Auction 66: Advanced Wireless Services (AWS-1)

General information and associated licensing parameters are provided below. Public Notices provide specific information regarding this auction. This fact sheet includes:

• Key Dates
• Licenses Offered
• Permissible Operations
• License Period and Construction Requirements
• Bidding Credits
• Tribal Land Bidding Credits
• Incumbents
• Auction Closure Requirement
• Licensing Rules
• Auction Structure and Bidding Procedures

Auction No. 66 will offer 1,122 licenses in the 1710-1755 MHz and 2110-2155 MHz (“AWS-1”) bands. A complete list of licenses available in Auction No. 66 and their descriptions is provided in Attachment A of Public Notice FCC 06-47.

Advanced Wireless Services (“AWS”) is the collective term used for new and innovative fixed and mobile terrestrial wireless applications using bandwidth that is sufficient for the provision of a variety of applications including those using voice and data (such as internet browsing, message services, and full-motion video) content.

Authorizations issued on or before December 31, 2009, shall have a term of fifteen years from the date of initial issuance; licenses issued after December 31, 2009, will have a term of ten years from the date of initial issuance or renewal. See 47 C.F.R. § 27.13(g).

AWS licensees must make a showing of “substantial service” in their license area within the prescribed license term. See 47 C.F.R. § 27.14(a). “Substantial” service is defined as service which is sound, favorable, and substantially above a level of mediocre service which just might minimally warrant renewal. Any licensee that fails to meet this requirement will forfeit its license and the licensee will be ineligible to regain it.

Bidding credits are available to small businesses and very small businesses and consortia thereof (as defined in 47 C.F.R. § 1.2110). A bidding credit represents the amount by which a bidder’s winning bid is discounted. The size of the bidding credit depends on the average annual gross revenues for the preceding three years of the bidder, its affiliates, its controlling interests, and the affiliates of its controlling interests:

Bidding credits are not cumulative; a qualifying applicant receives the 15 percent or 25 percent bidding credit on its winning bid, but not both.

A winning bidder that intends to use its license(s) to deploy facilities and provide services to federally-recognized tribal lands that are unserved by any telecommunications carrier or that have a wireline penetration rate equal to or below 85 percent is eligible to receive a tribal lands bidding credit as set forth in 47 C.F.R. §§ 1.2107(e) 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. A winning bidder need not qualify for a small business bidding credit to be eligible for a tribal lands bidding credit.

Unlike other bidding credits that are requested prior to the auction, a winning bidder applies for the tribal lands bidding credit after winning the auction when it first files its long-form application (FCC Form 601). In order for a winning bidder to be awarded a tribal lands bidding credit, it must provide specific certifications regarding the servicing of tribal lands and is subject to specific performance criteria as set forth in 47 C.F.R. § 1.2110(f). For Auction No. 66 the Commission will award pro rata tribal lands bidding credits in the event that the sum of all net winning bids at the close of bidding, exclusive of tribal lands bidding credits, is not sufficient funds both to meet the reserve price and to award all eligible applicants full tribal lands bidding credits.

Additional information on the tribal lands bidding credit, including how the amount of the credit is calculated, can be found on the Commission’s auction web site at Tribal Land Credits.

AWS-1 bands are currently being used for a variety of Government and non-Government services and require relocating incumbent operations. The lower half of these paired frequencies, i.e., 1710-1755 MHz, is currently a Government band and is covered by a Congressional mandate that requires that auction proceeds fund the estimated relocation costs of incumbent federal entities. The upper half of these paired frequencies, i.e., 2110-2150 MHz band, is used by private (including state and local governmental public safety services) and common carrier fixed microwave services (“FS”). The 2150-2155 MHz band is currently used by the Broadband Radio Service (“BRS”). The Commission has adopted a Ninth Report and Order establishing procedures by which new AWS licensees may relocate incumbent BRS and FS operations in spectrum that has been allocated for AWS.

In addition, AWS-1 licensees must comply with the technical and operational rules set forth in 47 C.F.R. §§ 27.50-27.66 and 27.1131-27.1135 to protect co-channel and adjacent channel incumbent Government and non-Government operations from interference.

To comply with a Congressional mandate to recover relocation costs for government operators in the lower (1710-1755 MHz) AWS 1 spectrum band, net winning bids in Auction No. 66 must total at least approximately $2.06 billion in order for the Commission to conclude the auction and award the licenses.

See 47 C.F.R. Parts 27 and 101

For more information about the structure of Auction No. 66 and bidding procedures, see Public Notice FCC 06-47.