[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1817 Introduced in House (IH)]







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.

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

SECTION 1. REINSTATEMENT OF APPLICANTS AS TENTATIVE SELECTEES.

    (a) In General.--Notwithstanding the order of the Federal 
Communications Commission in the proceeding described in subsection 
(c), the Commission shall--
            (1) reinstate each applicant as a tentative selectee under 
        the covered rural service area licensing proceeding; and
            (2) permit each applicant to amend its application, to the 
        extent necessary to update factual information and to comply 
        with the rules of the Commission, at any time before the 
        Commission's final licensing action in the covered rural 
        service area licensing proceeding.
    (b) Exemption From Petitions To Deny.--For purposes of the amended 
applications filed pursuant to subsection (a)(2), the provisions of 
section 309(d)(1) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 
309(d)(1)) shall not apply.
    (c) Proceeding.--The proceeding described in this subsection is the 
proceeding of the Commission In re Applications of Cellwave Telephone 
Services L.P, Futurewave General Partners L.P., and Great Western 
Cellular Partners, 7 FCC Rcd No. 19 (1992).

SEC. 2. CONTINUATION OF LICENSE PROCEEDING; FEE ASSESSMENT.

    (a) Award of Licenses.--The Commission shall award licenses under 
the covered rural service area licensing proceeding within 90 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act.
    (b) Service Requirements.--The Commission shall provide that, as a 
condition of an applicant receiving a license pursuant to the covered 
rural service area licensing proceeding, the applicant shall provide 
cellular radiotelephone service to subscribers in accordance with 
sections 22.946 and 22.947 of the Commission's rules (47 CFR 22.946, 
22.947); except that the time period applicable under section 22.947 of 
the Commission's rules (or any successor rule) to the applicants 
identified in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of section 4(1) shall be 3 
years rather than 5 years and the waiver authority of the Commission 
shall apply to such 3-year period.
    (c) Calculation of License Fee.--
            (1) Fee required.--The Commission shall establish a fee for 
        each of the licenses under the covered rural service area 
        licensing proceeding. In determining the amount of the fee, the 
        Commission shall consider--
                    (A) the average price paid per person served in the 
                Commission's Cellular Unserved Auction (Auction No. 
                12); and
                    (B) the settlement payments required to be paid by 
                the permittees pursuant to the consent decree set forth 
                in the Commission's order, In re the Tellesis Partners 
                (7 FCC Rcd 3168 (1992)), multiplying such payments by 
                two.
            (2) Notice of fee.--Within 30 days after the date an 
        applicant files the amended application permitted by section 
        1(a)(2), the Commission shall notify each applicant of the fee 
        established for the license associated with its application.
    (d) Payment for Licenses.--No later than 18 months after the date 
that an applicant is granted a license, each applicant shall pay to the 
Commission the fee established pursuant to subsection (c) of this 
section for the license granted to the applicant under subsection (a).
    (e) Auction Authority.--If, after the amendment of an application 
pursuant to section 1(a)(2) of this Act, the Commission finds that the 
applicant is ineligible for grant of a license to provide cellular 
radiotelephone services for a rural service area or the applicant does 
not meet the requirements under subsection (b) of this section, the 
Commission shall grant the license for which the applicant is the 
tentative selectee (pursuant to section 1(a)(1)) by competitive bidding 
pursuant to section 309(j) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 
309(j)).

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION OF TRANSFER.

    During the 5-year period that begins on the date that an applicant 
is granted any license pursuant to section 1, the Commission may not 
authorize the transfer or assignment of that license under section 310 
of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 310). Nothing in this Act 
may be construed to prohibit any applicant granted a license pursuant 
to section 1 from contracting with other licensees to improve cellular 
telephone service.

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

    For the purposes of this Act, the following definitions shall 
apply:
            (1) Applicant.--The term ``applicant'' means--
                    (A) Great Western Cellular Partners, a California 
                general partnership chosen by the Commission as 
                tentative selectee for RSA #492 on May 4, 1989;
                    (B) Monroe Telephone Services L.P., a Delaware 
                limited partnership chosen by the Commission as 
                tentative selectee for RSA #370 on August 24, 1989 
                (formerly Cellwave Telephone Services L.P.); and
                    (C) FutureWave General Partners L.P., a Delaware 
                limited partnership chosen by the Commission as 
                tentative selectee for RSA #615 on May 25, 1990.
            (2) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the Federal 
        Communications Commission.
            (3) Covered rural service area licensing proceeding.--The 
        term ``covered rural service area licensing proceeding'' means 
        the proceeding of the Commission for the grant of cellular 
        radiotelephone licenses for rural service areas #492 (Minnesota 
        11), #370 (Florida 11), and #615 (Pennsylvania 4).
            (4) Tentative selectee.--The term ``tentative selectee'' 
        means a party that has been selected by the Commission under a 
        licensing proceeding for grant of a license, but has not yet 
        been granted the license because the Commission has not yet 
        determined whether the party is qualified under the 
        Commission's rules for grant of the license.
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