I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1817

To improve cellular telephone service in selected rural areas and to achieve

equitable treatment of certain cellular license applicants.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 14, 1999

Mr. GILMAN (for himself, Ms. ESHOO, and Mrs. MALONEY of New York) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce

A BILL

To improve cellular telephone service in selected rural areas

and to achieve equitable treatment of certain cellular

license applicants.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. REINSTATEMENT OF APPLICANTS AS TEN4 TATIVE SELECTEES.

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding the order of the

6 Federal Communications Commission in the proceeding

7 described in subsection (c), the Commission shall—
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1 (1) reinstate each applicant as a tentative se2 lectee under the covered rural service area licensing

3 proceeding; and

4 (2) permit each applicant to amend its applica5 tion, to the extent necessary to update factual infor6 mation and to comply with the rules of the Commis7 sion, at any time before the Commission’s final li8 censing action in the covered rural service area li9 censing proceeding.

10 (b) EXEMPTION FROM PETITIONS TO DENY.—For

11 purposes of the amended applications filed pursuant to

12 subsection (a)(2), the provisions of section 309(d)(1) of

13 the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(d)(1))

14 shall not apply.

15 (c) PROCEEDING.—The proceeding described in this

16 subsection is the proceeding of the Commission In re Ap17 plications of Cellwave Telephone Services L.P,

18 Futurewave General Partners L.P., and Great Western

19 Cellular Partners, 7 FCC Rcd No. 19 (1992).

20 SEC. 2. CONTINUATION OF LICENSE PROCEEDING; FEE AS21 SESSMENT.

22 (a) AWARD OF LICENSES.—The Commission shall

23 award licenses under the covered rural service area licens24 ing proceeding within 90 days after the date of the enact25 ment of this Act.
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1 (b) SERVICE REQUIREMENTS.—The Commission

2 shall provide that, as a condition of an applicant receiving

3 a license pursuant to the covered rural service area licens4 ing proceeding, the applicant shall provide cellular radio5 telephone service to subscribers in accordance with sec6 tions 22.946 and 22.947 of the Commission’s rules (47

7 CFR 22.946, 22.947); except that the time period applica8 ble under section 22.947 of the Commission’s rules (or

9 any successor rule) to the applicants identified in subpara10 graphs (A) and (B) of section 4(1) shall be 3 years rather

11 than 5 years and the waiver authority of the Commission

12 shall apply to such 3-year period.

13 (c) CALCULATION OF LICENSE FEE.—

14 (1) FEE REQUIRED.—The Commission shall es15 tablish a fee for each of the licenses under the cov16 ered rural service area licensing proceeding. In de17 termining the amount of the fee, the Commission

18 shall consider—

19 (A) the average price paid per person

20 served in the Commission’s Cellular Unserved

21 Auction (Auction No. 12); and

22 (B) the settlement payments required to be

23 paid by the permittees pursuant to the consent

24 decree set forth in the Commission’s order, In
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1 re the Tellesis Partners (7 FCC Rcd 3168

2 (1992)), multiplying such payments by two.

3 (2) NOTICE OF FEE.—Within 30 days after the

4 date an applicant files the amended application per5 mitted by section 1(a)(2), the Commission shall no6 tify each applicant of the fee established for the li7 cense associated with its application.

8 (d) PAYMENT FOR LICENSES.—No later than 18

9 months after the date that an applicant is granted a li10 cense, each applicant shall pay to the Commission the fee

11 established pursuant to subsection (c) of this section for

12 the license granted to the applicant under subsection (a).

13 (e) AUCTION AUTHORITY.—If, after the amendment

14 of an application pursuant to section 1(a)(2) of this Act,

15 the Commission finds that the applicant is ineligible for

16 grant of a license to provide cellular radiotelephone serv17 ices for a rural service area or the applicant does not meet

18 the requirements under subsection (b) of this section, the

19 Commission shall grant the license for which the applicant

20 is the tentative selectee (pursuant to section 1(a)(1)) by

21 competitive bidding pursuant to section 309(j) of the Com22 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(j)).

23 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION OF TRANSFER.

24 During the 5-year period that begins on the date that

25 an applicant is granted any license pursuant to section 1,
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1 the Commission may not authorize the transfer or assign2 ment of that license under section 310 of the Communica3 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 310). Nothing in this Act

4 may be construed to prohibit any applicant granted a li5 cense pursuant to section 1 from contracting with other

6 licensees to improve cellular telephone service.

7 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

8 For the purposes of this Act, the following definitions

9 shall apply:

10 (1) APPLICANT.—The term ‘‘applicant’’

11 means—

12 (A) Great Western Cellular Partners, a

13 California general partnership chosen by the

14 Commission as tentative selectee for RSA #492

15 on May 4, 1989;

16 (B) Monroe Telephone Services L.P., a

17 Delaware limited partnership chosen by the

18 Commission as tentative selectee for RSA #370

19 on August 24, 1989 (formerly Cellwave Tele20 phone Services L.P.); and

21 (C) FutureWave General Partners L.P., a

22 Delaware limited partnership chosen by the

23 Commission as tentative selectee for RSA #615

24 on May 25, 1990.
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1 (2) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’

2 means the Federal Communications Commission.

3 (3) COVERED RURAL SERVICE AREA LICENSING

4 PROCEEDING.—The term ‘‘covered rural service area

5 licensing proceeding’’ means the proceeding of the

6 Commission for the grant of cellular radiotelephone

7 licenses for rural service areas #492 (Minnesota

8 11), #370 (Florida 11), and #615 (Pennsylvania

9 4).

10 (4) TENTATIVE SELECTEE.—The term ‘‘ten11 tative selectee’’ means a party that has been selected

12 by the Commission under a licensing proceeding for

13 grant of a license, but has not yet been granted the

14 license because the Commission has not yet deter15 mined whether the party is qualified under the Com16 mission’s rules for grant of the license.

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