[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 60 (Thursday, March 28, 2019)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 11723-11735]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-05911]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

47 CFR Parts 1 and 30

[GN Docket No. 14-177, AU Docket No. 19-59; DA 19-196]


Notice of Initial 39 GHz Reconfiguration Procedures

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Proposed rule; proposed auction procedures.

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SUMMARY: In this document, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau 
(Bureau), in cooperation with the Office of Economics and Analytics 
(OEA), on behalf of the Federal Communications Commission (Commission 
or FCC), seeks comment on the next steps toward implementing the 
procedures to reconfigure the 39 GHz band in preparation for the 
incentive auction that will offer new flexible use licenses in the 
Upper 37 GHz, 39 GHz, and 47 GHz bands. In this document, the Bureau 
also temporarily freezes processing of future applications for 
transfers and assignments of 39 GHz licenses in order to facilitate the 
reconfiguration process and acts pursuant to section 316 to modify 
incumbents' 39 GHz licenses in accordance with the Commission's 
proposed order of modification.

DATES: Comments are due on or before April 15, 2019; reply comments are 
due on or before April 26, 2019.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by AU Docket No. 19-59, 
by any of the following methods:
     Electronic Filers: Comments may be filed electronically 
using the internet by accessing the Commission's Electronic Comment 
Filing System (ECFS) https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/ or the Federal 
eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. Filers should follow 
the instructions provided on the Commission's website for submitting 
comments and transmit one electronic copy of the filing to AU Docket 
19-59. For ECFS filers, in completing the transmittal screen, filers 
should include their full name, U.S. Postal Service mailing address, 
and the applicable docket number.
     To get filing instructions, filers should send an email to 
[email protected], and include the following words in the body of the 
message, ``get form your email address''. A sample form and 
instructions will be sent in response. The Bureau also requests all 
comments and reply comments to be submitted electronically to the 
following email address: [email protected].
     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, Office of the Secretary, 
Federal Communications Commission.
     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 8:00 a.m. to 7 p.m. All hand deliveries must be held together with 
rubber bands or fasteners. Any envelopes must be disposed of before 
entering the building.
     Commercial Overnight mail (other than U.S. Postal Service 
Express Mail and Priority Mail) must be sent to 9050 Junction Dr., 
Annapolis Junction, Annapolis, MD 20701.
     U.S. Postal Service first-class, Express, and Priority 
must be addressed to 445 12th St. SW, Washington, DC 20554.
     People with Disabilities: Contact the FCC to request 
reasonable accommodations (accessible format documents, sign language 
interpreters, CART, etc.) by email: [email protected], phone: 202-418-0530 
or TTY: 202-418-0432.
    For detailed instructions for submitting comments and additional 
information on the rulemaking process, see the SUPPLEMENTARY 
INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For Upper Microwave Flexible Use 
Service (UMFUS) questions, Simon Banyai of the Wireless 
Telecommunications Bureau, Broadband Division, at (202) 418-2487 or 
[email protected]; for auction legal questions: Erik Salovaara of 
the Office of Economics and Analytics, Auctions Division, at (202) 418-
0660 or [email protected]. For information regarding the PRA 
information collection requirements contained in this PRA, contact 
Cathy Williams, Office of Managing Director, at (202) 418-2918 or 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Commission's 
document (Public Notice), GN Docket No. 14-177, AU Docket No. 19-59, DA 
19-196, adopted on March 20, 2019 and released on March 20, 2019. The 
complete text of this document is available for public inspection and 
copying from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) Monday through 
Thursday or from 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. ET on Fridays in the FCC 
Reference Information Center, 445 12th Street SW, Room CY-A257, 
Washington, DC 20554. The complete text is available on the 
Commission's website at http://wireless.fcc.gov, or by using the search 
function on the ECFS web page at http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs/. 
Alternative formats are available to persons with disabilities by 
sending an email to [email protected] or by calling the Consumer & 
Governmental Affairs Bureau at (202) 418-0530 (voice), (202) 418-0432 
(tty).

Ex Parte Rules--Permit-But-Disclose

    Pursuant to Sec.  1.1200(a) of the Commission's rules, this 
document shall be treated as a ``permit-but-disclose'' proceeding in 
accordance with the

[[Page 11724]]

Commission's ex parte rules. Persons making ex parte presentations must 
file a copy of any written presentation or a memorandum summarizing any 
oral presentation within two business days after the presentation 
(unless a different deadline applicable to the Sunshine period 
applies). Persons making oral ex parte presentations are reminded that 
memoranda summarizing the presentation must (1) list all persons 
attending or otherwise participating in the meeting at which the ex 
parte presentation was made, and (2) summarize all data presented and 
arguments made during the presentation. If the presentation consisted 
in whole or in part of the presentation of data or arguments already 
reflected in the presenter's written comments, memoranda or other 
filings in the proceeding, the presenter may provide citations to such 
data or arguments in his or her prior comments, memoranda, or other 
filings (specifying the relevant page and/or paragraph numbers where 
such data or arguments can be found) in lieu of summarizing them in the 
memorandum. Documents shown or given to Commission staff during ex 
parte meetings are deemed to be written ex parte presentations and must 
be filed consistent with Sec.  1.1206(b). In proceedings governed by 
Sec.  1.49(f) or for which the Commission has made available a method 
of electronic filing, written ex parte presentations and memoranda 
summarizing oral ex parte presentations, and all attachments thereto, 
must be filed through the electronic comment filing system available 
for that proceeding, and must be filed in their native format (e.g., 
.doc, .xml, .ppt, searchable .pdf). Participants in this proceeding 
should familiarize themselves with the Commission's ex parte rules.

Supplemental Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis

    As required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980, as amended 
(RFA), the Commission has prepared a Supplemental Initial Regulatory 
Flexibility Analysis (Supplemental IRFA) of the possible significant 
economic impact on small entities of the policies and rules addressed 
in this Public Notice to supplement the Commission's Initial and Final 
Regulatory Flexibility Analyses completed in the Fourth Report and 
Order, Spectrum Frontiers Orders, and other Commission orders pursuant 
to which Auction 103 will be conducted. Written public comments are 
requested on the Supplemental IRFA. Comments must be identified as 
responses to the Supplemental IRFA and must be filed by the same 
deadline for filing comments as specified in the Public Notice. The 
Commission will send a copy of the Public Notice, including this 
Supplemental IRFA, to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small 
Business Administration (SBA). In addition, the Public Notice and 
Supplemental IRFA (or summaries thereof) will be published in the 
Federal Register.

Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA)

    This Public Notice contains new information collection requirements 
that are subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), Public 
Law 104-13. The Commission is currently seeking PRA approval for the 
new information collection requirements associated with the Incumbent 
39 GHz Licensee Short Form Application (FCC Form 175-A). The Office of 
Management and Budget, the general public, and other Federal agencies 
are invited to comment on the new information collection requirements 
contained in this Public Notice. In addition, the Commission notes that 
pursuant to the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2002, the 
Commission seeks specific comment on how the Commission might further 
reduce the information collection burden for small business concerns 
with fewer than 25 employees.

Synopsis

I. Introduction

    1. In this Public Notice, as directed by the Commission, the 
Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (Bureau), in cooperation with the 
Office of Economics and Analytics (OEA), takes the next steps toward 
implementing the procedures to reconfigure the 39 GHz band in 
preparation for the incentive auction that will offer new flexible use 
licenses in the Upper 37 GHz (37.6-38.6 GHz), 39 GHz (38.6-40 GHz), and 
47 GHz (47.2-48.2 GHz) bands. The Bureau designates this upcoming 
incentive auction as Auction 103. As the Commission stated in the 
Spectrum Frontiers Fourth R&O, the incentive auction process--which 
includes the opportunity for 39 GHz incumbents not choosing to 
participate in the auction to receive modified licenses--resolves the 
persistent difficulties presented by the need for existing 39 GHz 
licenses to be transitioned efficiently to the new band plan and in 
some cases, new service areas. This process substantially furthers the 
public interest in making available spectrum for the provision of next-
generation services, while preserving incumbents' spectrum usage rights 
and modifying their licenses (if desired) in a manner that will also 
leave these incumbents better able to provide fifth-generation (5G) 
wireless, Internet of Things, and other advanced services in the 39 GHz 
band.
    2. The key decision for each 39 GHz incumbent will be whether to: 
(a) Relinquish 39 GHz licenses in exchange for an incentive payment, 
with the opportunity to bid on new licenses in the incentive auction, 
if it chooses to do so; or (b) elect to receive modified licenses and 
not apply to participate in the auction for new licenses. In the 
reconfiguration process the Bureau describes below, the Bureau refers 
to this decision as an Initial Commitment. As the Commission determined 
in the Spectrum Frontiers Fourth R&O, incumbents have three options for 
their Initial Commitment. An incumbent can choose to: (1) Have its 
licenses modified based on the Commission's proposed reconfiguration of 
its license holdings; (2) have its licenses modified based on an 
acceptable alternative reconfiguration that the incumbent proposes, 
provided that it satisfies certain specified conditions; or (3) commit 
to relinquish its licenses in exchange for an incentive payment and the 
ability to bid for new licenses. The Initial Commitment results will 
determine the inventory of 39 GHz spectrum blocks that will be 
available to be assigned in the clock phase of Auction 103. Regardless 
of which option an incumbent chooses, once it has made its Initial 
Commitment it will not need to take any further steps before the 
conclusion of the auction, unless it wants to bid on new licenses in 
the auction.
    3. In this Public Notice, the Bureau (1) determines to freeze 
temporarily processing of future applications for transfers and 
assignments of 39 GHz licenses in order to facilitate this 
reconfiguration process, as suggested by the Commission; (2) acts 
pursuant to section 316 to modify incumbents' 39 GHz licenses in 
accordance with the Commission's proposed order of modification, in 
light of the absence of any protests thereto; and (3) seeks comment on 
a proposed path toward reconfiguration of this band in preparation for 
Auction 103.

II. Background

    4. In the Spectrum Frontiers Fourth R&O, the Commission took 
significant steps to make spectrum available for 5G wireless, Internet 
of Things, and other advanced services in the Upper 37 GHz, 39 GHz, and 
47 GHz bands. Over the course of the Spectrum Frontiers proceeding, the 
Commission has

[[Page 11725]]

adopted Upper Microwave Flexible Use Service (UMFUS) rules to make 
available millimeter wave spectrum for such next-generation services. 
When combined, the contiguous Upper 37 GHz and the 39 GHz bands offer 
the largest amount of contiguous spectrum in the millimeter wave bands 
for flexible-use wireless services--a total of 2,400 megahertz. The 47 
GHz band will provide an additional 1,000 megahertz of millimeter wave 
spectrum for such services.
    5. The Commission's decisions in the Spectrum Frontiers Fourth R&O 
resolve the persistent difficulties presented by existing 39 GHz 
licenses issued for past uses under prior rules. These licenses create 
barriers to next-generation services by fragmenting frequencies and in 
some cases, geographic license areas, across the 39 GHz band, because 
existing 39 GHz licenses include a mix of 50 megahertz unpaired channel 
blocks, Rectangular Service Areas (RSA) licenses that do not conform to 
PEA boundaries, and other licenses not authorized to provide service 
throughout the full geographic boundaries of the PEAs due to pre-
existing RSA licenses. The band plan for UMFUS licenses in these 
spectrum bands is 100 megahertz blocks licensed by Partial Economic 
Area (PEA).
    6. The Commission adopted an incentive auction for the Upper 37 
GHz, 39 GHz, and 47 GHz bands in part to make it possible for both 
incumbent 39 GHz licensees and new licensees throughout these bands to 
provide such valuable next-generation services. In preparation for 
assigning new licenses in these bands by auction, the Commission 
decided that all existing 39 GHz licenses are subject to modification. 
These modifications to 39 GHz licenses will enhance opportunities for 
these licensees to provide valuable next generation services. The 
process the Commission mandated will remove barriers to the provision 
of 5G services by giving incumbents the choice of accepting modified 
licenses or, if an incumbent licensee volunteers to relinquish related 
spectrum usage rights in exchange for an incentive payment, cancelling 
these licenses. In the incentive auction, each incumbent 39 GHz 
licensee voluntarily may commit to relinquish all spectrum usage rights 
provided by existing licenses in exchange for a share of the proceeds 
from the auction of new licenses. Those making such a commitment will 
be eligible to apply to bid for new licenses. As in prior t Commission 
auctions, the Commission will develop and detail all the procedures 
necessary to conduct the auction in a pre-auction process framed by an 
Auction Comment Public Notice and Auction Procedures Public Notice.

III. Preparing the 39 GHz Band for Auction 103

    7. The Bureau must implement the steps the Commission described in 
the Spectrum Frontiers Fourth R&O to reconfigure existing 39 GHz 
licenses to better match the new 39 GHz band plan and service rules so 
that incumbents can make binding Initial Commitments through the 
Commission's Initial Commitment System. This Public Notice explains how 
the Bureau will take these steps. The Public Notice includes the 
following appendices, which provide even more detail, including the 
mathematical calculations and assumptions made during this 
reconfiguration process: Appendix A: Reconfiguration Technical Guide; 
Appendix B: Initial Aggregated Incumbent Holdings; Appendix C: Imputing 
Auction 101 Prices for Weights; and Appendix D: Initial Commitment 
Technical Guide. First, the Bureau must aggregate an incumbent's 39 GHz 
holdings to determine how many licenses per Partial Economic Area (PEA) 
the incumbent would be entitled to under the new band plan. Pursuant to 
the Commission's directive in the Spectrum Frontiers Fourth R&O, the 
Bureau also will consolidate the holdings of any licensees that are 
considered ``commonly controlled entities.'' Pursuant to the 
Commission's further direction, and to ensure the data remain 
consistent, the Bureau freezes most transactions relating to 39 GHz 
licenses with the adoption of this Public Notice.
    8. Because incumbents' holdings may not match the parameters for 
the new band plan and service rules, the Commission anticipates that, 
in many markets, incumbents may have ``partial PEA'' holdings--i.e., 
spectrum rights that cover less than the entire population of the PEA. 
In the Spectrum Frontiers Fourth R&O, the Commission determined that 
any incumbent choosing to accept modified licenses could receive at 
most one license that covers a partial PEA. To implement this 
objective, the Commission decided that PEA weights should be applied to 
allow spectrum usage rights to be combined across markets, to produce 
``full'' PEA holdings (license rights equal to covering the entire 
population of a PEA). This will allow the use of mathematical 
techniques that result in a proposed license reconfiguration for each 
incumbent, which will be provided to incumbents in advance of the 
Initial Commitment process, so that they can make informed decisions as 
to whether to accept the proposed reconfiguration, provide an 
alternative reconfiguration, or relinquish existing 39 GHz licenses.
    9. The Commission directed the Bureau to take the steps necessary 
to implement the Commission's decisions regarding existing 39 GHz 
licenses. This Public Notice describes the proposed procedures, 
processes, and methodologies the Bureau plans to implement to 
reconfigure the 39 GHz band.
    10. From the perspective of 39 GHz incumbents, the major steps of 
the 39 GHz band reconfiguration process will be as follows:
     Verifying 39 GHz Aggregated Holdings Data. In Appendix B: 
Initial Aggregated Incumbent Holdings, the Bureau provides as a summary 
of each 39 GHz incumbent's aggregated holdings by PEA. This summary 
indicates the amount of spectrum usage rights each incumbent holds per 
PEA, as a product of licensed bandwidth and the population of the 
licensed area (MHz-pops), based on the records in the Universal 
Licensing System (ULS). In addition, any 39 GHz licensees with common 
control have their aggregated holdings consolidated, as shown in 
Appendix B. Incumbents will have an opportunity to update the license 
information provided in ULS on which these holdings are based.
     File Excepted Transfers and Assignments (if applicable). 
In this Public Notice, the Bureau freezes transfers and assignments of 
39 GHz licenses, with an exception for commonly controlled entities. If 
commonly controlled entities wish to transfer/assign all their 39 GHz 
licenses to one of the commonly controlled entities, they may file an 
application by the deadline specified in this Public Notice.
     Review Updated 39 GHz Reconfiguration Procedures and 
Updated Aggregated Holdings Data. After considering the record produced 
in response to this Public Notice, the Bureau will adopt final 39 GHz 
band reconfiguration procedures in a future public notice (``Updated 39 
GHz Reconfiguration Procedures Public Notice''). Along with that Public 
Notice, the Bureau will provide each incumbent's updated 39 GHz 
aggregated (and consolidated, if applicable) holdings data per PEA 
(``Updated Aggregated Holdings Data''). An ``incumbent'' for these 
purposes is either a single 39 GHz licensee or a group of commonly 
controlled entities that hold 39 GHz licenses.
     Reconfigured 39 GHz Incumbent Holdings Public Notice. 
After the updated 39 GHz band reconfiguration

[[Page 11726]]

procedures are adopted, the adopted procedures and methodologies will 
be applied to reconfigure each incumbent's holdings to match the new 
band plan and service areas. The Reconfigured 39 GHz Incumbent Holdings 
Public Notice will show the license holdings the incumbent would 
receive if in its Initial Commitment it chose to receive modified 
licenses based on the Commission's proposed reconfiguration (Option 1 
under the Initial Commitment Process). The Public Notice will inform 
each incumbent of the PEAs in which it would receive modified 100 
megahertz licenses and the number of such licenses if it chooses to 
accept the modified licenses based on the Commission's proposed 
reconfiguration. The final frequencies of the licenses will be 
determined later; any licensee receiving more than one modified license 
in a PEA will receive licenses for contiguous frequencies within the 
PEA.
     File FCC Form 175-A. To be able to access to the 
Commission's Initial Commitment System, each incumbent must be 
represented through an Incumbent 39 GHz Licensee Short-Form Application 
(FCC Form 175-A). The form will provide contact information, list 
represented licensees, identify authorized Initial Commitment 
Representatives, and include required certifications. All incumbents 
should be listed on a filed FCC Form 175-A regardless of whether they 
intend to bid for new licenses in the incentive auction. In the event 
an incumbent is not listed on a submitted FCC Form 175-A, that 
incumbent will be considered to have committed to accepting modified 
licenses based on reconfigured holdings proposed by the Commission and 
to have foregone any opportunity to relinquish any holdings for an 
incentive payment and to participate in an auction of new licenses in 
Upper 37 GHz, 39 GHz, and 47 GHz. Bureau staff will be conducting 
outreach to all incumbents using their contact information in ULS to 
ensure that they are informed of their options.
     Initial Commitment Process. Each incumbent may commit to: 
(1)Accepting modified licenses based on a reconfiguration of its 
holdings proposed by the Commission in the Reconfigured 39 GHz Holdings 
Public Notice; or (2) accepting modified licenses based on its 
alternative reconfiguration; or (3) relinquishing spectrum usage rights 
under all its 39 GHz licenses in exchange for an incentive payment. An 
``alternative reconfiguration'' for these purposes is a reconfiguration 
that the incumbent submits through the Initial Commitment System; to be 
acceptable, the incumbent's proposal must satisfy the same requirements 
as the Commission's proposed reconfiguration, except that it need not 
minimize the weighted MHz-pops remaining as white space in the one PEA 
in which the incumbent is left with the equivalent of a partial PEA 
block. The Initial Commitment System will provide real-time feedback to 
incumbents on the acceptability of proposed alternative 
reconfigurations. The deadline for making an Initial Commitment will be 
no sooner than 60 days after the release of the Reconfigured 39 GHz 
Incumbent Holdings Public Notice. Any incumbent that fails to make a 
selection by the deadline will be deemed to have selected Option 1: the 
Commission's proposed reconfiguration for modified licenses.
     Round Zero. An incumbent that commits to relinquishing all 
its existing spectrum usage rights (Option 3) will have a limited 
opportunity during the Initial Commitment submission window to 
redistribute its MHz-pops that are equivalent to a partial PEA license 
based on its updated aggregated holdings in any PEA, based on their 
relative weights, as part of the Round Zero process in the Initial 
Commitment System. Incentive payments to those 39 GHz incumbents 
committing to Option 3 will be based on the redistributed holdings at 
the close of Round Zero.
     Existing Licenses Pending the Auction. Regardless of each 
incumbent's binding Initial Commitment, each incumbent licensee will 
retain its existing 39 GHz licenses until after the close of the 
auction and the announcement of winning bidders for new licenses. The 
announcement of winning bidders for the auction must occur before the 
Commission can assign frequencies to modified licenses, issue new 
licenses, or share auction proceeds as incentive payments with 
incumbents for cancelled 39 GHz licenses.
     Auction of New Licenses. Following the Initial Commitment 
process, potential bidders for new licenses will take typical pre-
auction actions necessary to become qualified to bid. Only incumbents 
that elect Option 3 to relinquish licenses are permitted to bid on new 
licenses in Auction 103, if they choose to do so, but they also may 
elect not to bid and simply receive incentive payments for their 
relinquished licenses. As determined in the Spectrum Frontiers Fourth 
R&O, incumbents that elect to receive modified licenses will be 
assigned frequencies based on the results of the auction assignment 
phase but cannot bid for particular frequencies in the assignment 
phase.
     Post-Incentive Auction Transition and Incentive Payments. 
Following the announcement of winning bidders in the incentive auction, 
the Commission, based on the incumbents' Initial Commitments, will 
issue modified licenses and cancel relinquished licenses. Incumbents 
will be able to seek Special Temporary Authority as needed to 
transition from existing licenses to modified licenses or to new 
licenses that will be issued subsequently. Any new licenses that an 
incumbent wins in the auction will be issued pursuant to the 
Commission's standard process of receiving winning bids, reviewing 
license applications, and then granting the new licenses. The 
Commission will be ready to make incentive payments owed following the 
grant of new licenses associated with winning bids.

IV. Final Actions

A. Freeze on Transfers and Assignments for 39 GHz Licenses

    11. In the Spectrum Frontiers Fourth R&O, the Commission recognized 
that it may be appropriate to freeze transfers and assignments of 39 
GHz licenses, and it directed the Bureau to address whether or when it 
is necessary to freeze transfers and assignments of 39 GHz licenses 
prior to calculations of aggregate holdings. The Bureau concludes that, 
with the release of this Public Notice, the Bureau will implement a 
temporary freeze on the acceptance and processing of applications 
relating to any future transfers or assignments of 39 GHz licenses, 
with one exception. Any applications received after the release of this 
Public Notice that do not fall under the exception or applications that 
fall under the exception that are received after the deadline provided 
in this Public Notice will be returned as unacceptable for filing. This 
freeze will end after new licenses have been granted to winning bidders 
and modified licenses have been issued to non-auction participants.
    12. A freeze on transfers and assignments is necessary to ensure 
that the Commission's reconfiguration of existing licenses is not 
unwound by any transfers and assignments that might materially revise 
the holdings that are the subject of the reconfiguration. A significant 
aspect of the reconfiguration process is the consideration of an 
incumbent's spectrum usage rights on an aggregated basis (``aggregated 
holdings''). If an incumbent could transfer or assign some subset of 
its 39 GHz licenses, the Commission's reconfiguration of the 
incumbent's aggregated holdings would no longer be consistent with the 
incumbent's actual holdings. Furthermore, the effectiveness

[[Page 11727]]

of an incumbent's certifications and other representations with respect 
to its Initial Commitment might be brought into question following a 
transfer or assignment of some or all of its 39 GHz licenses.
    13. This freeze nevertheless is subject to one exception. This 
freeze will not affect transfers or assignments to or among commonly 
controlled entities, and applications that fall into this category will 
be accepted until April 15, 2019. In the Spectrum Frontiers Fourth R&O, 
the Commission determined that licenses held by commonly controlled 
entities would be treated as held by one entity for purposes of 
reconfiguring 39 GHz holdings (which the Bureau refers to as 
``consolidated holdings''). Specifically, the Commission noted that 
``[f]or this purpose, we will use the definition of `controlling 
interest' as an entity with de jure or de facto control that the 
Commission uses with respect to auction applications, specifically the 
rule prohibiting an individual or entity from having a controlling 
interest in more than one application to participate in the auction.'' 
Further, the Commission determined that commonly controlled entities 
will be aggregated in the reconfiguration process. Because these 
transactions would transfer or assign to other entities spectrum rights 
that already are part of consolidated holdings, the transactions would 
not result in any material change for purposes of this process. Any 39 
GHz licensees that are commonly controlled entities and intend to 
consolidate their licenses so that one entity is the licensee for the 
``consolidated holdings'' should file these transfer or assignment 
applications as soon as possible, and no later than April 15, 2019.

B. Final Order of Modification

    14. In the Spectrum Frontiers Fourth R&O, the Commission affirmed 
its conclusion that it had the authority under the Communications Act 
to modify existing licenses in a manner that would allow for a more 
efficient auction and to conduct an incentive auction for these bands. 
Specifically, it determined that, in order to resolve the difficulties 
presented by the existing encumbered and non-contiguous licenses and to 
clear the way for assignment of a significant number of new licenses 
for whole blocks with contiguous frequencies within PEAs, it was 
necessary to employ an incentive auction, while offering incumbents 
that chose not to participate in the auction an alternative of modified 
39 GHz licenses.
    15. The Commission explained that, because some existing licenses 
may cover geographic areas that do not match the PEA service areas 
established for the 39 GHz band, an incumbent's modified licenses may 
need to be reconfigured to create whole spectrum blocks providing 100 
megahertz over a full PEA in some of those areas. Where such changes 
are unavoidable, the reconfigured licenses would maintain the overall 
value of spectrum usage rights by quantifying those rights by weighted 
MHz-pops, as measured pursuant to the procedures established by the 
Spectrum Frontiers Fourth R&O, and the incumbent would retain at most 
one modified license for a partial PEA. Doing so would allow these 
incumbents to better provide next-generation services and help create 
generic blocks for new licenses that will better enable new licensees 
to offer next generation services and that can be assigned efficiently 
using an auction.
    16. Following the Spectrum Frontiers Fourth R&O, no petitions for 
reconsideration or protests of the order of modification were timely 
filed. Based on the record in this matter and the Commission's decision 
in the Spectrum Frontiers Fourth R&O, the Bureau concludes it is in the 
public interest to modify the spectrum usage rights of existing 39 GHz 
licenses as described therein. The Public Notice is being sent by 
certified mail, return receipt requested, to each current 39 GHz 
licensee at the mailing address on file in ULS. Ultimately, any current 
39 GHz licensee that chooses to accept modified licenses will have its 
spectrum usage rights modified no earlier than after winning bidders 
are announced in Auction 103. As part of the Auction 103 Closing Public 
Notice that announces winning bidders, incumbent 39 GHz licensees 
choosing to accept modified licenses will be notified of the specific 
frequencies of their modified licenses.

V. Quantifying Existing 39 GHz Licenses

A. Current Universal Licensing System Data

    17. The Bureau lists 39 GHz MHz-pops holdings based on the 
information available in the public ULS in Appendix B: Initial 
Aggregated Incumbent Holdings. The holdings have been determined by the 
population covered by a license within a PEA, aggregated by licensee, 
and consolidated for commonly controlled entities, if applicable. The 
Bureau uses ``incumbent'' to refer both to a single 39 GHz licensee and 
to a group of commonly controlled entities that hold 39 GHz licenses. 
The Bureau explains in this section the process by which each 
incumbent's existing spectrum usage rights has been determined. These 
holdings will be used with respect to any option chosen as an Initial 
Commitment for an incumbent.
    18. Incumbent licensees are responsible for ensuring the accuracy 
of the ULS data underlying these calculations of the holdings listed in 
Appendix B: Initial Aggregated Incumbent Holdings and for identifying 
any apparent discrepancies in the calculations. If an incumbent needs 
to update its information by filing an FCC Form (such as updating its 
ownership information or notifying the Commission of transfers of 
control or assignments of these licenses that are not reflected in the 
current data), it should file the appropriate form(s) to make any 
necessary corrections as soon as possible, but no later than April 15, 
2019. This includes any incumbent 39 GHz licensees listed as individual 
licensees in Appendix B that are commonly controlled entities. The 
Bureau will evaluate any claims of commonly controlled entities prior 
to announcing the Updated Aggregated Holdings Data to ensure that those 
incumbents' holdings are consolidated where required. If any incumbents 
that are commonly controlled under a de facto control standard do not 
seek consolidation and we later determine that there is common control, 
they will be in violation of 47 CFR 1.2105(a)(3) if they both elect to 
participate in the auction for new licenses.
    19. If there are any administrative corrections needed, incumbents 
should make those administrative corrections via ULS no later than 
April 15, 2019. Incumbents should contact the Commission if they 
discover any discrepancies in the data reflected in the attachment that 
cannot otherwise be addressed either by making administrative updates 
in ULS or by filing an FCC Form, and should do so as soon as possible.
    20. The Bureau will release the Updated Aggregated Holdings Data 
(identifying an updated account of each incumbent's existing 39 GHz 
spectrum usage rights holdings) in the Updated 39 GHz Reconfiguration 
Procedures Public Notice after incumbents have had the opportunity to 
make any corrections.

B. Determining Current Licensees' Aggregate Holdings by PEA

    21. As determined in the Spectrum Frontiers Fourth R&O, 2010 Census 
data will be used to determine the population covered by each existing 
39 GHz license. The two-by-two kilometer grid cell methodology employed 
to determine population in particular areas

[[Page 11728]]

in the broadcast television spectrum incentive auction will be used to 
calculate the population for licenses for RSAs and for licenses 
covering a full or partial PEA.
    22. To calculate the population using this grid cell methodology, a 
grid composed of two-by-two kilometer cells is superimposed on every 
PEA, with the population contained in each cell determined by reference 
to the 2010 Census and the highest concentration of the population 
represented by an internal point located in each cell. For each 
contiguous part of the country (i.e., the lower 48 states and the 
District of Columbia; Alaska; Hawaii; Puerto Rico; U.S. Virgin Islands; 
American Samoa; and Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 
Islands) a two-by-two kilometer grid will be created using an equal-
area map projection, similar to the methodology used in the Mobility 
Fund II Challenge Process except using two square kilometer cells 
rather than one square kilometer cells. See Appendix A for more 
information on how the grid is created; see Appendix B for the total 
number of pops in each PEA resulting from using this methodology. The 
total population contained in a PEA is then calculated by summing the 
population of each grid cell (or portion thereof) encompassed by a 
PEA's geographic area.
    23. When calculating an incumbent's current holdings, the 
Commission will aggregate each incumbent's holdings into 100 megahertz 
blocks by PEA. Using the grid cell methodology, for licenses that cover 
the full geography of the PEA without encumbrances (``full PEA 
blocks''), this calculated total population of the PEA is applied to 
the relevant block(s). In the Spectrum Frontiers 4th NPRM, the 
Commission explained that there are two types of encumbered licenses: 
(1) RSA licenses that do not conform to PEA boundaries; and (2) PEA 
licenses that are not authorized to provide service in the entire PEA, 
i.e., licenses that overlap geographically with pre-existing RSA 
licenses whose frequency assignment they must protect. In the Spectrum 
Frontiers Fourth R&O, the Commission defined a ``partial PEA block'' as 
a 100 megahertz channel block that covers a smaller population than the 
entire population in that PEA, or to an incumbent's voucher in a PEA 
for purposes of the auction that is less than the weighted MHz-[p]ops 
for the full PEA.'' These partial blocks could result from 
circumstances such as Rectangular Service Area (RSA) licenses that do 
not match the PEA boundaries, or partial PEA licenses, in which the 
licensee cannot operate throughout the entire geography of the PEA 
license due to a pre-existing RSA license that operates on the same 
channel. For encumbered licenses that cover partial PEAs, the MHz-pops 
covered by an incumbent's license is calculated using the grid cell 
methodology applied above to the portion of the PEA the original 
license covers geographically. The Commission system will aggregate an 
incumbent's MHz-pops holdings per PEA license area. Pursuant to the 
Commission's decision in the Spectrum Frontiers Fourth R&O, any 
licenses that cover at least 99% of the MHz-pops in a PEA will be 
considered as having the equivalent of an unencumbered whole block 
prior to the reconfiguration process. Appendix B provides holdings data 
for each incumbent based on the current license data in ULS.

C. Consolidation of Aggregated Holdings for Commonly Controlled 
Entities

    24. In the Spectrum Frontiers Fourth R&O, the Commission decided 
that, as part of this aggregation process, it would treat separate 
licenses held by entities that control or are controlled by each other 
and/or have controlling ownership interests in common (``commonly 
controlled entities'') as being held by a single entity. Ownership data 
on file in ULS indicate two groups of commonly controlled entities that 
are listed on a consolidated basis as a single incumbent in Appendix B. 
In evaluating the existing ownership structures reflected in existing 
39 GHz licensees' filings with the Commission, the following licensees 
are under common control: Cellco Partnership and Straight Path 
Spectrum, LLC (controlled by parent company Verizon Communications, 
Inc.); and Alascom, Inc., FiberTower Spectrum Holdings LLC, and 
Teleport Communications, LLC (controlled by parent company AT&T Inc.). 
The Bureau has listed all holdings for these entities under a name 
representing the consolidated incumbent.
    25. Existing 39 GHz licensees that are commonly controlled entities 
may choose to consolidate their existing licenses with a single license 
holder prior to the Initial Commitment process. Any such 39 GHz 
licensees that are commonly controlled entities and intend to 
consolidate their licenses under one entity should file these transfer 
or assignment applications as soon as possible, and no later than April 
15, 2019.

D. Methodology for Setting Relative Weights for Spectrum Holdings by 
PEA

    26. The Commission directed that ``the MHz-[p]ops in each PEA will 
be weighted using an index calculated using the relative prices of 
spectrum licenses in each PEA in other auctions'' to make it possible 
to compare MHz-pops across PEAs. Specifically, the Commission 
``direct[ed] the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau to set the weights 
considering the relative PEA price data prepared for and resulting from 
the broadcast television spectrum incentive auction, while also taking 
into account any additional Commission data regarding prices for 
millimeter wave spectrum licenses to the extent practicable.''
    27. The Bureau proposes to create an index using the weighted 
average of relative price indices for Auctions 102 (24 GHz), 1002 (600 
MHz), and 97 (AWS-3). For Auction 1002, the broadcast incentive 
auction, the Commission used an index that considered relative prices 
from Auction 66 (AWS-1), Auction 73 (700 MHz), and Auction 97 (AWS-3). 
The Bureau proposes to include prices for PEA licenses from Auction 
1002 (600 MHz) in the index since those prices are now available.
    28. Auction 102 will be the first Commission auction with a 
nationwide inventory of millimeter wave spectrum to be held prior to 
Auction 103, which leads the Bureau to conclude that it will be helpful 
to incorporate Auction 102 data into the index. Although Auction 102 
may not have concluded by the time the index of relative PEA weights is 
needed for the reconfiguration of existing 39 GHz license rights, the 
Bureau proposes to use prices as available in Auction 102 provided that 
the bidding is sufficiently far along as to provide a reasonable 
indicator of relative prices across PEAs. Specifically, the Bureau 
proposes to use Auction 102 prices as of the last feasible point to do 
so prior to release of the Updated 39 GHz Reconfiguration Procedures 
Public Notice. To ensure that bidding in Auction 102 is sufficiently 
advanced by the time the index is needed, the Bureau proposes to 
require that a measure of overall activity in the auction is low. That 
is, the Bureau proposes that the percentage of bidding units for which 
demand exceeds supply relative to the total number of bidding units of 
all of the licenses in the auction is no greater than 20%.
    29. Given price per MHz-pops data for Auctions 1002 and 97, and 
assuming for this purpose the availability of Auction 102 data, the 
Bureau proposes to construct an index by first (i) converting all data 
to a PEA basis, (ii) computing an average price for each PEA in each 
auction, (iii) calculating a relative price index value for each PEA in 
each auction, and (iv) taking a weighted

[[Page 11729]]

average of index values, weighting the Auction 102 data more heavily to 
reflect that the auction is more recent and that the millimeter wave 
spectrum in Auction 102 is more comparable to the frequency bands 
available in Auction 103. This will create the index for weighting the 
MHz-pops in each PEA. Finally, the Bureau will (v) calculate the 
weighted MHz-pops for a block in a PEA by multiplying the unweighted 
MHz-pops times the index value for the PEA and normalizing the results 
if necessary.
    30. The Bureau's proposed approach would not incorporate price data 
from Auction 101, the only other auction of UMFUS licenses to date, 
into the index. The inventory for Auction 101 consists of a partial set 
of mostly smaller, less densely populated markets licensed on a county 
basis, in contrast to the other auctions the Bureau proposes to use 
that include licenses for larger geographic areas available on a 
nationwide basis. Further, the Bureau proposes not to use data from 
Auctions 66 and 73 even though they were included in the index for 
Auction 1002, using instead prices from more recent auctions.
    31. The Bureau seeks comment on this proposed approach. In 
particular, the Bureau seeks comment on the specific auctions for which 
it will include data in the index, and whether we should use all 
available data from each auction. The Bureau further asks for input on 
the relative weights it will use in the weighted average in step (iv) 
above. Should the Bureau weight Auction 102 relatively more heavily 
than the lower bands, and if so, what weights are preferred?
    32. As an alternative, the Bureau could use a statistical 
regression approach to impute prices for those PEAs for which no 
inventory was available in Auction 101 and, consequently, for which no 
results are available. Under this alternative, the Bureau would use 
Auction 101 prices in the available markets as the dependent variable 
in a regression model that includes as explanatory variables prices 
from the two lower band auctions that would be included in the Bureau's 
primary proposal as well as other characteristics (e.g., income and 
population). This approach, which is described in Appendix C, could 
enable us to make use of the existing price information available from 
Auction 101 without creating a bias that using only data from smaller 
markets could introduce.
    33. Under this alternative, the Bureau would construct the index in 
the Public Notice but using an average of the Auction 101 index values 
and Auction 102 index values, in the weighted average calculation (iv) 
above. This alternative methodology would not consider the data from 
earlier auctions of lower band spectrum licenses other than in the 
regression for imputing Auction 101 prices. The Bureau seeks comment on 
whether it should weight Auction 102 relatively more heavily than 
Auction 101. The Bureau seeks comment on all elements of its primary 
proposal, the alternatives mentioned, and any other approaches to 
determining an index of PEA weights.

E. Combined Incumbent Holdings

    34. The Commission decided in the Spectrum Frontiers Fourth R&O 
that each incumbent's 39 GHz license holdings would be treated on a 
combined basis, whether aggregated by PEA for an individual licensee or 
aggregated and consolidated by PEA for commonly controlled entities 
that are treated as a single incumbent. Subject to specified 
constraints, these combined holdings could be redistributed across 
PEAs, while maintaining the total weighted MHz-pops as part of the 
reconfiguration process that might lead to modified licenses. 
Furthermore, the Commission decided that these combined holdings could 
be redistributed across PEAs in Round Zero before the start of bidding 
in Auction 103, again subject to specified constraints, to determine 
the incentive payment amounts based on holdings in each PEA.
    35. Once the combined holdings are redistributed by weighted MHz-
pops across PEAs, incumbent holdings in a particular PEA may no longer 
be clearly derived from any particular existing license or, in the case 
of consolidated licensees, from any particular existing licensee. 
Consequently, the Bureau will issue modified licenses based on 
reconfigurations of combined holdings to a single incumbent licensee, 
even in the case of consolidated holdings held by a group of incumbents 
that are commonly controlled entities. Likewise, the Commission will 
make a single incentive payment for relinquished combined spectrum 
usage rights, regardless of the number of licenses relinquished or, in 
the case of consolidated holdings of a group of incumbents that are 
commonly controlled entities, the number of licensees relinquishing 
licenses.

VI. Reconfiguring Aggregated 39 GHz Holdings for Modified Licenses

    36. In the Spectrum Frontiers Fourth R&O, the Commission directed 
the Bureau to determine the best methodology for implementing a 
mathematical optimization to reconfigure incumbent holdings. This 
Public Notice describes the optimization and reconfiguration. Appendix 
A provides additional details for implementing the reconfiguration, 
including the mathematical formulation of the optimization. The 
Commission further directed the Bureau to announce the methodology and 
process for each incumbent to propose alternative reconfigurations. At 
the same time, the Commission directed the Bureau to announce the 
process for each incumbent to elect how to proceed. That process is 
addressed in the Public Notice, as well as in Appendix D.
    37. Prior to reconfiguration, the Commission already will have: (1) 
Quantified the holdings provided by each existing license within each 
PEA in terms of MHz-pops; (2) aggregated (and, where applicable, 
consolidated) the holdings of incumbents; and (3) determined weights 
for MHz-pops in each PEA so that a single weighted MHz-pop can be 
considered a consistent unit across different PEAs. An incumbent's 
quantified and aggregated holdings in a PEA can be described in terms 
of the number of equivalent new licenses in the PEA by dividing the 
holdings in a PEA by the MHz-pops associated with a new license in that 
PEA. This division could be done with either weighted or unweighted 
MHz-pops, since the same weight will apply to MHz-pops of both existing 
holdings and new licenses. The Commission will use weighted MHz-pops, 
as any remainder quantity representing the equivalent of a partial PEA 
license will be subject to being transferred to other PEAs in the 
reconfiguration. The result will equal the number of whole and partial 
new licenses in that PEA that would provide spectrum usage rights 
equivalent to the incumbent's aggregated holdings in that PEA under an 
incumbent's existing 39 GHz licenses.

A. Reconfigurations Proposed by the Commission

    38. The Commission directed the Bureau to reconfigure 39 GHz 
holdings of incumbent licensees. Subject to specified constraints, the 
Commission will implement the reconfiguration using a mathematical 
optimization. The optimization will consider all possible ways to 
reconfigure the incumbent's holdings equivalent to a partial PEA 
license such that in the reconfiguration, the incumbent will have at 
most a single modified partial PEA license while keeping constant the 
incumbent's total weighted MHz-pops, and then choose the 
reconfiguration that minimizes the unassigned weighted MHz-pops in the

[[Page 11730]]

PEA with a partial PEA license. In a PEA where an incumbent has 
aggregated holdings that would result in a modified license for a 
partial PEA, the optimization either will increase the incumbent's 
holding to a full PEA license, decrease the holding to zero, or for at 
most one PEA, assign weighted MHz-pops that will result in a partial 
PEA license, as needed to maintain the incumbent's total combined 
holdings. Among the reconfigurations that meet these criteria, the 
Commission will propose the reconfiguration that assigns any modified 
license for a partial PEA in the PEA with the fewest remaining 
unassigned weighted MHz-pops. Taking into account the process for 
determining the geography of the modified partial PEA license, and as 
detailed in Appendix A, the PEA with the partial PEA license is the one 
that contains the smallest number of weighted MHz-pops left unassigned 
after subtracting the MHz-pops for the area covered by the modified 
license. As described in the Public Notice, and pursuant to the 
Spectrum Frontiers Fourth R&O, the reconfiguration will also take into 
account whether the incumbent's holdings would leave only a de minimis 
percentage of a whole new license unassigned and therefore the holdings 
would be rounded up and a modified license based on the holdings would 
be equivalent to a whole new license, leaving no white space.

B. Alternative Reconfigurations Proposed by Incumbents

    39. Commission directed the Bureau to announce a methodology and 
process by which each incumbent may propose an alternative 
reconfiguration plan, provided that it satisfies certain conditions. To 
be an acceptable alternative reconfiguration, the incumbent's plan must 
satisfy the following constraints: The incumbent's combined total MHz-
pops holdings are kept constant; for every PEA but one, the incumbent's 
updated aggregate holdings in the PEA are reduced down to the greatest 
integer less than or equal to the incumbent's updated aggregate 
holdings in the PEA or increased up to the least integer greater than 
or equal to its updated aggregate holdings in the PEA; and for a single 
PEA in which the incumbent has final aggregate holdings equivalent to a 
partial PEA license, its holdings are increased to less than the 
equivalent of a new license, as needed to maintain the incumbent's 
combined holdings. Unlike the Commission's reconfiguration proposal, an 
incumbent's alternative reconfiguration need not locate any modified 
license for a partial PEA in the PEA with the fewest remaining 
unassigned weighted MHz-pops.

C. Reconfigured Holdings Equivalent to a Partial PEA

    40. In the Spectrum Frontiers Fourth R&O, the Commission determined 
that any modified license would be for 100 megahertz, the complete 
bandwidth of a new license. Accordingly, the single modified license 
for a partial PEA that an incumbent may receive would be a license for 
a part of the geographic area covered by a new license. Such licenses 
are ``partial'' in relation to the geography of a full PEA covered by a 
new license. Within the reduced coverage area set by its boundaries, a 
``partial'' PEA license provides the same rights that a new license 
provides in the full PEA.
1. Rounding
    41. The Commission concluded in the Spectrum Frontiers Fourth R&O 
that, if an incumbent's holdings in a PEA after reconfiguration are 
equivalent to less than a full new license yet would cover so much of 
the PEA's population that the remaining uncovered portion should be 
considered de minimis, the incumbent should be assigned a modified 
license that covers the full PEA.
    42. The Commission set this de minimis threshold at 5% and directed 
the Bureau to determine whether it should be increased up to 10%. The 
Bureau tentatively concludes that it should increase the de minimis 
threshold to 10%. Accordingly, an incumbent would receive a modified 
license for a full PEA if it has reconfigured holdings in the PEA that 
would cover 90% or more of the PEA population. In other contexts, the 
Commission previously has found that service area extensions of more 
than 10% were acceptable. The Bureau believes that this approach will 
maximize the number of full PEA licenses, and based on its experience 
the Bureau believes that the benefits of offering modified licenses for 
the full PEAs now clearly outweigh the benefits of offering separate 
licenses that cover less than 10% of the PEA population, which would 
likely attract few, if any significant bids. The Bureau seeks comment 
on this tentative conclusion.
2. Option To Relinquish
    43. The Commission decided in the Spectrum Frontiers Fourth R&O 
that an incumbent that commits to accept modified licenses that include 
a modified license for a partial PEA may choose to relinquish only the 
spectrum usage rights relating to the modified license for a partial 
PEA in exchange for an incentive payment. An incumbent exercising this 
option will not be eligible to bid for licenses in Auction 103, in 
contrast to an incumbent that commits to relinquishing all its spectrum 
usage rights pursuant to existing 39 GHz licenses.
    44. An incumbent with reconfigured holdings that will result in a 
full PEA license due to reconfigured de minimis rounding, may either 
accept a modified license for the full PEA or relinquish the pre-
rounding holdings. In other words, incentive payments will not be based 
on holdings rounded by reconfigured de minimis rounding. For example, 
if the partial PEA holding was .96 (covering 96% of pops in the PEA), 
the incumbent could elect to either receive a modified license in that 
PEA that would cover the entire PEA, or it could choose to relinquish 
that partial holding for 96% of the final clock phase price in the 
auction.
3. Boundaries of Modified Licenses for Partial PEAs
    45. The Commission decided in the Spectrum Frontiers Fourth R&O 
that the geographic boundaries of a modified license for a partial PEA 
will be determined by adjusting the incumbent's currently licensed area 
in the PEA. The Commission specified that ``[t]he proposed geographic 
boundaries for the partial PEA block will be as similar as possible to 
the incumbent's original holdings in that PEA, recognizing that the 
remaining partial PEA block may cover a larger or smaller percentage of 
pops than the existing license.'' The Bureau describes here the 
proposed methodology that will be used to determine these geographic 
boundaries for a partial PEA, whether it resulted from a Commission 
reconfiguration proposal or an acceptable alternative submitted by the 
incumbent. An incumbent will not choose the geographic boundaries of a 
modified license for a partial PEA. The Commission's process will 
determine the geographic boundaries of the modified license even though 
the incumbent selects the PEA when it submits an acceptable alternative 
reconfiguration. The precise geographic boundaries of a modified 
license for a partial PEA will be determined only after an incumbent 
makes its Initial Commitment.
    46. An incumbent may have multiple licenses in any one PEA and it 
is possible that the incumbent's licenses in the PEA together cover the 
full geography of the PEA. This can happen with even a single license 
for less than 100 megahertz in the PEA, if the

[[Page 11731]]

incumbent currently holds 50 megahertz across the full PEA. To 
determine the geographic boundaries of a modified license for a partial 
PEA, the system will first determine the incumbent's current geographic 
coverage as the union of any two-by-two kilometer grid cells included 
in any of the incumbent's existing licenses for the PEA. The boundaries 
of this starting coverage area will be mapped over the same two-by-two 
kilometer grid cells previously used to estimate the population of the 
PEA. The population of all grid cells whose internal points fall within 
the boundary of this coverage area will constitute the baseline 
population covered by a modified license for a partial PEA.
    47. The process then will add (or, in the case that the population 
in the coverage area exceeds the reconfigured holdings, subtract) two-
by-two kilometer grid cells adjacent to this coverage area within the 
PEA until arriving at the population as close to the MHz-pops value of 
the incumbent's reconfigured holdings in the PEA as possible while not 
being under. If including (or removing) an entire layer of grid cells 
(i.e., all two-by-two kilometer grid cells within the PEA that are 
immediately adjacent to this coverage area) would exceed the new target 
population value for this partial PEA holding, then grid cells will be 
added (or removed) such that the population of the cells is as close as 
possible to the value of the reconfigured holdings without going under. 
If multiple combinations of grid cells could yield the same outcome, 
the optimization will randomly choose one grid cell over the other. The 
Bureau seeks comment on this proposed process.

VII. Initial Commitments

    48. The Commission will announce the timeline for the Initial 
Commitment process at the same time it announces its proposed 
reconfiguration of 39 GHz license holdings for each incumbent. The 
timeline will include a window for filing the Incumbent 39 GHz Licensee 
Short-Form Application (FCC Form 175-A) to identify the individuals who 
will have authority to act as Initial Commitment Representatives for 
the incumbent. In addition, the timeline will include a deadline for a 
binding Initial Commitment regarding the 39 GHz holdings of the 
applicable incumbent. The window for filing FCC Form 175-A will open no 
sooner than 30 days after the timeline is announced and the deadline 
for submitting Initial Commitments will be no sooner than 30 days after 
the FCC Form 175-A filing window opens. Any 39 GHz incumbent not named 
in a submitted FCC Form 175-A or that does not make an Initial 
Commitment for any reason will be considered to have committed to 
accepting modified licenses based on the Commission's proposed 
reconfiguration (Option 1), including any modified license for a 
partial PEA, and may not apply to bid for licenses in Auction 103.
    49. The Commission will reserve a quantity of Upper 37 GHz and 39 
GHz spectrum blocks in each PEA sufficient for any modified licenses 
that incumbents commit to accept. The quantity of spectrum blocks in 
these bands remaining in each PEA then will be available to be assigned 
as new licenses in Auction 103.
    50. The final changes to the incumbents' licenses, whether 
modifications or cancellations based on voluntary relinquishment, will 
occur after winning bidders are announced in Auction 103. Nevertheless, 
the incumbents will be bound to fulfill their Initial Commitments 
following the announcement of winning bidders in Auction 103.

A. Incumbent 39 GHz Licensee Short-Form Application

    51. Each incumbent will use the 39 GHz Incumbent Licensee Short-
Form Application (FCC Form 175-A) to provide identifying information, 
information for a contact person regarding the application, the FCC 
Registration Numbers (FRNs) of all individual licensees represented 
through the application, up to three Initial Commitment 
Representative(s), and required certifications. The applicant may name 
up to three individuals as Initial Commitment Representatives 
authorized to make an Initial Commitment regarding the combined 
holdings of the 39 GHz licensees represented through the application. 
The Bureau will make available instructions and other educational 
materials prior to the opening of the FCC Form 175-A filing window.
    52. Initial Commitment Representatives. The required certifications 
will include a certification that the applicant represents the listed 
licensees and is authorized on their behalf to name the Initial 
Commitment Representative(s) in the application. The applicant must 
further certify that the named Initial Commitment Representative(s) are 
authorized to make a binding Initial Commitment with respect to all 39 
GHz licenses held by the listed licensees. To satisfy this 
certification, the Initial Commitment Representative(s) must have 
authority to: (1) Propose an alternative reconfiguration as the basis 
for modified licenses with respect to all 39 GHz licenses held by the 
listed licensees; (2) commit the listed licensees to accept modified 
licenses as part of an Initial Commitment; (3) relinquish spectrum 
usage rights that would comprise a modified partial PEA license in 
exchange for an incentive payment; (4) commit the listed licensees to 
relinquishing all the spectrum usage rights pursuant to all existing 39 
GHz licenses held in exchange for an incentive payment; (5) 
redistribute the holdings of the listed licensees in Round Zero of the 
auction; and (6) in any application with more than one listed licensee, 
designate one of the commonly controlled entities to receive any 
incentive payment.
    53. Rule Prohibiting Certain Communications. Any incumbent 39 GHz 
licensee listed in an FCC Form 175-A will be considered to be an 
applicant in Auction 103 for purposes of Sec.  1.2105(c) beginning on 
the deadline for filing FCC Form 175-A. Section 1.2105(c)(1) of the 
Commission's rules provides that, subject to specified exceptions, 
after the application filing deadline, ``all applicants are prohibited 
from cooperating or collaborating with respect to, communicating with 
or disclosing, to each other or any nationwide provider [of 
communications services] that is not an applicant, or, if the applicant 
is a nationwide provider, any non-nationwide provider that is not an 
applicant, in any manner the substance of their own, or each other's, 
or any other applicants' bids or bidding strategies (including post-
auction market structure), or discussing or negotiating settlement 
agreements, until after the down payment deadline. . .''
    54. Auction 103 bidding will have significant consequences for 
incumbent 39 GHz licenses that relinquish spectrum usage rights. 
Bidding for new licenses in Auction 103 will determine the amounts of 
incentive payments for relinquished spectrum usage rights as well as 
the winning bidders for new licenses. Consequently, an incumbent 
licensee will have a substantial interest in Auction 103 bids and 
bidding strategies, even if the incumbent itself does not bid for new 
licenses. For example, an incumbent might want new license bidders to 
bid in one PEA rather than another so as to increase the incumbent's 
related incentive payments. Even before bidding for new licenses 
begins, an incumbent might seek information about bidding, or seek to 
influence future bidding, when considering its options for its Initial

[[Page 11732]]

Commitment. Accordingly, pursuant to the Spectrum Frontiers Fourth R&O, 
the Bureau proposes that applicants will be subject to the rule 
prohibiting certain communications whether they file an FCC Form 175-A 
or an FCC Form 175. An incumbent interested in bidding on licenses in 
Auction 103 will file both. Any party that is an applicant in Auction 
103 for either purpose will be prohibited from certain communications 
with any other applicant in the incentive auction, i.e., irrespective 
of whether the other applicant filed the same or different forms for 
purpose of participating in the auction.
    55. The rule would apply to a covered incumbent from the deadline 
for filing FCC Form 175-A regardless of whether the incumbent 
ultimately relinquishes spectrum usage rights. Being listed on an FCC 
Form 175-A is a prerequisite to relinquishing spectrum usage rights in 
Auction 103 just as FCC Form 175 is a prerequisite to bidding on new 
licenses in Auction 103. Any incumbent 39 GHz licensee that is listed 
on an FCC Form 175-A is willing and able to relinquish existing 
spectrum usage rights, even if ultimately it does not do so. In 
contrast, an incumbent that wants only to commit to accept the 
modification proposed by the Commission may do so without filing an FCC 
Form 175-A. In that case, it will be deemed to have committed to 
accepting modified licenses based on the Commission's proposed 
reconfiguration and to keeping any modified partial PEA license. As 
only incumbent 39 GHz licensees may be represented through an FCC Form 
175-A, the parties subject to the prohibition based on that form will 
be limited and easily known. Moreover, the Bureau will identify 
applicants and listed licensees on FCC Form 175-A and/or applicants 
filing FCC Form 175 by public notice subsequent to the respective 
filing deadlines for the forms.
    56. The Commission will detail the operation of the prohibition in 
future public notices setting forth the detailed procedures for Auction 
103. Interested parties seeking additional guidance prior to the 
release of those future public notices may consult the analogous 
Auction 101 and 102 Procedures Public Notice, past public notices 
providing guidance with respect to the rule, and the authorities listed 
on the Commission's website.
    57. The rule prohibiting certain communications prohibits those 
communications between applicants and nationwide providers, regardless 
of whether those nationwide providers are applicants in the auction. 
The operation of the rule requires that the Commission identify 
nationwide providers for purposes of the rule in connection with each 
auction. Because the applicable service rules allow a 39 GHz licensee 
to provide flexible terrestrial wireless services, including mobile 
services, the Commission's identification of nationwide providers in 
the Communications Marketplace Report provides reasons to identify the 
same parties as nationwide providers for purposes of 39 GHz licenses 
and Auction 103. Accordingly, consistent with the procedures adopted 
for Auctions 101 and 102 with respect to millimeter wave bands, the 
Bureau identifies AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless as 
``nationwide providers'' for the purpose of implementing its 
competitive bidding rules in Auction 103, including Sec.  1.2105(c), 
the rule prohibiting certain communications.
    58. SecurID[supreg] tokens. Initial Commitment Representatives will 
choose an Initial Commitment option with respect to the 39 GHz holdings 
of licensees listed on the applicable FCC Form 175-A and submit that 
choice over the internet using the Commission's Initial Commitment 
System. Each Initial Commitment Representative must have his or her own 
SecurID[supreg] token, which the Commission will provide at no charge. 
An Initial Commitment Representative cannot access the Initial 
Commitment System without his or her SecurID token. For security 
purposes, the SecurID[supreg] tokens will be mailed only to the contact 
person at the contact address listed on the FCC Form 175-A. 
SecurID[supreg] tokens issued for other auctions or obtained from a 
source other than the Commission will not work for Initial Commitments. 
Incumbents that also file FCC Form 175 to bid for new licenses in 
Auction 103 should refer to the procedures that will be established in 
other public notices for information regarding SecurID[supreg] tokens 
for the authorized bidders they identify on the FCC Form 175.

B. Initial Commitment Options

    59. An Initial Commitment Representative may access the Initial 
Commitment System after activating his or her own SecurID[supreg] 
token. In the Initial Commitment System, the Initial Commitment 
Representative will commit the represented 39 GHz incumbent licensees 
to one of three Initial Commitments: (1) Accept modified licenses based 
on the Commission's proposed reconfiguration of the 39 GHz holdings of 
the incumbent(s); (2) accept modified licenses based on a submitted 
acceptable alternative reconfiguration submitted by the incumbent; or 
(3) relinquish all spectrum usage rights pursuant to the licensees' 
existing 39 GHz licenses in exchange for an incentive payment by having 
the licenses cancelled. To be able to bid for new licenses, an 
incumbent 39 GHz licensee must commit to having its existing 39 GHz 
licenses cancelled.
    60. Option 1. If an Initial Commitment Representative selects the 
first option and the modified licenses will include a license for a 
partial PEA, the representative may choose either to keep the modified 
license for a partial PEA or to relinquish the spectrum usage rights 
for the partial PEA license in exchange for an incentive payment. If 
the representative elects to keep the modified partial PEA license, the 
de minimis rounding rules will apply, potentially rounding the partial 
PEA block up to a modified license for a full PEA block. In the case of 
a relinquishment, the reconfiguring incumbent will receive an incentive 
payment based on the actual MHz-pops of the relinquished holdings. The 
Commission will provide instructions subsequently regarding how a 
representative will provide information regarding the account to which 
the incentive payment should be made. Only one payment will be made for 
the combined holdings of an incumbent even when the incumbent is a 
group of commonly controlled entities that hold 39 GHz licenses.
    61. Option 2. An Initial Commitment Representative also may use the 
Initial Commitment system to submit an acceptable alternative 
reconfiguration. To ensure that the alternative reconfiguration meets 
the necessary requirements, where an incumbent has weighted MHz-pops 
quantities equivalent to a partial PEA, the Initial Commitment System 
will allow the representative to round those holdings either down to 
the greatest integer less than or equal to the incumbent's updated 
holdings or up to the least integer greater than or equal to the 
incumbent's updated holdings, for all but one of those PEAs.
    62. The system will notify the representative if choices made are 
not consistent with leaving at most one PEA with the equivalent of a 
partial PEA license. For example, if the representative has indicated 
that it wishes to round down holdings equivalent to partial PEA 
licenses in all but one PEA, and the remaining weighted MHz-pops would 
increase those holdings in the remaining PEA to more than a full PEA 
license, the system will require the representative to readjust its 
holdings.

[[Page 11733]]

    63. Once the representative has provided input that leads to an 
acceptable alternative reconfiguration, it may ``submit'' the 
reconfiguration and commit the represented 39 GHz incumbent licensees 
to accept modified licenses based on the submitted acceptable 
alternative reconfiguration. If the modified licenses would include a 
license for a partial PEA, the representative may choose either to keep 
that license or to relinquish the spectrum usage rights for it in 
exchange for an incentive payment. If the representative elects to keep 
the modified partial PEA license, the de minimis rounding rules will 
apply, potentially rounding the partial block up to a modified license 
for a full block. If the representative elects to relinquish the 
partial block, the reconfiguring incumbent will receive an incentive 
payment based on the actual MHz-pops of the relinquished holdings. The 
Commission will provide instructions subsequently regarding how a 
representative will provide information regarding the account to which 
the incentive payment should be made. Only one payment will be made for 
the combined holdings of an incumbent even when the incumbent is a 
group of commonly controlled entities that hold 39 GHz licenses.
    64. Option 3. Finally, an Initial Commitment Representative may 
select the third option and commit the represented 39 GHz incumbent 
licensees to relinquish all spectrum usage rights under their existing 
39 GHz licenses in exchange for an incentive payment and having the 
existing licenses cancelled. To be able to bid in the auction for new 
licenses, an incumbent must commit to cancelling all its existing 39 
GHz licenses. If the representative chooses the third option, the 
system will give the representative an opportunity during the Initial 
Commitment process to reallocate, within constraints, any updated 
aggregated holdings per PEA that are equivalent to a partial PEA 
license in the Round Zero process.
    65. In Round Zero, the Initial Commitment Representative may 
reallocate the incumbent's updated aggregated holdings per PEA that are 
equivalent to a partial PEA license among the PEAs in which it has such 
holdings. The reallocation will be done by transferring weighted MHz-
pops among eligible PEAs. If the reallocation does not use all of the 
weighted MHz-pops available, the system will permit the representative 
to submit the proposed reallocation and will automatically apportion 
any unused weighted MHz-pops to the partial PEAs in the incumbent's 
updated aggregated holdings by PEA, starting with the lowest numbered 
PEA.
    66. The Commission will provide instructions subsequently regarding 
how a representative will provide information regarding the account to 
which the incentive payment should be made. Only one payment will be 
made for the combined holdings of an incumbent even when the incumbent 
is a group of commonly controlled entities that hold 39 GHz licenses.
    67. Appendix D provides additional description of the Initial 
Commitment System details. The Bureau will provide additional 
information and educational materials regarding the Initial Commitment 
System in advance of the opening of the Initial Commitment submission 
window.

C. Transition for Existing 39 GHz Licenses

    68. Each 39 GHz existing licensee will hold its existing licenses 
until after the announcement of winning bidders for new licenses. The 
incumbent's binding Initial Commitment then will be put into effect as 
part of the post-auction transition.
    69. For an incumbent with an Initial Commitment to accept modified 
licenses (Options 1 or 2), the modified licenses will be assigned after 
winning bidders are announced in Auction 103. The Initial Commitment 
will be made based on an applicable reconfiguration of the incumbent's 
combined holdings, so the number and PEA location of all the modified 
licenses will be known at the time of the Initial Commitment. However, 
the geographic boundaries of any modified license for a partial PEA 
will be determined only after the Initial Commitments. Moreover, 
frequencies for modified licenses can be assigned only after the 
assignment phase of the auction.
    70. Incumbents that will be assigned modified licenses already have 
existing licenses in the PEA and may be able to transition any existing 
operations to new frequencies (or geographic areas in the case of 
licenses that either covered or now cover only part of a PEA) before 
any new licenses are granted, as new licenses won pursuant to Auction 
103 will not be issued until after post-auction payments are made and 
license applications are accepted and reviewed. The Bureau will support 
this transition by designating the time period after the close of the 
auction and before new licenses are granted as the transition period 
for incumbents receiving modified licenses to make the transition. 
Specifically, the Bureau will issue modified licenses after the close 
of the auction but not cancel these incumbents' authorizations on their 
original frequencies to allow for a limited transition period. The 
Bureau will cancel their original authorizations only after the 
transition has been made to the new frequencies or when the original 
frequencies are needed for new licenses, whichever is sooner. If an 
incumbent choosing to have its licenses modified is moving to 
frequencies where another incumbent with modified licenses holds its 
original licenses, the Bureau will need to ensure only one 
authorization is active. In this case, the Commission would develop a 
plan to accommodate the transition of both incumbents, which may 
include granting Special Temporary Authorizations (STAs) to effectuate 
the transition. The Commission may also consider granting STAs if an 
incumbent's transition to its new modified frequencies has not been 
completed before the Commission is ready to grant new licenses in the 
same frequencies.
    71. For an incumbent that commits to relinquish all 39 GHz spectrum 
usage rights in exchange for an incentive payment (Option 3), the 
Bureau will cancel the licenses providing the relinquished spectrum 
usage rights after the winning bidders are announced in Auction 103. 
This will make associated spectrum available for authorization for 
licenses under the new band plan, i.e., modified licenses and new 
licenses won at auction. The Bureau recognizes that, if these 
incumbents have existing operations at the time of the close of the 
auction, they will need a transition period to continue to operate 
after their existing licenses are canceled and before their new 
licenses are issued (or until they can transition existing operations 
to other spectrum bands in which they hold licenses). This transition 
period will be accommodated through Special Temporary Authorizations 
(STAs).
    72. STA Process. Incumbents that have existing operations and need 
continuing authority to operate as they transition to new frequencies 
can apply for an STA, if needed, to ensure continuity of service. An 
incumbent will need to explain in its STA request the nature of its 
existing operations and identify how much time for transition it needs 
and/or why it was unable to complete the transition in the initial time 
allotted (if applicable). Any STAs granted will authorize the incumbent 
to operate only on a secondary, non-interfering basis, and only up to 
180 days. These STAs will be issued on a secondary, non-interfering 
basis, and therefore new licensees in these frequencies have primary 
operating

[[Page 11734]]

authority. Although these STAs will be secondary, incumbents should 
have sole use of the frequencies authorized for a period of time 
because the Commission will not be able to grant its first set of new 
licenses immediately after the auction closes, due to the additional 
time required for application submission, payments, and the petition to 
deny period, among other things. These STAs will not be renewed absent 
extraordinary circumstances. Incumbents that need additional time to 
transition also have the option to negotiate leases or other 
arrangements with the new licensee(s) authorized to operate in those 
frequencies. The Bureau will provide the filing deadline for these 
types of STA requests in the Auction 103 Closing Public Notice 
announcing winning bidders.

D. Incentive Payments

    73. Each incentive payment will be determined based on an 
incumbent's weighted MHz-pops holdings in a PEA after Round Zero and 
the final clock phase price for a spectrum block in the same PEA at the 
close of the clock phase of the auction. The Commission will make a 
single incentive payment with respect to an incumbent's combined 
holdings relinquished in the incentive auction. The Bureau tentatively 
concludes that such single payment may be directed only to one of the 
commonly controlled entities; the Bureau seeks comment on whether there 
is a need to permit the designation of a commonly controlled entity 
that does not already hold a 39 GHz license. The Bureau will provide 
instructions in a later public notice regarding how a representative 
for the incumbent, which may be a group of commonly controlled entities 
that hold 39 GHz licenses, will provide information regarding the 
account to which the incentive payment should be made.
    74. Although, in general, winning bidders must pay their winning 
bids in full within approximately one month after release of the public 
notice announcing the close of an auction, winning bid payments are 
recognized as auction proceeds available to be shared as incentive 
payments only when the licenses associated with winning bid payments 
are granted. Until then, the Commission holds winning bid payments and 
will not disburse them. Accordingly, cash incentive payments will be 
made only after sufficient funds are available for disbursement, i.e., 
winning bids have been paid and applications for new licenses related 
to those bids have been reviewed and granted.
    75. An incumbent 39 GHz licensee with winning bids for new licenses 
in the auction must make any required winning bid payments before the 
Commission will process its application for new licenses. Pursuant to 
section 309(j)(4)(A) of the Communications Act, the Commission may use 
alternative payment schedules and methods of calculation in competitive 
bidding to promote economic opportunity and competition by avoiding 
excessive concentration of licenses and by disseminating licenses among 
a wide variety of applicants. In the Spectrum Frontiers Fourth R&O, the 
Commission found that assigning as much spectrum as possible through 
the auction serves the public interest and that enabling incumbents to 
retain equivalent rights without any additional payments would 
encourage them to relinquish spectrum usage rights under existing 
licenses. Accordingly, the Commission will process applications for new 
licenses after collecting winning bids, net of any winning bidder's 
expected incentive payment so long as such treatment of the incentive 
payment is consistent with Federal financial management principles and 
guidance.

VIII. Supplemental Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis

    76. As required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980, as 
amended (RFA), the Commission has prepared this Supplemental Initial 
Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (Supplemental IRFA) of the possible 
significant economic impact on small entities of the policies and rules 
addressed in this Public Notice to supplement the Commission's Initial 
and Final Regulatory Flexibility Analyses completed in the Spectrum 
Frontiers Fourth R&O, Spectrum Frontiers Orders, and other Commission 
orders pursuant to which Auction 103 will be conducted. Written 
comments are requested on this Supplemental IRFA. Comments must be 
identified as responses to the Supplemental IRFA and must be filed by 
the deadline for filing comments as specified in the Public Notice. The 
Commission will send a copy of the Public Notice, including the 
Supplemental IRFA, to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small 
Business Administration (SBA).
    77. Need for, and Objectives of, the Proposed Rules. The Public 
Notice explains how the Bureau proposes to implement the steps 
described in the Spectrum Frontiers Fourth R&O to reconfigure 
incumbents' 39 GHz licenses to better match the new 39 GHz band plan 
and service rules adopted by the Commission and allow incumbents to 
make binding Initial Commitments through the Commission's Initial 
Commitment System. It also describes the process by which an incumbent 
39 GHz licensee will have an opportunity to make a binding Initial 
Commitment through the Commission's Initial Commitment System to (1) 
have its licenses modified based on the Commission's proposed 
reconfiguration of its license holdings (and forgo bidding for new 
licenses in Auction 103); (2) have its licenses modified based on an 
acceptable alternative reconfiguration that the incumbent proposes, 
provided that it satisfies certain specified conditions (and forgo 
bidding for new licenses in Auction 103); or (3) commit to relinquish 
its licenses in exchange for an incentive payment and have its licenses 
cancelled, with the ability to bid for new licenses if it so chooses.
    78. The Public Notice is intended to provide notice of and 
opportunity for interest parties to comment on the procedures 
described. The proposed procedures in the Public Notice constitute the 
more specific implementation of the decisions contemplated by the 
underlying rulemaking orders, including the Spectrum Frontiers Orders 
and relevant competitive bidding orders, and are fully consistent with 
those decisions. The Commission welcomes comment on all aspects of the 
process and specifically seeks comment on the following:
     A methodology for setting weights to apply to spectrum 
holdings in different Partial Economic Areas (PEAs);
     The de minimis standard for reconfigured holdings that 
cover most but not all of a PEA; and
     How to determine the geographic scope of modified 
licenses, if any, that cover less than a full PEA.
    79. Legal Basis. The Commission's statutory obligations to small 
businesses under the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, are found 
in sections 309(j)(3)(B) and 309(j)(4)(D). The statutory basis for the 
Commission's competitive bidding rules is found in various provisions 
of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, including 47 U.S.C. 
154(i), 301, 302, 303(e), 303(f), 303(r), 304, 307, and 309(j). The 
Commission has established a framework of competitive bidding rules, 
updated most recently in 2015, pursuant to which it has conducted 
auctions since the inception of the auction program in 1994 and would 
conduct Auctions 103.
    80. Description and Estimate of the Number of Small Entities to 
Which the Proposed Rules Will Apply. The RFA

[[Page 11735]]

directs agencies to provide a description of, and, where feasible, an 
estimate of the number of small entities that may be affected by the 
proposed rules and policies, if adopted. The RFA generally defines the 
term ``small entity'' as having the same meaning as the terms ``small 
business,'' ``small organization,'' and ``small governmental 
jurisdiction.'' In addition, the term ``small business'' has the same 
meaning as the term ``small business concern'' under the Small Business 
Act. A ``small business concern'' is one which: (1) Is independently 
owned and operated; (2) is not dominant in its field of operation; and 
(3) satisfies any additional criteria established by the SBA.
    81. Regulatory Flexibility Analyses were incorporated into the 
Spectrum Frontiers Orders and in those analyses, the Commission 
described in detail the small entities that might be significantly 
affected. Accordingly, in this Public Notice, the Bureau hereby 
includes by reference the descriptions and estimates of the number of 
small entities from the previous Regulatory Flexibility Analyses in the 
Spectrum Frontiers Orders.
    82. Based on the information available in the Commission's public 
Universal Licensing System (ULS), the Commission estimates there are 16 
incumbent 39 GHz licensees. Of these incumbent 39 GHz licensees, the 
Commission estimates that up to 8 could be considered to be a ``small 
entity'' under the RFA.
    83. Description of Projected Reporting, Recordkeeping, and Other 
Compliance Requirements. The Commission designed the reconfiguration 
and Initial Commitment processes to minimize reporting and compliance 
requirements for participating incumbent licensees, including those 
that are small entities. For example, incumbent 39 GHz licensees 
desiring to make an Initial Commitment will need to file an Incumbent 
39 GHz Licensee Short-Form Application (FCC Form 175-A), which the 
Commission will use to provide an incumbent 39 GHz licensee (or, if 
applicable, a group of commonly controlled entities that hold 39 GHz 
licenses) with access to the Initial Commitment System in order to make 
an Initial Commitment regarding existing 39 GHz spectrum holdings. The 
information that must be provided on FCC Form 175-A is limited to that 
which is necessary to enable the Commission to provide incumbent 39 GHz 
licensees with access Initial Commitment System for purposes of making 
their Initial Commitments.
    84. The Bureau does not expect that the reconfiguration and Initial 
Commitment processes and procedures will require small entities to hire 
attorneys, engineers, consultants, or other professionals because the 
information necessary to comply with these processes and procedures 
should be available and maintained as part of the customary and usual 
business or private practice of all incumbent 39 GHz licensees.
    85. Steps taken to Minimize Significant Economic Impact on Small 
Entities, and Significant Alternatives. The RFA requires an agency to 
describe any significant, specifically small business, alternatives 
that it has considered in reaching its proposed approach, which may 
include the following four alternatives (among others): ``(1) the 
establishment of differing compliance or reporting requirements or 
timetables that take into account the resources available to small 
entities; (2) the clarification, consolidation, or simplification of 
compliance and reporting requirements under the rule for such small 
entities; (3) the use of performance rather than design standards; and 
(4) an exemption from coverage of the rule, or any part thereof, for 
such small entities.''
    86. The Commission has taken steps that should minimize any 
economic impact that the proposed reconfiguration and Initial 
Commitment processes and procedures may have on small businesses. As an 
initial matter, the procedures only apply to incumbent 39 GHz 
licensees. Moreover, the Commission has made an effort to minimize the 
burden on all participating incumbent 39 GHz licensees, regardless of 
size, by limiting the information collected on FCC Form 175-A to that 
which is necessary to enable the Commission to provide an incumbent 39 
GHz licensee (or, if applicable a group of commonly controlled entities 
that hold 39 GHz licenses) with access to the Initial Commitment System 
in order to make an Initial Commitment regarding existing 39 GHz 
spectrum holdings. Finally, detailed instructions and guidance to 
incumbent 39 GHz licensees about filing FCC Form 175-A, including the 
filing deadline, will be provided in advance of the start of the FCC 
Form 175-A filing window, and Bureau staff will be conducting outreach 
to all incumbents to ensure that they are informed of their options, 
thereby further minimizing any burdens on incumbent 39 GHz licensees 
that desire to make an Initial Commitment, including those that are 
small entities.
    87. Federal Rules that May Duplicate, Overlap, or Conflict with the 
Proposed Rules. None.

IX. Ordering Clauses

    88. It is ordered that, pursuant to sections 309 and 316 of the 
Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 309, 316, and the 
authority delegated in the Spectrum Frontiers Fourth R&O, FCC 18-180, 
and 47 CFR 0.271, 0.331, the licenses of all 39 GHz band licensees are 
hereby modified as specified in the Spectrum Frontiers Fourth R&O and 
further explained in the Public Notice.
    89. It is further ordered that applications for transfers or 
assignments of 39 GHz licenses other than pursuant to the exception 
described in the Public Notice will not be accepted during the period 
described in the Public Notice.
    90. It is further ordered that a copy of the Public Notice, 
including the Supplemental Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis, 
shall be sent to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business 
Administration.

Federal Communications Commission.
Blaise Scinto,
Division Chief. Broadband Division, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau.
[FR Doc. 2019-05911 Filed 3-27-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6712-01-P