price for the from 

category (either the clock price or an 

intra-round price); 

• use of information procedures 

which would make public after each 

round of Auction 108, for each category 

in each county, the aggregate demand, 

the posted price of the last completed 

round, and the clock price for the next 

round; 

• use of an activity rule that would 

require bidders to be active on between 

90% and 100% of their bidding 

eligibility in all clock rounds with the 

activity requirement percentage initially 

set at 95%; 

• use of a contingent bidding limit 

that would allow a bidder to submit 

bids with associated bidding activity 

greater than its current bidding 

eligibility, and establishment of an 

initial contingent bidding percentage at 

120%, which would be subject to 

change in subsequent rounds within a 

range of 100% to 140%; 

• a specific minimum opening bid 

amount for licenses available in Auction 

108; 

• an option to permit a bidder to 

submit a proxy instruction to reduce its 

demand for a license to zero at a price 

higher than the current round’s clock 

price and a requirement that bidders 

indicate their demands in every round 

or submit appropriate proxy 

instructions; 

• establishment of acceptable bid 

amounts, including clock price 

increments and intra-round bids, along 

with a methodology for calculating such 

amounts; and 

• establishment of a methodology for 

processing bids and requests to reduce 

and increase demand subject to the no 


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excess supply rule for bids to reduce 

demand and the eligibility rule for bids 

to increase demand. 

240. The procedures for the conduct 

of Auction 108 constitute the more 

specific implementation of the 

competitive bidding rules contemplated 

by parts 1 and 27 of the Commission’s 

rules and the underlying rulemaking 

orders, including the 2.5 GHz Report 

and Order, and relevant competitive 

bidding orders, and are fully consistent 

therewith. 

241. Summary of Significant Issues 

Raised by Public Comments in Response 

to the IRFA. There were no comments 

filed that specifically address the 

information in the Supplemental IRFA, 

Second Supplemental IRFA, or Third 

Supplemental IRFA. One commenter, 

Mile One styled a proposal for the 

Commission to facilitate ‘‘pairing 

infrastructure providers and small 

innovators in commercial market trial 

programs’’ as a comment to the Auction 

108 Comment Public Notice 

Supplemental IRFA. The substance of 

this proposal, however, does not 

specifically address the information in 

the Supplemental IRFA or the 

procedures and policies proposed in the 

Auction 108 Comment Public Notice 

and is outside of the scope of the 

procedures established in the Auction 

108 Further Comment Public Notice and 

the Auction 108 Revised Inventory 

Public Notice. 

242. 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 comments filed by the Chief 

Counsel for Advocacy of the SBA and to 

provide a detailed statement of any 

changes made to the proposed 

procedures as a result of those 

comments. The Chief Counsel did not 

file any comments in response to the 

procedures that were proposed in the 

Auction 108 Comment Public Notice, 

Auction 108 Further Comment Public 

Notice, or Auction 108 Revised 

Inventory Public Notice. 

243. Description and Estimate of the 

Number of Small Entities to Which the 

Rules 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 rules and policies 

adopted in the Auction 108 Procedures 

Public Notice. 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. 

244. As noted above, a regulatory 

flexibility analysis was incorporated 

into the 2.5 GHz Report and Order. That 

order provides the underlying authority 

for the procedures proposed in the 

Auction 108 Comment Public Notice, 

Auction 108 Further Comment Public 

Notice, and Auction 108 Revised 

Inventory Public Notice, and that are 

adopted in the Auction 108 Procedures 

Public Notice for Auction 108. In the 2.5 

GHz Report and Order Regulatory 

Flexibility Analysis, the Commission 

described in detail the small entities 

that might be significantly affected. In 

the Auction 108 Procedures Public 

Notice, in the Supplemental FRFA, the 

Commission incorporates by reference 

the descriptions and estimates of the 

number of small entities from the 

regulatory flexibility analysis in the 2.5 

GHz Report and Order. 

245. Description of Projected 

Reporting, Recordkeeping, and Other 

Compliance Requirements for Small 

Entities. The Commission designed the 

auction application process to minimize 

reporting and compliance requirements 

for small businesses and other 

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, and to 

having reviewed the Auction 108 

Procedures Public Notice. Eligibility to 

participate in bidding is based on an 

applicant’s short-form application and 

certifications, as well as its upfront 

payment. In the second phase of the 

process, winning bidders file a more 

comprehensive long-form application. 

Thus, an applicant that fails to become 

a winning bidder does not need to file 

a long-form application or provide the 

additional showings and more detailed 

demonstrations required of a winning 

bidder. 

246. Applicants that wish to 

participate in Auction 108 are required 

to certify that they have read the 

Auction 108 Procedures Public Notice 

and the procedures adopted in the 

Auction 108 Procedures Public Notice 

for Auction 108, and are familiar with 

the procedures and requirements for 

obtaining a license and operating 

facilities in the 2.5 GHz band. The 

certification requirement allows 

applicants to educate themselves about 

the procedures for participation in 

Auction 108, and their obligation to stay 

abreast of relevant information before 

bidding in Auction 108 begins, and 

throughout the entire Auction 108 

process. Adoption of this requirement 

may help small entities and other 

applicants avoid, among other things, 

rule violations or technical error that 

could prevent them from becoming a 

qualified bidder or obtaining a license 

after placing a winning bid. Moreover, 

the requirement will ensure that small 

entity applicants are aware of the 

detailed educational materials, such as 

interactive, online tutorials and 

technical guides, made available by the 

Commission to enhance the 

understanding of the pre-bidding and 

bidding processes, and should minimize 

the need for small entity applicants to 

hire outside engineers, legal counsel, or 

other auction experts. 

247. Some of the resources that the 

Commission makes available to small 

entities and other applicants are 

discussed above. In light of all of the 

information, resources, and guidance 

made available to potential and actual 

participants at no cost, the Commission 

does not expect that the processes and 

procedures adopted in the Auction 108 

Procedures Public Notice will require 

small entities to hire attorneys, 

engineers, consultants, or other 

professionals to participate in Auction 

108 and comply with the procedures 

they adopt. Although, the Commission 

cannot quantify the cost of compliance 

with the procedures adopted for 

Auction 108, they do not believe that 

the cost of compliance will unduly 

burden small entities that choose to 

participate in the auction. The 

Commission notes that the processes 

and procedures are consistent with 

existing Commission policies and 

procedures used in prior auctions. Thus, 

some small entities may already be 

familiar with such procedures and have 

the processes and procedures in place to 

facilitate compliance resulting in 

minimal incremental costs to comply. 

For those small entities that may be new 

to the Commission’s auction process, 

the various resources that will be made 

available, including, but not limited to, 

the mock auction, remote electronic 

bidding, and access to hotlines for both 

technical and auction assistance, should 

help facilitate participation without the 

need to hire professionals. These 

resources are in addition to the 

resources discussed above that small 

entities and other applicants will be 

able to access. By providing these 

resources as well as the resources 


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discussed below, the Commission 

expects small entities that use the 

available resources to experience lower 

participation and compliance costs. 

248. 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. 

249. The Commission has taken steps 

to minimize any economic impact of its 

auction procedures on small entities 

through, among other things, the many 

free resources the Commission provides 

to potential auction participants. As 

mentioned above, consistent with the 

past practices in prior auctions, small 

entities that are potential participants 

will have access to detailed educational 

information and Commission personnel 

to help guide their participation in 

Auction 108, which should alleviate any 

need to hire professionals. For example, 

small entities and other would-be 

participants will also be provided with 

various materials on the pre-bidding 

process in advance of the short-form 

application filing window, which 

includes step-by-step instructions on 

how to complete FCC Form 175. The 

Commission has taken steps to ensure 

that the application system is simple to 

use, and that FCC Form 175 is easy to 

complete. For example, the application 

will pre-fill ownership information that 

an applicant has previously provided in 

an FCC Form 175 for prior auctions or 

in an FCC Form 602 filing. 

250. In addition, small entities will 

have access to the web-based, 

interactive online tutorials produced by 

Commission staff to familiarize 

themselves with auction procedures, 

filing requirements, bidding procedures, 

and other matters related to an auction. 

The Commission has also made 

available resources to assist applicants 

in conducting due diligence research 

regarding potential encumbrances in the 

2.5 GHz band, including a mapping tool 

to help identify and view existing 

licenses and Rural Tribal Priority 

Window applications in the 

Commission’s Universal Licensing 

System (ULS) database. 

251. After the initial application stage, 

auction participants whose applications 

have been deemed incomplete have the 

opportunity to correct certain errors. An 

applicant whose application is deemed 

incomplete will receive a letter from the 

Commission identifying the specific 

errors in their application and providing 

contact information for a specific FCC 

staff member who has been assigned to 

provide assistance. Additionally, after 

the application process is complete and 

the Commission has identified the 

applicants who will be qualified to bid 

in Auction 108, all qualified bidders for 

Auction 108 will automatically be 

registered for the auction, and 

registration materials will be distributed 

prior to the auction by overnight 

delivery. Applicants are not required to 

take any further steps until bidding 

commences. 

252. Prior to the start of bidding, 

eligible bidders will be given an 

opportunity to become familiar with 

auction procedures and the bidding 

system by participating in a mock 

auction. Eligible bidders will have 

access to a user guide for the bidding 

system, bidding file formats, and an 

online bidding procedures tutorial in 

advance of the mock auction. Further, 

the Commission will conduct Auction 

108 electronically over the internet 

using a web-based auction system that 

eliminates the need for small entities 

and other bidders to be physically 

present in a specific location. These 

mechanisms are made available to 

facilitate participation in Auction 108 

by all eligible bidders and may result in 

significant cost savings for small entities 

that use them. Moreover, the adoption 

of bidding procedures in advance of the 

auction, consistent with statutory 

directive, is designed to ensure that the 

auction will be administered 

predictably and fairly for all 

participants, including small 

businesses. 

253. Small entities and other auction 

participants may seek clarification of, or 

guidance on, complying with 

competitive bidding rules and 

procedures, reporting requirements, and 

using the bidding system at any stage of 

the auction process. Additionally, an 

FCC Auctions Hotline will provide 

small entities one-on-one access to 

Commission staff for information about 

the auction process and procedures. 

Further, the FCC Auctions Technical 

Support Hotline is another resource that 

provides technical assistance to 

applicants, including small entities, on 

issues such as access to or navigation 

within the electronic FCC Form 175 and 

use of the bidding system. 

254. The Commission also makes 

various databases and other sources of 

information, including the Auctions 

program websites and copies of 

Commission decisions, available to the 

public without charge, providing a lowcost mechanism for small entities to 

conduct research prior to and 

throughout the auction. Prior to the start 

of bidding, and at the close of Auction 

108, OEA and WTB will post public 

notices on the Auctions website that 

articulate the procedures and deadlines 

for the auction. The Commission makes 

this information easily accessible and 

without charge to benefit all Auction 

108 applicants, including small entities, 

thereby lowering their administrative 

costs to comply with the Commission’s 

competitive bidding rules. 

255. Another step taken to minimize 

the economic impact for small entities 

participating in Auction 108 is the 

Commission’s adoption of bidding 

credits for small businesses and rural 

service providers. In accordance with 

the service rules applicable to the 2.5 

GHz band licenses to be offered in 

Auction 108, bidding credit discounts 

will be available to eligible small 

businesses and small business consortia 

on the following basis: (1) A bidder with 

attributed average annual gross revenues 

that do not exceed $55 million for the 

preceding five years is eligible to receive 

a 15% discount on its overall payment; 

or (2) a bidder with attributed average 

annual gross revenues that do not 

exceed $20 million for the preceding 

five years is eligible to receive a 25% 

discount on its overall payment. Eligible 

applicants can receive only one of the 

available small business bidding 

credits—not both. 

256. An eligible rural service provider 

may request a 15% discount on its 

overall payment using a rural service 

provider bidding credit. 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. 

Rural areas are defined as counties with 

a population density of 100 or fewer 

persons per square mile. Eligible 

applicants can request either a small 

business bidding credit or a rural 

service provider bidding credit, but not 

both. 


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257. The total bidding credit discount 

that may be awarded to an eligible small 

business is capped at $25 million and 

there is a $10 million cap on the total 

bidding credit discount that may be 

awarded to an eligible rural service 

provider. In addition, to create parity 

among eligible small businesses and 

rural service providers competing 

against each other in smaller markets, 

the Commission adopts a $10 million 

cap on the overall amount of bidding 

credits that any winning designated 

entity may apply to winning licenses in 

markets with a population of 500,000 or 

less. Based on the technical 

characteristics of the 2.5 GHz band and 

their analysis of past auction data, the 

Commission anticipates that the caps 

will allow the majority of small 

businesses to take full advantage of the 

bidding credit program, thereby 

lowering the relative costs of 

participation for small businesses. 

While eligible entities will have the 

opportunity to compete at auction 

without being unduly constrained, the 

caps are reasonable enough to ensure 

that ineligible entities are not 

encouraged to undercut the 

Commission’s rules, thereby achieving 

the Commission’s dual statutory goals of 

benefitting designated entities and at the 

same time preventing unjust 

enrichment. 

258. A Tribal lands bidding credit 

will also be available to winning bidders 

that intend to deploy facilities and 

provide services to qualifying Tribal 

lands that have a wireline penetration 

rate equal to or below 85 percent. The 

Tribal lands bidding credit is in 

addition to, and separate from, any 

other bidding credit winning bidders 

may qualify to claim. Therefore, small 

entities that are eligible for the small or 

rural bidding credit can also claim the 

Tribal lands bidding credit, provided 

they meet the requirements of 47 CFR 

1.2107 and 1.2110(f). 

259. These procedures for the conduct 

of Auction 108 constitute the more 

specific implementation of the 

competitive bidding rules contemplated 

by parts 1 and 27 of the Commission’s 

rules and the underlying rulemaking 

orders, including the 2.5 GHz Report 

and Order and relevant competitive 

bidding orders, and are fully consistent 

therewith. 

260. Report to Congress. The 

Commission will send a copy of the 

Auction 108 Procedures Public Notice, 

in a report to Congress pursuant to the 

Congressional Review Act. In addition, 

the Commission will send a copy of the 

Auction 108 Procedures Public Notice, 

including the Supplemental FRFA to 

the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the 

SBA. 

Federal Communications Commission. 

Marlene Dortch, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2022–07602 Filed 4–12–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6712–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

50 CFR Part 17 

[Docket No. FWS–R1–ES–2020–0153; 

FF09E21000 FXES1111090FEDR 223] 

RIN 1018–BE76 

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife 

and Plants; Threatened Species Status 

for Streaked Horned Lark With Section 

4(d) Rule 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service (Service), affirm the 

listing of the streaked horned lark 

(Eremophila alpestris strigata), a bird 

subspecies from Washington and 

Oregon, as a threatened species under 

the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as 

amended (Act). We also revise the rule 

issued under section 4(d) of the Act 

(‘‘4(d) rule’’) for this bird. This final rule 

maintains this species as a threatened 

species on the List of Endangered and 

Threatened Wildlife and continues to 

extend the protections of the Act to the 

species. 

DATES: This rule is effective May 13, 

2022. 

ADDRESSES: This final rule is available 

on the internet at https://

www.regulations.gov under Docket No. 

FWS–R1–ES–2020–0153 and at https:// 

www.fws.gov/oregonfwo/. Comments 

and materials we received, as well as 

supporting documentation we used in 

preparing this rule, are available for 

public inspection at https://

www.regulations.gov under Docket No. 

FWS–R1–ES–2020–0153. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul 

Henson, State Supervisor, U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service, Oregon Fish and 

Wildlife Office, 2600 SE 98th Avenue, 

Suite 100, Portland, OR 97266; 

telephone 503–231–6179. Individuals in 

the United States who are deaf, 

deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a 

speech disability may dial 711 (TTY, 

TDD, or TeleBraille) to access 

telecommunications relay services. 

Individuals outside the United States 

should use the relay services offered 

within their country to make 

international calls to the point-ofcontact in the United States. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Executive Summary 

Why we need to publish a rule. On 

February 28, 2018, the Center for 

Biological Diversity filed suit against the 

Department of the Interior and the 

Service on the 2013 listing and 4(d) 

rules for the streaked horned lark (78 FR 

61452; October 3, 2013). The plaintiff 

challenged the adequacy of our 

significant portion of the range analysis, 

and the 4(d) rule’s exception to the take 

prohibition for agricultural activities in 

the Willamette Valley. The court did not 

vacate the rules but remanded them to 

us for reconsideration. On April 13, 

2021, we published a proposed rule (86 

FR 19186) that reflected an updated 

assessment of the status of the 

subspecies and proposed revisions to 

the current 4(d) rule. Under the Act, we 

are required to make a final 

determination on our proposal within 1 

year. 

What this document does. With this 

final rule, we affirm the listing of the 

streaked horned lark as a threatened 

species, and we revise the 4(d) rule for 

the species. 

The basis for our action. Under the 

Act, we may determine that a species is 

an endangered or threatened species 

because of any of five factors: (A) The 

present or threatened destruction, 

modification, or curtailment of its 

habitat or range; (B) overutilization for 

commercial, recreational, scientific, or 

educational purposes; (C) disease or 

predation; (D) the inadequacy of 

existing regulatory mechanisms; or (E) 

other natural or manmade factors 

affecting its continued existence. We 

have determined that the streaked 

horned lark faces threats from the 

ongoing loss and degradation of suitable 

habitat (Factor A), as well as land 

management activities and related 

effects, and recreation (Factor E), 

combined with the synergistic effects of 

small population size and climate 

change (Factor E), such that it is likely 

to become an endangered species within 

the foreseeable future. 

Peer review and public comment. The 

purpose of peer review is to ensure that 

our listing determinations and 4(d) rules 

are based on scientifically sound data, 

assumptions, and analyses. The Service 

prepared the Species Status Assessment 

for the Streaked Horned Lark (SSA 

report) (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

2021a, entire) and sought peer review 

on the report in accordance with our 

joint policy on peer review published in 


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