Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 44 / Tuesday, March 6, 2001 / Notices 13535

on these bid removal and bid

withdrawal procedures.

26. In the Part 1 Third Report and

Order, 63 FR 2315 (January 15, 1998),

the Commission explained that allowing

bid withdrawals facilitates efficient

aggregation of licenses and the pursuit

of efficient backup strategies as

information becomes available during

the course of an auction. The

Commission noted, however, that, in

some instances, bidders may seek to

withdraw bids for improper reasons.

The Bureau, therefore, has discretion, in

managing the auction, to limit the

number of withdrawals to prevent any

bidding abuses. The Commission stated

that the Bureau should assertively

exercise its discretion, consider limiting

the number of rounds in which bidders

may withdraw bids, and prevent bidders

from bidding on a particular market if

the Bureau finds that a bidder is abusing

the Commission’s bid withdrawal

procedures.

27. Applying this reasoning, we

propose to limit each bidder in Auction

No. 39 to withdraw standing high bids

in no more than two rounds during the

course of the auction. To permit a

bidder to withdraw bids in more than

two rounds would likely encourage

insincere bidding or the use of

withdrawals for anti-competitive

strategic purposes. The two rounds in

which withdrawals are utilized will be

at the bidder’s discretion; withdrawals

otherwise must be in accordance with

the Commission’s rules. There is no

limit on the number of standing high

bids that may be withdrawn in either of

the rounds in which withdrawals are

utilized. Withdrawals will remain

subject to the bid withdrawal payment

provisions specified in the

Commission’s rules. We seek comment

on this proposal.

C. Stopping Rule

28. For Auction No. 39, the Bureau

proposes to employ a simultaneous

stopping rule approach. The Bureau has

discretion ‘‘to establish stopping rules

before or during multiple round

auctions in order to terminate the

auction within a reasonable time.’’ A

simultaneous stopping rule means that

all licenses remain open until the first

round in which no new acceptable bids,

proactive waivers, or withdrawals are

received. After the first such round,

bidding closes simultaneously on all

licenses. Thus, unless circumstances

dictate otherwise, bidding would

remain open on all licenses until

bidding stops on every license.

29. The Bureau seeks comment on a

modified version of the simultaneous

stopping rule. The modified stopping

rule would close the auction for all

licenses after the first round in which

no bidder submits a proactive waiver, a

withdrawal, or a new bid on any license

on which it is not the standing high

bidder. Thus, absent any other bidding

activity, a bidder placing a new bid on

a license for which it is the standing

high bidder would not keep the auction

open under this modified stopping rule.

The Bureau further seeks comment on

whether this modified stopping rule

should be used unilaterally or only in

stage two of the auction.

30. The Bureau proposes to retain the

discretion to keep an auction open even

if no new acceptable bids or proactive

waivers are submitted and no previous

high bids are withdrawn. In this event,

the effect will be the same as if a bidder

had submitted a proactive waiver. The

activity rule, therefore, will apply as

usual, and a bidder with insufficient

activity will either lose bidding

eligibility or use a remaining activity

rule waiver.

31. Finally, we propose that the

Bureau reserve the right to declare that

the auction will end after a specified

number of additional rounds (‘‘special

stopping rule’’). If the Bureau invokes

this special stopping rule, it will accept

bids in the final round(s) only for

licenses on which the high bid

increased in at least one of the

preceding specified number of rounds.

The Bureau proposes to exercise this

option only in certain circumstances,

such as, for example, where the auction

is proceeding very slowly, there is

minimal overall bidding activity, or it

appears likely that the auction will not

close within a reasonable period of time.

Before exercising this option, the

Bureau is likely to attempt to increase

the pace of the auction by, for example,

moving the auction into the next stage

(where bidders would be required to

maintain a higher level of bidding

activity), increasing the number of

bidding rounds per day, and/or

increasing the amount of the minimum

bid increments for the limited number

of licenses where there is still a high

level of bidding activity. We seek

comment on these proposals.

III. Conclusion

32. Comments are due on or before

March 9, 2001, and reply comments are

due on or before March 16, 2001. An

original and four copies of all pleadings

must be filed with the Commission’s

Secretary, Magalie Roman Salas, Office

of the Secretary, Federal

Communications Commission, 445

Twelfth Street, SW., TW–A325,

Washington, DC 20554, in accordance

with § 1.51(c) of the Commission’s rules.

See 47 CFR 1.51(c). In addition, one

copy of each pleading must be delivered

to each of the following locations: (a)

the Commission’s duplicating

contractor, International Transcription

Service, Inc. (ITS), 1231 20th Street,

NW., Washington, DC 20036; (b) Office

of Media Relations, Public Reference

Center, 445 Twelfth Street, SW., Suite

CY–A257, Washington, DC 20554; (c)

Rana Shuler, Auctions and Industry

Analysis Division, Wireless

Telecommunications Bureau, 445

Twelfth Street, SW., Suite 4–A628,

Washington, DC 20554. Comments and

reply comments will be available for

public inspection during regular

business hours in the FCC Public

Reference Room, Room CY-A257, 445

12th Street, SW., Washington, DC

20554.

Federal Communications Commission.

Margaret Wiener,

Chief, Auctions & Industry Analysis Division,

WTB.

[FR Doc. 01–5395 Filed 3–5–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6712–01–P

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS

COMMISSION

[CC Docket No. 92–237; DA 01–512]

Next Meeting of the North American

Numbering Council

AGENCY: Federal Communications

Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: On February 27, 2001, the

Commission released a public notice

announcing the March 20 and 21, 2001,

meeting and agenda of the North

American Numbering Council (NANC).

The intended effect of this action is to

make the public aware of the NANC’s

next meeting and its agenda.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Deborah Blue, Special Assistant to the

Designated Federal Officer (DFO) at

(202) 418–2320 or dblue@fcc.gov. The

address is: Network Services Division,

Common Carrier Bureau, Federal

Communications Commission, The

Portals, 445 12th Street, SW., Suite

6A207, Washington, DC 20554. The fax

number is: (202) 418–2345. The TTY

number is: (202) 418–0484.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Released:

February 27, 2001.

The North American Numbering

Council (NANC) has scheduled a

meeting to be held Tuesday, March 20,

2001, from 8:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.,

and on Wednesday, March 21, from 8:30

a.m., until 12 noon. The meeting will be

held at the Federal Communications

13536 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 44 / Tuesday, March 6, 2001 / Notices

Commission, Portals II, 445 12th Street,

SW., Room TW–C305, Washington, DC.

This meeting is open to members of

the general public. The FCC will

attempt to accommodate as many

participants as possible. The public may

submit written statements to the NANC,

which must be received two business

days before the meeting. In addition,

oral statements at the meeting by parties

or entities not represented on the NANC

will be permitted to the extent time

permits. Such statements will be limited

to five minutes in length by any one

party or entity, and requests to make an

oral statement must be received two

business days before the meeting.

Requests to make an oral statement or

provide written comments to the NANC

should be sent to Cheryl Callahan at the

address under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT, stated above.

Proposed Agenda

1. Approval of January 16–17, 2001

and February 20–21, 2001 meeting

minutes.

2. North American Numbering Plan

Administrator (NANPA) Report

3. Report of NANPA Oversight

Working Group

—NANPA Performance Issues (if any)

—NANPA Technical Requirements

Update

—2000 NANPA Performance Update

4. Report of Numbering Resource

Optimization (NRO) Working Group

—Continuing Review of NANP Exhaust

—Monitoring of State Pooling Trials

5. Industry Numbering Committee

Report

6. Report of Toll Free Access Codes

IMG

—Competitive Bids

—Structure and Tariff Issues

—Final Technical Requirements

—Transmittal to FCC

7. Report of the Local Number

Portability Administration (LNPA)

Working Group

—Wireless Number Portability

Subcommittee

—Revised PIM–5 Solutions for

Inadvertent Porting

8. Report of Cost Recovery Working

Group

—Finalize NBANC B&C Technical

Requirements

9. Report of ‘‘Big Picture’’ Ad Hoc

Group

10. Steering Group Meeting

—Table of NANC Projects

11. Steering Group Report

12. Report from NBANC

13. Reseller CIC IMG status report

14. Oversight of LLCs NPAC

15. Meeting Procedures IMG

16. Action Items and Decisions

Reached (5 minutes each, if any)

17. Public Participation

18. Other Business

Federal Communications Commission.

Diane Griffin Harmon,

Deputy Chief, Network Services Division,

Common Carrier Bureau.

[FR Doc. 01–5303 Filed 3–5–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6712–01–U

FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM

Sunshine Act Meeting

AGENCY HOLDING THE MEETING: Board of

Governors of the Federal Reserve

System.

TIME AND DATE: 11 a.m., Monday, March

12, 2001.

PLACE: Marriner S. Eccles Federal

Reserve Board Building, 20th and C

Streets, NW., Washington, DC 20551.

STATUS: Closed.

MATTTERS TO BE CONSIDERED:

1. Personnel actions (appointments,

promotions, assignments,

reassignments, and salary actions)

involving individual Federal Reserve

System employees.

2. Any items carried forward from a

previously announced meeting.

CONTACT PERSON FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Lynn S. Fox, Assistant to the Board;

202–452–3203.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: You may

call 202–452–3206 beginning at

approximately 5 p.m. two business days

before the meeting for a recorded

announcement of bank and bank

holding company applications

scheduled for the meeting; or you may

contact the Board’s Web site at http://

www.federalreserve.gov for an

electronic announcement that not only

lists applications, but also indicates

procedural and other information about

the meeting.

Dated: March 2, 2001.

Robert deV. Frierson,

Associate Secretary of the Board.

[FR Doc. 01–5582 Filed 3–2–01; 2:21 pm]

BILLING CODE 6210–01–P

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

Notice Requesting Comments on

Retail Electricity Competition Plans

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.

ACTION: Notice requesting comments on

retail electricity competition plans.

SUMMARY: Many States have enacted

and, in some cases, begun to implement

legislation designed to introduce

competition into the retail sale of

electricity in order to encourage lower

prices, better service, and greater

innovation. Recently, however,

substantial price increases and

reliability problems in some of the areas

undergoing a transition to competition

raise questions about how electricity

restructuring can best be designed to

benefit retail customers. The Federal

Trade Commission seeks to gather

information about the results, to date, of

different regulatory approaches to the

issues that arise in restructuring the

retail sale of electricity. The

Commission will produce a report that

discusses the advantages and

disadvantages associated with different

approaches to particular issues and that

identifies, if warranted, areas in which

additional federal legislative or

regulatory action may be desirable.

DATES: Comments are due on April 3,

2001.

ADDRESSES: Any interested person may

submit a written comment that will be

considered part of the public record.

Written presentations should be

submitted in both hard copy and

electronic form. Six hard copies of each

submission should be addressed to

Donald S. Clark, Office of the Secretary,

Federal Trade Commission, 600

Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.,

Washington, DC 20580. Submissions

should be captioned ‘‘V010003—

Comments Regarding Retail Electricity

Competition.’’ Electronic submissions

may be sent by electronic mail to

retailelectricity@ftc.gov. Alternatively,

electronic submissions may be filed on

a 31⁄2 inch computer disk with a label

on the disk stating the name of the

submitter and the name and version of

the word processing program used to

create the document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Michael Wroblewski, Policy Planning,

Federal Trade Commission, 600

Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington,

DC 20580, 202–326–2155,

mwroblewski@ftc.gov or John Hilke,

Bureau of Economics, Federal Trade

Commission, 1961 Stout Street, C/O

HHS RM. 325, Denver, CO 80294–0101,

303–844–3565, jhilke@ftc.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Overview

In recent years, many states and the

Federal government have taken steps to

encourage competition in the generation

sector of the electric power industry. To

date, 24 states and the District of

Columbia have set dates to allow

customers to choose their electric power

supplier. In light of recent reliability

problems and increases in electricity

prices in California and the western