[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 221 (Friday, November 15, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 69221-69222]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-28943]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

[Report No. AUC-02-47-B (Auction No. 47); DA 02-2797]


Revised Inventory and Auction Start Date for Closed Auction of 
Licenses for Cellular Unserved Service Areas; Comment Sought on Reserve 
Prices or Minimum Opening Bids and Other Auction Procedures

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This document revises the starting date for Auction No. 47, 
revises the auction inventory to include three additional licenses, and 
seeks comment on procedural issues related to the auction of these 
additional licenses. This document revises the auction start date to 
provide additional time for bidder preparation and planning.

DATES: Comments are due on or before November 1, 2002, and reply 
comments are due on or before November 8, 2002.

ADDRESSES: All comments and reply comments must be filed electronically 
to the following address: [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For legal questions: Kenneth Burnley 
(202) 418-0660. For general auction questions: Jeff Crooks (202) 418-
0660 or Lisa Stover (717) 338-2888. For service rule questions: Amal 
Abdallah, Jay O'Connor or Mike Kleeb at (202) 418-0620.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Auction No. 47 
Revised License Inventory and Auction Start Date Public Notice released 
October 25, 2002. The complete text of the Auction No. 47 Revised 
License Inventory and Auction Start Date Public Notice, including the 
attachment, is available for public inspection and copying during 
regular business hours at the FCC Reference Information Center, Portals 
II, 445 12th Street, SW., Room CY-B402, Washington, DC 20554. The 
Auction No. 47 Revised License Inventory and Auction Start Date Public 
Notice may also be purchased from the Commission's duplicating 
contractor, Qualex International, Portals II, 445 12th Street, SW., 
Room CY-B402, Washington, DC 20554, telephone (202)

[[Page 69222]]

863-2893, facsimile (202) 863-2898, or via e-mail to [email protected].

I. Background

    1. In the Auction No. 47 Comment Public Notice, the Wireless 
Telecommunications Bureau (``Bureau'') announced the auction of four 
licenses to provide cellular service in four unserved areas (``Auction 
No. 47'') scheduled to commence on December 4, 2002.\1\ By the Auction 
No. 47 Revised License Inventory and Auction Start Date Public Notice 
the Bureau revises the starting date for Auction No. 47 to February 12, 
2003 and revises the auction inventory to include three additional 
licenses in the Cellular Radiotelephone Service. The additional 
spectrum to be auctioned is the subject of pending mutually exclusive 
long-form applications for three additional unserved area licenses. One 
additional license will be auctioned for each of the three additional 
mutually exclusive applicant groups (``MX Groups''). The three 
additional licenses that will be offered in Auction No. 47 and three 
additional MX Groups are identified in Attachment A of the Auction No. 
47 Revised License Inventory and Auction Start Date Public Notice. The 
Auction No. 47 Revised License Inventory and Auction Start Date Public 
Notice seeks comment on procedural issues related to the auction of 
these licenses. The auction start date has been revised to provide 
additional time for bidder preparation and planning.
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    \1\ In addition, procedures were proposed in the Auction No. 47 
Comment Public Notice with actual notice and an opportunity to 
comment provided to all of the parties in this closed auction.
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II. Auction Structure

A. Single-Round Sealed-Bid Auction Design

    2. In the Auction No. 47 Comment Public Notice, the Bureau proposed 
to award licenses included in Auction No. 47 in a single-round sealed-
bid auction. This methodology offers every license for bid at the same 
time with bidders placing one bid per license. For the same reasons the 
Bureau proposed to use the single-round sealed-bid format in the 
Auction No. 47 Comment Public Notice, it proposes to use this format 
for the additional licenses. The Bureau seeks comment on this proposal. 
It will consider comments received in response to the Auction No. 47 
Comment Public Notice as well as comments filed in response to the 
Auction No. 47 Revised License Inventory and Auction Start Date Public 
Notice in considering whether to use a single-round sealed-bid auction 
design as proposed.

III. Reserve Price or Minimum Opening Bid

    3. For the additional licenses offered in Auction No. 47, the 
Bureau proposes to utilize the same minimum opening bid of $500 per 
license as proposed in the Auction No. 47 Comment Public Notice. A 
complete list of all licenses to be offered in Auction No. 47 and their 
proposed minimum opening bids is provided in Attachment A of the 
Auction No. 47 Revised License Inventory and Auction Start Date Public 
Notice. Comment is sought on this proposal. Alternatively, comment is 
sought on whether, consistent with the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, the 
public interest would be served by having no minimum opening bid or 
reserve price.

IV. Upfront Payments and Initial Maximum Eligibility for Each Bidder

    4. For the additional licenses in Auction No. 47, the Bureau 
proposes to use the same upfront payment of $500 per license as 
previously proposed for the cellular unserved service area licenses in 
the Auction No. 47 Comment Public Notice. A complete list of all 
licenses to be offered in Auction No. 47, including their related 
geographic service areas and upfront payments, is included in 
Attachment A of the Auction No. 47 Revised License Inventory and 
Auction Start Date Public Notice. The Bureau seeks comment on this 
proposal.
    5. The Bureau further proposes that the amount of the upfront 
payment submitted by a bidder will determine the number of bidding 
units on which a bidder may place bids. This limit is a bidder's 
``maximum eligibility.'' This number does not reflect the maximum bid 
that can be placed on each license. Rather, a bidder may place bids on 
any number of licenses as long as the sum of the bidding units 
associated with those licenses does not exceed its maximum eligibility. 
Thus, in calculating the upfront payment amount, an applicant must 
determine the maximum number of bidding units it may wish to bid on, 
and submit an upfront payment covering that number of bidding units. 
The Bureau seeks comment on this proposal.

V. Other Auction Procedural Issues

    6. In the Auction No. 47 Comment Public Notice, the Bureau also set 
forth and sought comment on the following proposals relating to auction 
structure and bidding procedures: (i) Information relating to auction 
delay, suspension or cancellation; (ii) round structure; (iii) minimum 
acceptable bids; (iv) winning bids and tied bids; and (v) information 
regarding bid withdrawal and bid removal. For the additional licenses 
in Auction No. 47, the Bureau proposes to utilize the same auction 
structure and bidding procedures proposed in the Auction No. 47 Comment 
Public Notice. The Bureau seeks comment on these proposals as they 
relate to the three additional licenses included in Attachment A of the 
Auction No. 47 Revised License Inventory and Auction Start Date Public 
Notice.

VI. Conclusion

    7. Comments are due on or before November 1, 2002, and reply 
comments are due on or before November 8, 2002. The Bureau requires 
that all comments and reply comments be filed electronically. Comments 
and reply comments must be sent by electronic mail to the following 
address: [email protected]. The electronic mail containing the comments 
or reply comments must include a subject or caption referring to 
Auction No. 47 Comments. The Bureau requests that parties format any 
attachments to electronic mail as Adobe[reg] Acrobat[reg] (pdf) or 
Microsoft[reg] Word documents. Copies of 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. In addition, the Bureau requests that commenters 
fax a courtesy copy of their comments and reply comments to the 
attention of Kathryn Garland at (717) 338-2850.
    8. This proceeding has been designated as a ``permit-but-disclose'' 
proceeding in accordance with the Commission's ex parte rules. Persons 
making oral ex parte presentations are reminded that memoranda 
summarizing the presentations must contain summaries of the substance 
of the presentations and not merely a listing of the subjects 
discussed. More than a one or two sentence description of the views and 
arguments presented is generally required. Other rules pertaining to 
oral and written ex parte presentations in permit-but-disclose 
proceedings are set forth in Sec.  1.1206(b) of the Commission's rules.

Federal Communications Commission.
Margaret Wiener,
Chief, Auctions and Industry Analysis Division, WTB.
[FR Doc. 02-28943 Filed 11-14-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P