Auction 107: 3.7 GHz Service

General auction information and associated licensing information is provided below.  This fact sheet includes:

• Key Dates
• Auction Participation
• License Offered
• Permissible Operations
• License Period and Construction Requirements
• Bidding Credits
• Licensing Rules

Key Dates

Auction Participation

In order to participate in Auction 107, you must (1) submit a short-form application (FCC Form 175) prior to 6:00 pm ET on September 22, 2020, and (2) submit a sufficient upfront payment by 6:00 pm ET on November 2, 2020.  Moreover, you must comply with applicable Commission rules and all provisions outlined in the Auction 107 Procedures Public Notice and any additional Auction 107 public notices, which can be found in the Releases section of this web page. 

In addition, under the Education section, interested parties will find additional helpful tools for participating in the auction, including an application tutorial, application filing instructions, and bidding technical guides.

License Offered

Auction 107 will offer 5,684 new flexible‐use overlay licenses for spectrum in the 3.7–3.98 GHz band throughout the contiguous United States subject to clearing requirements.

The 280 megahertz of spectrum available in Auction 107 will be licensed on an unpaired basis in three blocks divided into 20-megahertz sub-blocks by partial economic area (PEA) in the contiguous states and the District of Columbia (PEAs 1–41, 43–211, 213–263, 265–297, 299–359, and 361–411).  Specifically, the A Block will cover 100 megahertz from 3.7–3.8 GHz in five 20-megahertz sub-blocks:  3700–3720 MHz (A1), 3720–3740 MHz (A2), 3740–3760 MHz (A3), 3760–3780 MHz (A4), and 3780–3800 MHz (A5).  The B Block will cover 100 megahertz from 3.8–3.9 GHz in five 20-megahertz sub-blocks:  3800–3820 MHz (B1), 3820–3840 MHz (B2), 3840–3860 MHz (B3), 3860–3880 MHz (B4), and 3880–3900 MHz (B5).  The C Block will cover 80 megahertz from 3.9–3.98 GHz in four 20-megahertz sub-blocks:  3900–3920 MHz (C1), 3920–3940 MHz (C2), 3940–3960 MHz (C3), and 3960–3980 MHz (C4).  The 20 megahertz at 3980–4000 MHz will be a guard band and not available for auction.

Flexible-use overlay licenses will not be issued for Honolulu, Anchorage, Kodiak, Fairbanks, Juneau, Puerto Rico, Guam-Northern Mariana Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Gulf of Mexico (PEAs 42, 212, 264, 298, 360, 412–416).

Potential applicants in Auction 107 should pay particular attention to the framework adopted in the 3.7 GHz Report and Order that requires new overlay licensees to pay a specified share of accelerated relocation payments as well as relocation expenses to reimburse incumbents for the reasonable costs of transitioning out of the lower 300 megahertz of the band in the contiguous United States.

3.7 GHz Service Band Plan

On June 1, 2020, WTB announced that incumbent satellite operators had, in aggregate, made sufficient commitments to clear the 3.7–4.0 GHz band on the accelerated timeline described in the 3.7 GHz Report and Order, thereby triggering accelerated clearing of the band.  As a result, licenses in the A Block in 46 of the top 50 PEAs—PEAs 1–4, 6–10, 12–19, 21–41, and 43–50—will be subject to the Phase I accelerated relocation deadline of December 5, 2021, and licenses in the B and C Blocks in the 46 PEAs and in the A, B, and C Blocks in the remaining 360 PEAs will be subject to the Phase II accelerated relocation deadline of December 5, 2023.

Permissible Operations

A licensee in the 3.7–3.98 GHz 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 section 2.106 of the Commission’s rules.

License Period and Construction Requirements

License Period

Initial authorizations will have a term not to exceed 15 years from the date of initial issuance or renewal.  (See 47 CFR § 27.13(m))

Construction Requirements

Licensees in the 3.7 GHz Service relying on mobile or point-to-multipoint service shall provide reliable signal coverage and offer service within eight (8) years from the date of the initial license to at least forty-five (45) percent of the population in each of its license areas (“First Buildout Requirement”). Licensee shall provide reliable signal coverage and offer service within twelve (12) years from the date of the initial license to at least eighty (80) percent of the population in each of its license areas (“Second Buildout Requirement”). Licensees relying on point-to-point service shall demonstrate within eight years of the license issue date that they have four links operating and providing service to customers or for internal use if the population within the license area is equal to or less than 268,000 and, if the population is greater than 268,000, that they have at least one link in operation and providing service to customers, or for internal use, per every 67,000 persons within a license area (“First Buildout Requirement”). Licensees relying on point-to-point service shall demonstrate within 12 years of the license issue date that they have eight links operating and providing service to customers or for internal use if the population within the license area is equal to or less than 268,000 and, if the population within the license area is greater than 268,000, shall demonstrate they are providing service and have at least two links in operation per every 67,000 persons within a license area (“Second Buildout Requirement”).

In the alternative, a licensee offering Internet of Things-type services shall provide geographic area coverage within eight (8) years from the date of the initial license to thirty-five (35) percent of the license (“First Buildout Requirement”). A licensee offering Internet of Things-type services shall provide geographic area coverage within twelve (12) years from the date of the initial license to sixty-five (65) percent of the license (“Second Buildout Requirement”).

If a licensee fails to establish that it meets the First Buildout Requirement for a particular license area, the licensee’s Second Buildout Requirement deadline and license term will be reduced by two years. If a licensee fails to establish that it meets the Second Buildout Requirement for a particular license area, its authorization for each license area in which it fails to meet the Second Buildout Requirement shall terminate automatically without Commission action, and the licensee will be ineligible to regain it if the Commission makes the license available at a later date.

3.7 GHz Service licensees shall demonstrate compliance with performance requirements by filing a construction notification with the Commission, within 15 days of the expiration of the applicable benchmark, in accordance with the provisions set forth in § 1.946(d) of the Commission’s rules.  To demonstrate compliance with these performance requirements, licensees shall use the most recently available decennial U.S. Census Data at the time of measurement and shall base their measurements of population or geographic area served on areas no larger than the Census Tract level. The population or area within a specific Census Tract (or other acceptable identifier) will be deemed served by the licensee only if it provides reliable signal coverage to and offers service within the specific Census Tract (or other acceptable identifier). To the extent the Census Tract (or other acceptable identifier) extends beyond the boundaries of a license area, a licensee with authorizations for such areas may include only the population or geographic area within the Census Tract (or other acceptable identifier) towards meeting the performance requirement of a single, individual license. If a licensee does not provide reliable signal coverage to an entire license area, the license must provide a map that accurately depicts the boundaries of the area or areas within each license area not being served. Each licensee also must file supporting documentation certifying the type of service it is providing for each licensed area within its service territory and the type of technology used to provide such service. Supporting documentation must include the assumptions used to create the coverage maps, including the propagation model and the signal strength necessary to provide reliable service with the licensee’s technology.

(See 47 § 27.14(v))

Bidding Credits

Bidding credit discounts will be available to those applicants that demonstrate that they are eligible small businesses or rural service providers and win one or more licenses at auction. 

An applicant may claim either a small business bidding credit or a rural service provider bidding credit, but not both.  Each applicant must also certify that it is eligible for the claimed bidding credit in its FCC Form 175.  Each applicant should review carefully the Commission’s decisions regarding the designated entity provisions as well as the Part 1 rules. 

Small Business Bidding Credits

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 3.7 GHz Service licenses to be offered in Auction 107, the level of bidding credits available is determined as follows: 

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 winning bid.

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 winning bid.

Small business bidding credits are not cumulative; an eligible applicant may receive either the 15% or the 25% bidding credit discount on its winning bid, but not both.  The Commission’s unjust enrichment provisions 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.

Rural Service Provider Bidding Credit

An applicant that is eligible for a rural service provider bidding credit will receive a 15% discount on its winning bid(s), subject to the $10 million cap discussed below.  To be eligible, 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, have fewer than 250,000 combined wireless, wireline, broadband, and cable subscribers; and (2) serve predominantly rural areas, defined as counties with a population density of 100 or fewer persons per square mile.  These eligibility requirements must be satisfied by the FCC Form 175 filing deadline.     

Caps on Bidding Credit Discounts

Applicants eligible for bidding credit discounts will be subject to caps on the total amount of discounts they may receive.  Specifically, an eligible small business is subject to a $25 million cap, and an eligible rural service provider is subject to a $10 million cap.  In addition, no eligible small business will be able to obtain more than $10 million in bidding credit discounts in total for licenses won in markets with a population of 500,000 or less.

Licensing Rules

47 CFR Parts 1, 2, and 27