[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 37 (Friday, February 24, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11115-11116]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-4361]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

[AU Docket No. 12-25; DA 12-236]


Mobility Fund Phase I Auction Limited Extension of Deadlines for 
Comments and Reply Comments on Census Block Eligibility Challenges

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In this document, the Commission's Wireless Telecommunications 
and Wireline Competition Bureaus extend the deadline for filing 
comments and reply comments on census block eligibility challenges in 
AU Docket No. 12-25. The comment and reply comment deadlines for all 
other issues in this proceeding remain unchanged.

DATES: Comments due on Census Block Eligibility Challenges (deadline 
extended): March 16, 2012. Reply Comments due on Census Block 
Eligibility Challenges (deadline extended): March 26, 2012. Comments 
due on all other issues (not changed): February 24, 2012 and Reply 
Comments due on all other issues (not changed): March 9, 2012.

ADDRESSES: 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 or 
Sayuri Rajapakse at (202) 418-0660.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Mobility Fund Phase 
I Auction Limited Extension of Comment Deadlines Public Notice (Public 
Notice) released on February 16, 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-

[[Page 11116]]

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 12-236 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) extend the deadline for filing comments and reply 
comments on census block eligibility challenges. Interested parties 
should file comments challenging the Bureaus' determinations with 
respect to the potential eligibility of specific census blocks for 
Mobility Fund Phase I support by March 16, 2012. Reply comments on such 
challenges should be filed no later than March 26, 2012. With respect 
to all other issues in this proceeding, the comment and reply comment 
deadlines are unchanged and respectively remain February 24, 2012, and 
March 9, 2012.
    2. On February 2, 2012, the Bureaus released the Auction 901 
Comment Public Notice, 77 FR 7152, February 10, 2012, which seeks 
comment on auction procedures and certain related program requirements 
for Auction 901, a reverse auction to award $300 million in one-time 
Mobility Fund Phase I support, scheduled for September 27, 2012. 
Auction 901 will award Mobility Fund Phase I support to carriers that 
commit to provide 3G or better mobile voice and broadband services in 
census blocks where such services are unavailable.
    3. As required by the Commission in the USF/ICC Transformation 
Order, 76 FR 73830, November 29, 2011 and 76 FR 81562, December 28, 
2011, the Bureaus announced in the Auction 901 Comment Public Notice 
that they would use January 2012 American Roamer data to determine the 
availability of 3G or better service at the centroid of individual 
census blocks. Because the Bureaus had not concluded their analysis of 
the January 2012 American Roamer data, they provided a preliminary list 
of such blocks based on their analysis of earlier data. On February 10, 
2012, the Bureaus released the updated list of census blocks 
potentially eligible for Mobility Fund Phase I support, based on 
January 2012 American Roamer data. The Auction 901 Comment Public 
Notice asked commenters to identify any census blocks that should be 
added or subtracted from the updated list of potentially eligible 
census blocks and provide supporting evidence for their assertions. The 
Auction 901 Comment Public Notice stated that the Bureaus would 
consider such challenges only in the form of comments to that Public 
Notice.
    4. On February 13, 2012, the Commission received two motions 
requesting additional time for the review of the American Roamer data 
and the filing of census block eligibility challenges. The Bureaus 
found that a limited extension of time for the consideration of census 
block eligibility challenges will serve the public interest and will 
not prejudice any interested party given the issues involved in 
identifying potentially eligible census blocks and in light of the 
Bureaus recent release of an updated list of potentially eligible 
blocks based on January 2012 American Roamer data. The Bureaus 
therefore extended to March 16, 2012, the deadline for filing comments 
challenging the potential eligibility of particular census blocks for 
Mobility Fund Phase I Funding and the reply comment deadline to March 
26, 2012.


Federal Communications Commission.
Gary D. Michaels,
Deputy Chief, Auctions and Spectrum Access Division, WTB.
[FR Doc. 2012-4361 Filed 2-23-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P