[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 33 (Friday, February 17, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9655-9656]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-3838]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

[AU Docket No. 12-25; DA 12-187]


Mobility Fund Phase I Auction Updated List of Potentially 
Eligible Census Blocks

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In this document, the Commission's Wireless Telecommunications 
and Wireline Competition Bureaus provide an updated list of potentially 
eligible census blocks for Auction 901 scheduled to commence on 
September 27, 2012, as well as other updated information consistent 
with the revised list.

DATES: Pursuant to the Auction 901 (Mobility Fund Phase I) Comment 
Public Notice, 77 FR 7152, February 10, 2012, comments are due on or 
before February 24, 2012. Reply comments are due on or before March 9, 
2012.

ADDRESSES: Pursuant to the Auction 901 (Mobility Fund Phase I) Comment 
Public Notice, 77 FR 7152, February 10, 2012, all filings in response 
to the notice must refer to AU Docket No. 12-25. The Wireless 
Telecommunications and Wireline Competition Bureaus strongly encourage 
interested parties to file comments electronically, and request that an 
additional copy of all comments and reply comments be submitted 
electronically to the following address: [email protected]. Comments 
may be submitted by any of the following methods:
    [ssquf] Electronic Filers: Federal Communications Commission's Web 
Site: http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs2/. Follow the instructions for 
submitting comments.
    [ssquf] Paper Filers: Parties who choose to file by paper must file 
an original and one copy of each filing. Filings can be sent by hand or 
messenger delivery, by commercial overnight courier, or by first-class 
or overnight U.S. Postal Service mail. All filings must be addressed to 
the Commission's Secretary, Attn: WTB/ASAD, Office of the Secretary, 
Federal Communications Commission.
    [ssquf] All hand-delivered or messenger-delivered paper filings for 
the Commission's Secretary must be delivered to FCC Headquarters at 445 
12th St. SW., Room TW-A325, Washington, DC 20554. The filing hours are 
8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern Time. All hand deliveries must be held 
together with rubber bands or fasteners. Any envelopes and boxes must 
be disposed of before entering the building.
    [ssquf] Commercial overnight mail (other than U.S. Postal Service 
Express Mail and Priority Mail) must be sent to 9300 East Hampton 
Drive, Capitol Heights, MD 20743.
    [ssquf] U.S. Postal Service first-class, Express, and Priority mail 
must be addressed to 445 12th Street SW., Washington, DC 20554.
    [ssquf] People with Disabilities: Contact the FCC to request 
reasonable accommodations (accessible format documents, sign language 
interpreters, CART, etc.) by email: [email protected] or phone: 202-418-
0530 or TTY: 202-418-0432.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, 
Auctions and Spectrum Access Division: Lisa Stover at (717) 338-2868.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Mobility Fund Phase 
I Auction Updated List of Potentially Eligible Census Blocks Public 
Notice (Public Notice) released on February 10, 2012. The Public Notice 
and related Commission documents may be purchased from the Commission's 
duplicating contractor, Best Copy and Printing, Inc. (BCPI), 445 12th 
Street SW., Room CY-B402, Washington, DC 20554, telephone 800-378-3160, 
or you may contact BCPI at its Web site: http://www.BCPIWEB.com. When 
ordering documents from BCPI, please provide the appropriate FCC 
document number, for example, DA 12-187 for this Public Notice. The 
Public Notice and related documents also are available on the Internet 
at the Commission's Web site: http://wireless.fcc.gov/auctions/901/ or 
by using the search function for AU Docket No. 12-25 on the 
Commission's Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) web page at http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs/.
    1. The Wireless Telecommunications and Wireline Competition Bureaus 
(the Bureaus) announce the availability of an updated list, based on 
January 2012 American Roamer data, of census blocks potentially 
eligible for Mobility Fund Phase I support to be offered in Auction 
901, as well as other updated information consistent with the revised 
list.
    2. The Bureaus scheduled Auction 901 for September 27, 2012, and 
sought comment on procedures for the auction and certain program 
requirements in the Auction 901 (Mobility Fund Phase I) Comment Public 
Notice, 77 FR 7152, February 10, 2012. The Bureaus concluded that they 
would identify census blocks eligible for the Mobility Fund Phase I 
support to be offered in Auction 901 based on an analysis of the most 
recent available American Roamer data, from January 2012. The Bureaus 
described the methodology for identifying potentially eligible blocks 
and provided a preliminary list of such blocks based on their analysis 
of October 2011 American Roamer data, in electronic format as 
Attachment A files, as well as certain summary information (based on 
the same data) in Attachments A and B released with the Auction 901 
Comment Public Notice. Further, the Bureaus stated that upon completion 
of their analysis of the January 2012 American Roamer data they would 
provide an updated list of potentially eligible census blocks and 
related updated information for Attachments A and B.
    3. The Bureaus have finished that analysis and are now providing 
the updated information. The updated list of potentially eligible 
blocks based on January 2012 American Roamer data is available in 
electronic format only, as separate Attachment A files at http://wireless.fcc.gov/auctions/901/. For each potentially eligible block, 
individually identified by its Federal Information Processing Series 
(FIPS) code, these files provide the population and area of the block; 
the associated state, county, tract, and block group; any associated 
Tribe and Tribal land; and the number of road miles in each road mile 
category.
    4. Attachment A to the Public Notice provides a summary of the 
updated list of potentially eligible census blocks based on January 
2012 American Roamer data. For each state and territory, Attachment A 
provides the total number of potentially eligible census blocks 
(unserved census blocks with road miles), the total number of block 
groups with such blocks, the total number of tracts with such blocks, 
the total number of counties with such blocks, and the number of 
cellular market areas (CMAs) with such blocks. For each state and 
territory, Attachment A also provides the total population and

[[Page 9656]]

area of the potentially eligible blocks, and the total number of road 
miles in each of the road mile categories. The Bureaus note that the 
U.S. Census Bureau has not yet released 2010 Census block-level data 
for American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, 
and Guam. Consequently, the population of the unserved blocks in these 
territories is not provided in the Attachment A files.
    5. As noted in the Auction 901 Comment Public Notice, for Auction 
901, the Bureaus will use road miles from the Census Bureau's TIGER 
data for calculating the units in each eligible census block for 
purposes of comparing bids and measuring performance of Mobility Fund 
Phase I recipients. Attachment B of the Public Notice provides nine 
categories of roads in the TIGER data, their descriptions, and the 
total number of miles of each category in the potentially eligible 
census blocks on the updated list the Bureaus announce with the Public 
Notice. The information on TIGER road categories is from Appendix F--
MAF/TIGER Feature Class Code (MTFCC) Definitions, pages F-186 and F-187 
at http://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger/tgrshp2010/documentation.html.
    6. Concurrent with the release of the Public Notice, the Bureaus 
announce the availability of a map of the potentially eligible blocks 
on the updated list. The map is an interactive visual representation of 
data from the updated Attachment A files. The Attachment A files 
contain more information and generally more detail than is displayed on 
the map. The map is available at http://wireless.fcc.gov/auctions/901/ 
and at http://www.fcc.gov/maps/.
    7. For additional information about Auction 901, including an 
overview of requirements to participate in the auction and proposals 
for auction procedures, you should consult the Auction 901 Comment 
Public Notice.

Federal Communications Commission.
Gary D. Michaels,
Deputy Chief, Auctions and Spectrum Access Division, WTB.
[FR Doc. 2012-3838 Filed 2-16-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P