[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 73 (Friday, April 15, 2011)] [Notices] [Pages 21350-21366] From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] [FR Doc No: 2011-9200] ======================================================================= ----------------------------------------------------------------------- FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION [AU Docket No. 10-248; DA 11-420] Auction of 700 MHz Band Licenses Scheduled for July 19, 2011; Notice and Filing Requirements, Minimum Opening Bids, Upfront Payments, and Other Procedures for Auction 92 AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission. ACTION: Notice. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: This document announces the procedures and minimum opening bids for the upcoming auction of 16 licenses in the 698-806 MHz band (700 MHz band), designated as Auction 92, and is intended to familiarize prospective bidders with these procedures, minimum opening bid amounts, and deadlines for the auction. DATES: Applications to participate in Auction 92 and required upfront payments must be filed prior to 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on May 11, 2011. Bidding for construction permits in Auction 92 is scheduled to begin on July 19, 2011. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, Auctions and Spectrum Access Division: For legal questions: Lynne Milne at (202) 418-0660. Mobility Division: For service rules and licensing issues: Michael Connelly (legal) or Keith Harper (technical) at (202) 418-0620. To request materials in accessible formats (Braille, large print, electronic files or audio format) for people with disabilities, send an e-mail to [email protected] or call the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau at (202) 418-0530 or (202) 418-0432 (TTY). SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Auction 92 Procedures Public Notice which was released on March 16, 2011. The complete text of the Auction 92 Procedures Public Notice, including attachments, as well as related Commission documents, are available for public inspection and copying from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET Monday through Thursday and from 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. ET on Friday in the FCC Reference Information Center, 445 12th Street, SW., Room CY-A257, Washington, DC 20554. The Auction 92 Procedures Public Notice and related Commission documents may also be purchased from the Commission's duplicating contractor, Best Copy and Printing, Inc. (BCPI), Portals II, 445 12th Street, SW., Room CY-B402, Washington, DC, 20554, telephone 202-488-5300, facsimile 202-488-5563, or [[Page 21351]] Web site: http://www.BCPIWEB.com, using document number DA 11-420 for the Auction 92 Procedures Public Notice. The Auction 92 Procedures Public Notice and related documents are also available on the Internet at the Commission's Web site: http://wireless.fcc.gov/auctions/92/. I. General Information A. Introduction On December 15, 2010, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (Bureau) released a public notice seeking comment on competitive bidding procedures to be used in Auction 92. A summary of this public notice was published in the Federal Register on January 7, 2011, 76 FR 1158. One party submitted comments in response to the Auction 92 Comment Public Notice, and three parties submitted filings by the reply comment deadline. i. Licenses To Be Offered in Auction 92 The 16 licenses in Auction 92 were offered in Auction 73 and remained unsold or were licenses on which a winning bidder defaulted. A complete list of licenses offered in Auction 92 is available in Attachment A to the Auction 92 Procedures Public Notice. B. Rules and Disclaimers i. Relevant Authority Prospective applicants must familiarize themselves thoroughly with the Commission's general competitive bidding rules, rules relating to the 700 MHz band and emerging technologies, and rules relating to applications, environmental requirements, practice and procedure. Prospective applicants must also be thoroughly familiar with the procedures, terms and conditions contained in the Auctions 92 Procedures Public Notice and in the Commission's decisions in proceedings regarding competitive bidding procedures, application requirements, and obligations of Commission licensees. The terms contained in the Commission's rules, relevant orders, and public notices are not negotiable. The Commission may amend or supplement information contained in public notices at any time, and will issue public notices to convey any new or supplemental information. It is the responsibility of all applications to remain current with all Commission rules and with all public notices pertaining to this auction. ii. Prohibited Communications and Compliance With Antitrust Laws To ensure the competitiveness of the auction process, 47 CFR 1.2105(c) prohibits auction applicants for licenses in any of the same geographic license areas from communicating with each other about bids, bidding strategies, or settlements unless such applicants have identified each other on their short-form applications (FCC Form 175) as parties with whom they have entered into agreements pursuant to 47 CFR 1.2105(a)(2)(viii). a. Entities Subject to Section 1.2105 5. 47 CFR 1.2105(c)'s prohibition on certain communications will apply to any applicants that submit short-form applications seeking to participate in a Commission auction for licenses in the same or overlapping markets. Thus, unless they have identified each other on their short-form applications as parties with whom they have entered into agreements under 47 CFR 1.2105(a)(2)(viii), applicants for any of the same or overlapping markets must affirmatively avoid all communications with or disclosures to each other that affect or have the potential to affect bids or bidding strategy. In some instances, this prohibition extends to communications regarding the post-auction market structure. This prohibition applies to all applicants regardless of whether such applicants become qualified bidders or actually bid. In Auction 92, this rule would apply to applicants designating on the short-form application any of the same licenses. The rule would also prohibit, for example, an applicant bidding for a CMA license and another applicant bidding for an EA license that covers any of the same geographic area from communicating, absent a disclosed agreement. 6. Applicants are also reminded that, for purposes of this prohibition on certain communications, 47 CFR 1.2105(c)(7)(i) defines applicant as including all officers and directors of the entity submitting a short-form application to participate in the auction, all controlling interests of that entity, as well as all holders of partnership and other ownership interests and any stock interest amounting to 10 percent or more of the entity, or outstanding stock, or outstanding voting stock of the entity submitting a short-form application. For example, where an individual served as an officer for two or more applicants, the Bureau has found that the bids and bidding strategies of one applicant are necessarily conveyed to the other applicant, and, absent a disclosed bidding agreement, an apparent violation of 47 CFR 1.2105(c) occurs. 7. Information concerning Auction 92 applicants' license selections will not be available to the public. Therefore, the Commission will inform each applicant by letter of the identity of each of the other applicants that has applied for licenses covering any of the same geographic areas as the licenses that it has selected in its short-form application. 8. Individuals and entities subject to 47 CFR 1.2105(c) should take special care in circumstances where their employees may receive information directly or indirectly from a competing applicant relating to any competing applicant's bids or bidding strategies. An exception to the prohibition on certain communications allows non-controlling interest holders to obtain interests in more than one competing applicant without violating 47 CFR 1.2105(c), provided specified conditions are met (including a certification that no prohibited communications have occurred or will occur), but that exception does not extend to controlling interest holders. 9. Auction 92 applicants selecting licenses for any of the same geographic license areas are encouraged not to use the same individual as an authorized bidder. A violation of 47 CFR 1.2105(c) could occur if an individual acts as the authorized bidder for two or more competing applicants, and conveys information concerning the substance of bids or bidding strategies between such applicants. Also, if the authorized bidders are different individuals employed by the same organization (e.g., law firm or engineering firm or consulting firm), a violation similarly could occur. In such a case, at a minimum, applicants should certify on their applications that precautionary steps have been taken to prevent communication between authorized bidders and that applicants and their bidding agents will comply with 47 CFR 1.2105(c). b. Prohibition Applies Until Down Payment Deadline 10. 47 CFR 1.2105(c)'s prohibition on certain communications begins at the short-form application filing deadline and ends at the down payment deadline after the auction, which will be announced in a future public notice. c. Prohibited Communications 11. Applicants should note that they must not communicate directly or indirectly about bids or bidding strategy to other applicants in this auction. 47 CFR 1.2105(c) prohibits not only a communication about an applicant's own bids or bidding strategy, but also a communication of another applicant's bids or bidding strategy. While 47 CFR 1.2105(c) does not prohibit non-auction- [[Page 21352]] related business negotiations among auction applicants, applicants must remain vigilant so as not to communicate directly or indirectly information that affects, or could affect, bids or bidding strategy, or the negotiation of settlement agreements. 12. Applicants are cautioned that the Commission remains vigilant about prohibited communications taking place in other situations. For example, the Commission has warned that prohibited communications concerning bids and bidding strategies may include communications regarding capital calls or requests for additional funds in support of bids or bidding strategies to the extent such communications convey information concerning bids and bidding strategies directly or indirectly. Moreover, the Commission has found a violation of 47 CFR 1.2105(c) where a bidder used the Commission's bidding system to disclose its bidding strategy in a manner that explicitly invited other auction participants to cooperate and collaborate in specific markets, and has placed auction participants on notice that the use of its bidding system to disclose market information to competitors will not be tolerated and will subject bidders to sanctions. Accordingly, applicants should use caution in their dealings with other parties, such as members of the press, financial analysts, or others who might become conduits for the communication of prohibited bidding information. For example, where limited information disclosure procedures are in place, as is the case for Auction 92, a qualified bidder's statement to the press that it has lost bidding eligibility and stopped bidding in the auction could give rise to a finding of a 47 CFR 1.2105(c) violation. Similarly, an applicant's public statement of intent not to participate in Auction 92 bidding could also violate the rule. 13. Applicants are also hereby placed on notice that disclosure of information relating to bidder interests and bidder identities that has not yet been made public by the Commission at the time of disclosure may violate the provisions of 47 CFR 1.2105(c) that prohibit certain communications. This is so even though similar types of information were revealed prior to and during other Commission auctions subject to different information procedures. Thus, communication by an applicant of its license selections to another applicant for one or more of the same licenses, or communication of the fact that an applicant does nor does not hold provisionally winning bids on particular licenses, may well violate 47 CFR 1.2105(c). 14. In addition, when completing short-form applications, applicants should avoid any statements or disclosures that may violate 47 CFR 1.2105(c), particularly in light of the limited information procedures in effect for Auction 92. Specifically, applicants should avoid including any information in their short-form applications that might convey information regarding their license selection, such as using applicant names that refer to licenses being offered, referring to certain licenses or markets in describing bidding agreements, or including any information in attachments that may otherwise disclose applicants' license selections. d. Disclosure of Bidding Agreements and Arrangements 15. The Commission's rules do not prohibit applicants from entering into otherwise lawful bidding agreements before filing their short-form applications, as long as they disclose the existence of the agreement(s) in their short-form applications. If parties agree in principle on all material terms prior to the short-form application filing deadline, each party to the agreement must identify the other party or parties to the agreement on its short-form application under 47 CFR 1.2105(c), even if the agreement has not been reduced to writing. If the parties have not agreed in principle by the short-form filing deadline, they should not include the names of parties to discussions on their applications, and they may not continue negotiation, discussion, or communication with any other applicants for licenses covering any of the same or overlapping geographic areas after the short-form application filing deadline. e. Section 1.2105(c) Certification 16. By electronically submitting a short-form application, each applicant in Auction 92 certifies its compliance with 47 CFR 1.2105(c). However, the Bureau cautions that merely filing a certifying statement as part of an application will not outweigh specific evidence that a prohibited communication has occurred, nor will it preclude the initiation of an investigation when warranted. The Commission has stated that it intends to scrutinize carefully any instances in which bidding patterns suggest that collusion may be occurring. Any applicant found to have violated 47 CFR 1.2105(c) may be subject to sanctions. f. Duty To Report Prohibited Communications: Reporting Procedure 17. 47 CFR 1.2105(c)(6) provides that any applicant that makes or receives a communication that appears to violate 47 CFR 1.2105(c) must report such communication in writing to the Commission immediately, and in no case later than five business days after the communication occurs. The Commission has clarified that each applicant's obligation to report any such communication continues beyond the five-day period after the communication is made, even if the report is not made within the five day period. 18. 47 CFR 1.65 requires an applicant to maintain the accuracy and completeness of information furnished in its pending application and to notify the Commission of any substantial change that may be of decisional significance to that application. Thus, 47 CFR 1.65 requires an auction applicant to notify the Commission of any substantial change to the information or certifications included in its pending short-form application. An applicant is therefore required by 47 CFR 1.65 to report to the Commission any communication the applicant has made to or received from another applicant after the short-form application filing deadline that affects or has the potential to affect bids or bidding strategy, unless such communication is made to or received from a party to an agreement identified under 47 CFR 1.2105(a)(2)(viii). 19. 47 CFR 1.65(a) and 1.2105(c) requires applicants in competitive bidding proceedings to furnish additional or corrected information within five days of a significant occurrence, or to amend their short- form applications no more than five days after the applicant becomes aware of the need for amendment. These rules are intended to facilitate the auction process by making the information available promptly to all participants and to enable the Bureau to act expeditiously on those changes when such action is necessary. 20. A party reporting any communication pursuant to 47 CFR 1.65, 1.2105(a)(2), or 1.2105(c)(6) must take care to ensure that any report of a prohibited communication does not itself give rise to a violation of 47 CFR 1.2105(c). For example, a party's report of a prohibited communication could violate the rule by communicating prohibited information to other applicants through the use of Commission filing procedures that would allow such materials to be made available for public inspection. [[Page 21353]] 21. 47 CFR 1.2105(c) requires parties to file only a single report concerning such communications and to file that report with Commission personnel expressly charged with administering the Commission's auctions. This rule is designed to minimize the risk of inadvertent dissemination of information in such reports. Pursuant to the amended rule, any reports required by 47 CFR 1.2105(c) must be filed consistent with the instructions set forth in the Auction 92 Procedures Public Notice. For Auction 92, such reports must be filed with the Chief of the Auctions and Spectrum Access Division, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, by the most expeditious means available. Specifically, any such report must be submitted by e-mail to [email protected] or delivered to the following address: Margaret W. Wiener, Chief, Auctions and Spectrum Access Division, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, Federal Communications Commission, 445 12th Street SW., Room 6423, Washington, DC 20554. 22. A party seeking to report such a prohibited communication should consider submitting its report with a request that the report or portions of the submission be withheld from public inspection pursuant to 47 CFR 0.459. If requesting that a report be withheld from public inspection, the cover page of the filing must prominently display that the report seeks confidential treatment, and cover all of the material to which the request applies. Such parties also are encouraged to coordinate with the Auctions and Spectrum Access Division staff if they have any questions about the procedures for submitting such reports. The Auction 92 Procedures Public Notice provides additional guidance on procedures for submitting application-related information. g. Winning Bidders Must Disclose Terms of Agreements 23. Applicants that are winning bidders will be required to disclose in their long-form applications the specific terms, conditions, and parties involved in any bidding consortia, joint venture, partnership, or agreement, understanding, or other arrangement entered into relating to the competitive bidding process, including any agreement relating to the post-auction market structure. Applicants must be aware that failure to comply with the Commission's rules can result in enforcement action. h. Antitrust Laws 24. Applicants are also reminded that, regardless of compliance with the Commission's rules, they remain subject to the antitrust laws, which are designed to prevent anticompetitive behavior in the marketplace. Compliance with the disclosure requirements of 47 CFR 1.2105(c) will not insulate a party from enforcement of the antitrust laws. For instance, a violation of the antitrust laws could arise out of actions taking place well before any party submitted a short-form application. The Commission has cited a number of examples of potentially anticompetitive actions that would be prohibited under antitrust laws: For example, actual or potential competitors may not agree to divide territories in order to minimize competition, regardless of whether they split a market in which they both do business, or whether they merely reserve one market for one and another market for the other. Similarly, the Bureau previously reminded potential applicants and others that even where the applicant discloses parties with whom it has reached an agreement on the short-form application, thereby permitting discussions with those parties, the applicant is nevertheless subject to existing antitrust laws. 25. To the extent the Commission becomes aware of specific allegations that suggest that violations of the federal antitrust laws may have occurred, the Commission may refer such allegations to the United States Department of Justice for investigation. If an applicant is found to have violated the antitrust laws or the Commission's rules in connection with its participation in the competitive bidding process, it may be subject to forfeiture of its upfront payment, down payment, or full bid amount and may be prohibited from participating in future auctions, among other sanctions. iii. Protection of Incumbent Operations 26. 700 MHz Band licensees must operate in accordance with Commission rules to reduce the potential for interference to public reception of the signals of digital television (DTV) broadcast stations transmitting on DTV Channel 51. These limitations may restrict the ability of such geographic area licensees to use certain portions of the electromagnetic spectrum or provide service to some parts of their geographic license areas. a. International Coordination 27. Potential bidders seeking licenses for geographic areas that are near the Canadian or Mexican borders are subject to international agreements with Canada and Mexico. Pursuant to these agreements, the U.S. must protect the signals of Canadian and Mexican television broadcast stations located in the border area. Unless otherwise modified by international treaty, licensees must not cause interference to, and must accept harmful interference from, television broadcast operations in Mexico and Canada. Further, until such time as existing agreements are replaced or modified to reflect the new uses, licensees in the band will be subject to existing agreements. b. Quiet Zones 28. 700 MHz band licensees must protect the radio quiet zones specified at 47 CFR 1.924. Licensees are cautioned that they must receive the appropriate approvals directly from the relevant quiet zone entity prior to operating within the areas described in 47 CFR 1.924. iv. Spectrum Holdings Subject to Competition Analysis 29. To avoid anti-competitive spectrum aggregation, the Commission in 2008 announced its intention to apply prospectively a competitive analysis to spectrum acquired through auctions, just as the Commission has done previously to spectrum acquired through transactions. Accordingly, the Bureau will apply a competitive analysis to spectrum acquired through this auction when evaluating the winning bidder's long-form application. The Commission's competitive analysis includes an examination of the appropriate market definitions including a determination of the product market, geographic markets, market participants, and the input market for spectrum available for the provision of mobile telephony/broadband services. v. Due Diligence 30. Each applicant must take seriously its duties and responsibilities and carefully determine before filing an application that the applicant has the legal, technical and financial resources to participate in Auction 92, as well as construct and operate a 700 MHz facility if the auction applicant becomes a licensee as a result of its participation in this auction. 31. The Bureau cautions potential applicants formulating their bidding strategies to investigate and consider the extent to which these frequencies are occupied, and how such occupancy may affect their business plans. For example, there are incumbent operations already licensed and operating in these bands that must be protected. These limitations may restrict the ability of licensees to use certain portions of the electromagnetic spectrum or provide [[Page 21354]] service to certain areas in their geographic license areas. Applicants should become familiar with the status of any such operations and applicable Commission rules, orders and any pending proceedings related to the service, in order to make reasoned, appropriate decisions about their participation in this auction and their bidding strategy. 32. Potential applicants are reminded that they are solely responsible for investigating and evaluating all technical and marketplace factors that may have a bearing on the value of the licenses being offered in this auction. Bidders are responsible for assuring themselves that, if they win a license, they will be able to build and operate facilities in accordance with the Commission's rules. The Commission makes no representations or warranties about the use of this spectrum for particular services. Applicants should be aware that an FCC auction represents an opportunity to become a licensee subject to certain conditions and regulations. An FCC auction does not constitute an endorsement by the FCC of any particular service, technology, or product, nor does an FCC license constitute a guarantee of business success. 33. Applicants should perform their individual due diligence before proceeding, as they would with any new business venture. In particular, potential applicants are strongly encouraged to conduct their own research prior to the beginning of bidding in Auction 92 in order to determine the existence of any pending legislative, administrative, or judicial proceedings that might affect their decisions regarding participation in the auction. Participants in Auction 92 are strongly encouraged to continue such research throughout the auction. In addition, potential bidders should perform technical analyses sufficient to assure themselves that, should they be a winning bidder in competitive bidding for a specific license, they will be able to build and operate facilities that will fully comply with the Commission's technical and legal requirements as well as other applicable Federal, state, and local laws. 34. Applicants should also be aware that certain pending and future proceedings, including rulemaking proceedings or petitions for rulemaking, applications (including those for modification), requests for special temporary authority, waiver requests, petitions to deny, petitions for reconsideration, informal oppositions, and applications for review, before the Commission may relate to particular applicants or incumbent licensees or the licenses available in Auction 92. In addition, pending and future judicial proceedings may also relate to particular applicants or incumbent licensees, or to the licenses available in Auction 92. Prospective applicants are responsible for assessing the likelihood of the various possible outcomes and for considering their potential impact on spectrum licenses available in this auction. 35. Applicants should perform due diligence to identify and consider all proceedings that may affect the spectrum licenses being auctioned and that could have an impact on the availability of spectrum for Auction 92. In addition, although the Commission may continue to act on various pending applications, informal objections, petitions, and other requests for Commission relief, some of these matters may not be resolved by the beginning of bidding in the auction. Applicants are solely responsible for identifying associated risks and for investigating and evaluating the degree to which such matters may affect their ability to bid on, otherwise acquire, or make use of licenses being offered in this auction. 36. Applicants may research the Bureau's licensing database on the Internet in order to determine which frequencies are already licensed to incumbent licensees. Applicants may obtain information about licenses available in Auction 92 through the Bureau's online licensing databases at http://wireless.fcc.gov/uls. Additional guidance on searching these databases is provided in the Auction 92 Procedures Public Notice. 37. The Commission makes no representations or guarantees regarding the accuracy or completeness of information in its databases or any third party databases, including, for example, court docketing systems. To the extent the Commission's databases may not include all information deemed necessary or desirable by an applicant, applicants may obtain or verify such information from independent sources or assume the risk of any incompleteness or inaccuracy in said databases. Furthermore, the Commission makes no representations or guarantees regarding the accuracy or completeness of information that has been provided by incumbent licensees and incorporated into its databases. 38. Potential applicants are strongly encouraged to physically inspect any prospective sites located in, or near, the geographic area for which they plan to bid, and also to familiarize themselves with the relevant environmental review obligations. vi. Use of Integrated Spectrum Auction System 39. The Commission will make available a browser-based bidding system to allow bidders to participate in Auction 92 over the Internet using the Commission's Integrated Spectrum Auction System (ISAS or FCC Auction System). The Commission makes no warranty whatsoever with respect to the FCC Auction System. In no event shall the Commission, or any of its officers, employees, or agents, be liable for any damages whatsoever (including, but not limited to, loss of business profits, business interruption, loss of business information, or any other loss) arising out of or relating to the existence, furnishing, functioning, or use of the FCC Auction System that is accessible to qualified bidders in connection with this auction. Moreover, no obligation or liability will arise out of the Commission's technical, programming, or other advice or service provided in connection with the FCC Auction System. vii. Environmental Review Requirements 40. Licensees must comply with the Commission's rules regarding implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act and other federal environmental statutes. The construction of a wireless antenna facility is a federal action and the licensee must comply with the Commission's environmental rules for each such facility. Further information about such environmental review requirements is provided in the Auction 92 Procedures Public Notice. C. Auction Specifics i. Auction Start Date 41. Bidding in Auction 92 will begin on Tuesday, July 19, 2011. The initial schedule for bidding will be announced by public notice at least one week before the start of the auction. Unless otherwise announced, bidding on all licenses will be conducted on each business day until bidding has stopped on all licenses. ii. Bidding Methodology 42. As discussed in more detail in the Auction 92 Procedures Public Notice, the bidding methodology for Auction 92 will be simultaneous multiple round (SMR) bidding. The Commission will conduct this auction over the Internet using the FCC Auction System, and telephonic bidding will be available as well. Qualified bidders are permitted to bid electronically via the Internet or by [[Page 21355]] telephone. All telephone calls are recorded. iii. Pre-Auction Dates and Deadlines 43. The following dates and deadlines apply: Auction Tutorial Available (via Internet)..... May 2, 2011. Short-Form Application (FCC Form 175) Filing Window Opens May 2, 2011;.......... 12 noon ET. Short-Form Application (FCC Form 175) Filing Window Deadline.................... May 11, 2011; prior to 6:00 p.m. ET. Upfront Payments (via wire transfer)...... June 17, 2011; 6:00 p.m. ET. Mock Auction.............................. July 15, 2011. Auction Begins............................ July 19, 2011. iv. Requirements for Participation 44. Those wishing to participate in this auction must: (1) submit a short-form application (FCC Form 175) electronically prior to 6:00 p.m. ET, May 11, 2011, following the electronic filing procedures set forth in Attachment C to the Auction 92 Procedures Public Notice; (2) submit a sufficient upfront payment and an FCC Remittance Advice Form (FCC Form 159) by 6:00 p.m. ET, June 17, 2011, following the procedures and instructions set forth in Attachment D to the Auction 92 Procedures Public Notice; and (3) comply with all provisions outlined in the Auction 92 Procedures Public Notice and applicable Commission rules. II. Short-Form Application (FCC Form 175) Requirements A. General Information Regarding Short-Form Applications 45. An application to participate in an FCC auction, referred to as a short-form application or FCC Form 175, provides information used in determining whether the applicant is legally, technically, and financially qualified to participate in Commission auctions for licenses or permits. The short-form application is the first part of the Commission's two-phased auction application process. In the first phase of this process, parties desiring to participate in the auction must file streamlined, short-form applications in which they certify under penalty of perjury as to their qualifications. Eligibility to participate in bidding is based on the applicants' short-form applications and certifications as well as their upfront payments. In the second phase of the process, winning bidders must file a more comprehensive long-form application (FCC Form 601) and have a complete and accurate ownership disclosure information report (FCC Form 602) on file with the Commission. 46. Entities and individuals seeking licenses available in Auction 92 must file a short-form application electronically via the FCC Auction System prior to 6 p.m. ET on May 11, 2011, following the procedures prescribed in Attachment C to the Auction 92 Procedures Public Notice. If an applicant claims eligibility for a bidding credit, the information provided in its FCC Form 175 will be used in determining whether the applicant is eligible for the claimed bidding credit. Applicants filing a short-form application are subject to the Commission's rule prohibiting certain communications beginning on the deadline for filing. 47. Applicants bear full responsibility for submitting accurate, complete and timely short-form applications. All applicants must certify on their short-form applications under penalty of perjury that they are legally, technically, financially and otherwise qualified to hold a license. Applicants should read carefully the instructions set forth in Attachment C to the Auction 92 Procedures Public Notice and should consult the Commission's rules to ensure that, in addition to the materials described in that public notice, all the information that is required under the Commission's rules is included within their short-form applications. 48. An individual or entity may not submit more than one short-form application for a single auction. If a party submits multiple short- form applications, only one application may be accepted for filing. 49. Applicants also should note that submission of a short-form application (and any amendments thereto) constitutes a representation by the certifying official that he or she is an authorized representative of the applicant, that he or she has read the form's instructions and certifications, and that the contents of the application, its certifications, and any attachments are true and correct. Applicants are not permitted to make major modifications to their applications; such impermissible changes include a change of the certifying official to the application. Submission of a false certification to the Commission may result in penalties, including monetary forfeitures, license forfeitures, ineligibility to participate in future auctions, and/or criminal prosecution. B. License Selection 50. An applicant must select the licenses on which it wants to bid from the Eligible Licenses list on its short-form application. Applicants interested in participating in Auction 92 must have selected license(s) available in this auction by the short-form application filing deadline. Applicants must review and verify their license selections before the deadline for submitting short-form applications. Applicants will not be able to change their license selections after the short-form application filing deadline. The FCC Auction System will not accept bids from an applicant on licenses that the applicant has not selected on its short-form application. C. Disclosure of Bidding Arrangements 51. Applicants will be required to identify in their short-form application all parties with whom they have entered into any agreements, arrangements, or understandings of any kind relating to the licenses being auctioned, including any agreements relating to post- auction market structure. 52. After the filing of short-form applications, the Commission's rules do not prohibit a party holding a non-controlling, attributable interest in one applicant from acquiring an ownership interest in or entering into a joint bidding arrangement with other applicants, provided that: (1) The attributable interest holder certifies that it has not and will not communicate with any party concerning the bids or bidding strategies of more than one of the applicants in which it holds an attributable interest, or with which it has entered into a joint bidding arrangement; and (2) the arrangements do not result in a change in control of any of the applicants. D. Ownership Disclosure Requirements 53. All applicants must comply with the uniform Part 1 ownership disclosure standards and provide information [[Page 21356]] required by 47 CFR 1.2105 and 1.2112. Specifically, in completing the short-form application, applicants will be required to fully disclose information on the real party- or parties-in-interest and ownership structure of the applicant, including both direct and indirect ownership interests of 10 percent or more. The ownership disclosure standards for the short-form application are prescribed in 47 CFR 1.2105 and 1.2112. Each applicant is responsible for information submitted in its short-form application being complete and accurate. 54. In certain circumstances, an applicant's most current ownership information on file with the Commission, if in an electronic format compatible with the short-form application (such as information submitted in an on-line FCC Form 602 or in an FCC Form 175 filed for a previous auction using ISAS) will automatically be entered into the applicant's short-form application. Each applicant is responsible for ensuring that the information submitted in their short-form application for Auction 92 is complete and accurate. Accordingly, applicants should carefully review any information automatically entered to confirm that it is complete and accurate as of the deadline for filing the short- form application. Applicants can update directly in the short-form application any information that was entered automatically and needs to be changed. E. Designated Entity Provisions 55. Eligible applicants in Auction 92 may claim small business bidding credits. In addition to the information provided below, applicants should review carefully the Commission's decisions regarding the designated entity provisions. i. Bidding Credits for Small Businesses 56. A bidding credit represents an amount by which a bidder's winning bid will be discounted. For Auction 92, bidding credits will be available to small businesses and very small businesses, and consortia thereof. a. Bidding Credit Eligibility Criteria 57. The level of bidding credit is determined as follows: (1) A bidder with attributed average annual gross revenues that exceed $15 million and do not exceed $40 million for the preceding three years (small business) will receive a 15 percent discount on its winning bid; and (2) a bidder with attributed average annual gross revenues that do not exceed $15 million for the preceding three years (very small business) will receive a 25 percent discount on its winning bid. 58. Bidding credits are not cumulative. A qualifying applicant may claim either a 15 percent or 25 percent bidding credit on its winning bid. b. Revenue Disclosure on Short-Form Application 59. An entity applying as a small or very small business must provide gross revenues for the preceding three years of each of the following: (1) The applicant, (2) its affiliates, (3) its controlling interests, (4) the affiliates of its controlling interests, and (5) the entities with which it has an attributable material relationship. Certification that the average annual gross revenues of such entities and individuals for the preceding three years do not exceed the applicable limit is not sufficient. Additionally, if an applicant is applying as a consortium of small businesses or very small businesses, this information must be provided for each consortium member. ii. Attributable Interests a. Controlling Interests 60. Controlling interests of an applicant include individuals and entities with either de facto or de jure control of the applicant. Typically, ownership of greater than 50 percent of an entity's voting stock evidences de jure control. De facto control is determined on a case-by-case basis. The following are some common indicia of de facto control: (1) The entity constitutes or appoints more than 50 percent of the board of directors or management committee; (2) the entity has authority to appoint, promote, demote, and fire senior executives that control the day-to-day activities of the licensee; and (3) the entity plays an integral role in management decisions. 61. Applicants should refer to 47 CFR 1.2110(c)(2) and Attachment C of the Auction 92 Procedures Public Notice to understand how certain interests are calculated in determining control. For example, pursuant to 47 CFR 1.2110(c)(2)(ii)(F), officers and directors of an applicant are considered to have controlling interest in the applicant. b. Affiliates 62. Affiliates of an applicant or controlling interest include an individual or entity that: (1) Directly or indirectly controls or has the power to control the applicant; (2) is directly or indirectly controlled by the applicant; (3) is directly or indirectly controlled by a third party that also controls or has the power to control the applicant; or (4) has an ``identity of interest'' with the applicant. The Commission's definition of an affiliate of the applicant encompasses both controlling interests of the applicant and affiliates of controlling interests of the applicant. For more information regarding affiliates, applicants should refer to 47 CFR 1.2110(c)(5) and Attachment C to the Auction 92 Procedures Public Notice. c. Material Relationships 63. The Commission requires the consideration of certain leasing and resale (including wholesale) relationships--referred to as attributable material relationships--in determining designated entity eligibility for bidding credits. An applicant or licensee has an attributable material relationship when it has one or more agreements with any individual entity for the lease or resale (including under a wholesale agreement) of, on a cumulative basis, more than 25 percent of the spectrum capacity of any individual license held by the applicant or licensee. The attributable material relationship will cause the gross revenues of that entity and its attributable interest holders to be attributed to the applicant or licensee for the purposes of determining the applicant's or licensee's (i) eligibility for designated entity benefits and (ii) liability for unjust enrichment on a license-by-license basis. 64. The Commission grandfathered material relationships in existence before the release of the Designated Entity Second Report and Order, meaning that those preexisting relationships alone would not cause the Commission to examine a designated entity's ongoing eligibility for existing benefits or its liability for unjust enrichment. The Commission did not, however, grandfather preexisting material relationships for determinations of an applicant's or licensee's designated entity eligibility for future auctions or in the context of future assignments, transfers of control, spectrum leases, or other reportable eligibility events. Rather, in such circumstances, the Commission reexamines the applicant's or licensee's designated entity eligibility, taking into account all existing material relationships, including those previously grandfathered. d. Gross Revenue Exceptions 65. The Commission has clarified that, in calculating an applicant's gross revenues under the controlling interest standard, it will not attribute to the applicant the personal net worth, including personal income, of its officers and directors. However, to the [[Page 21357]] extent that an officer or director of the applicant is a controlling interest holder of other entities, the gross revenues of those entities will be attributed to the applicant. Moreover, if an officer or director operates a separate business, the gross revenues derived from that separate business would be attributed to the applicant, although income from such separate business which is only personal income would not be attributed. 66. The Commission has also exempted from attribution to the applicant the gross revenues of the affiliates of a rural telephone cooperative's officers and directors, if certain conditions specified in 47 CFR 1.2110(b)(3)(iii) are met. An applicant claiming this exemption must provide, in an attachment, an affirmative statement that the applicant, affiliate and/or controlling interest is an eligible rural telephone cooperative within the meaning of 47 CFR 1.2110(b)(3)(iii), and the applicant must supply any additional information as may be required to demonstrate eligibility for the exemption from the attribution rule. Applicants seeking to claim this exemption must meet all of the conditions. Additional guidance on claiming this exemption may be found in Attachment C to the Auction 92 Procedures Public Notice. e. Bidding Consortia 67. A consortium of small businesses or very small businesses is a conglomerate organization composed of two or more entities, each of which individually satisfies the definition of a small business or very small business. Thus, each member of a consortium of small businesses or very small businesses that applies to participate in Auction 92 must individually meet the criteria for small businesses or very small businesses. Each consortium member must disclose its gross revenues along with those of its affiliates, its controlling interests, the affiliates of its controlling interests, and any entities having an attributable material relationship with the member. Although the gross revenues of the consortium members will not be aggregated for purposes of determining the consortium's eligibility as a small business or very small business, this information must be provided to ensure that each individual consortium member qualifies for any bidding credit awarded to the consortium. F. Tribal Lands Bidding Credit 68. Applicants do not provide information regarding tribal lands bidding credits on their short-form applications. Instead, winning bidders may apply for the tribal lands bidding credit after the auction when they file their more detailed, long-form applications. G. Provisions Regarding Former and Current Defaulters 69. Current defaulters or delinquents are not eligible to participate in Auction 92, but former defaulters can participate so long as they are otherwise qualified and make upfront payments that are fifty percent more than the normal upfront payment amounts. An applicant is considered a current defaulter or a current delinquent when it, any of its affiliates, any of its controlling interests, or any of the affiliates of its controlling interests, is in default on any payment for any Commission license (including a down payment) or is delinquent on any non-tax debt owed to any Federal agency as of the filing deadline for short-form applications. An applicant is considered a former defaulter or a former delinquent when it, any of its affiliates, any of its controlling interests, or any of the affiliates of its controlling interests, have defaulted on any Commission license or been delinquent on any non-tax debt owed to any Federal agency, but have since remedied all such defaults and cured all of the outstanding non-tax delinquencies. 70. On the short-form application, an applicant must certify under penalty of perjury that it, its affiliates, its controlling interests, and the affiliates of its controlling interests, as defined by 47 CFR 1.2110, are not in default on any payment for a Commission license (including down payments) and that it is not delinquent on any non-tax debt owed to any Federal agency. Each applicant must also state under penalty of perjury whether it, its affiliates, its controlling interests, and the affiliates of its controlling interests, have ever been in default on any Commission license or have ever been delinquent on any non-tax debt owed to any Federal agency. Prospective applicants are reminded that submission of a false certification to the Commission is a serious matter that may result in severe penalties, including monetary forfeitures, license revocations, exclusion from participation in future auctions, and/or criminal prosecution. These statements and certifications are prerequisites to submitting an application to participate in an FCC auction. 71. Applicants are encouraged to review the Bureau's previous guidance on default and delinquency disclosure requirements in the context of the short-form application process. For example, to the extent that Commission rules permit late payment of regulatory or application fees accompanied by late fees, such debts will become delinquent for purposes of 47 CFR 1.2105(a) and 1.2106(a) only after the expiration of a final payment deadline. Therefore, with respect to regulatory or application fees, the provisions of 47 CFR 1.2105(a) and 1.2106(a) regarding default and delinquency in connection with competitive bidding are limited to circumstances in which the relevant party has not complied with a final Commission payment deadline. Parties are also encouraged to consult with the Bureau's Auctions and Spectrum Access Division staff if they have any questions about default and delinquency disclosure requirements. 72. The Commission considers outstanding debts owed to the United States Government, in any amount, to be a serious matter. The Commission adopted rules, including a provision referred to as the red light rule, that implement the Commission's obligations under the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996, which governs the collection of claims owed to the United States. Under the red light rule, the Commission will not process applications and other requests for benefits filed by parties that have outstanding debts owed to the Commission. In the same rulemaking order, the Commission explicitly declared, however, that the Commission's competitive bidding rules are not affected by the red light rule. As a consequence, the Commission's adoption of the red light rule does not alter the applicability of any of the Commission's competitive bidding rules, including the provisions and certifications of 47 CFR 1.2105 and 1.2106, with regard to current and former defaults or delinquencies. 73. Applicants are reminded, however, that the Commission's Red Light Display System, which provides information regarding debts currently owed to the Commission, may not be determinative of an auction applicant's ability to comply with the default and delinquency disclosure requirements of 47 CFR 1.2105. Thus, while the red light rule ultimately may prevent the processing of long-form applications by auction winners, an auction applicant's lack of current red light status is not necessarily determinative of its eligibility to participate in an auction or of its upfront payment obligation. 74. Moreover, prospective applicants in Auction 92 should note that any long-form applications filed after the close of bidding will be reviewed for compliance with the Commission's red light rule, and such review may result in the [[Page 21358]] dismissal of a winning bidder's long-form application. Applicants that have their long-form application dismissed will be deemed to have default and will be subject to default payments under 47 CFR 1.2104(f) and 1.2109(c). H. Optional Applicant Status Identification 75. Applicants owned by members of minority groups and/or women, as defined in 47 CFR 1.2110(c)(3), and rural telephone companies, as defined in 47 CFR 1.2110(c)(4), may identify themselves regarding this status in filling out their short-form applications. This applicant status information is collected for statistical purposes only and assists the Commission in monitoring the participation of designated entities in its auctions. I. Minor Modifications to Short-Form Applications 76. After the deadline for filing initial applications, an Auction 92 applicant is permitted to make only minor changes to its application. Permissible minor changes include, among other things, deletion and addition of authorized bidders (to a maximum of three) and revision of addresses and telephone numbers of the applicant and its contact person. An applicant is not permitted to make a major modification to its application (e.g., change of license selection, change control of the applicant, change the certifying official, or claim eligibility for a higher percentage of bidding credit) after the initial application filing deadline. Thus, any change in control of an applicant, resulting from a merger, for example, will be considered a major modification to the applicant's application, which will consequently be dismissed. Even if an applicant's short-form application is dismissed, the applicant would remain subject to the prohibition of certain communications pursuant to 47 CFR 1.2105(c) until the down payment deadline, which will be established after the auction closes. 77. If an applicant wishes to make permissible minor changes to its short-form application, such changes should be made electronically to its short-form application using the FCC Auction System whenever possible. Applicants are reminded to click on the SUBMIT button in the FCC Auction System for the change to be submitted and considered by the Commission. After the revised application has been submitted, a confirmation page will be displayed that states the submission time, submission date and a unique file number. The Bureau advises applicant to print and retain a copy of this confirmation page. 78. An applicant cannot use the FCC Auction System outside of the initial and resubmission filing windows to make changes to its short- form application other than administrative changes (e.g. changing certain contact information or the name of an authorized bidder). If these or other permissible minor changes need to be made outside of these windows, the applicant must submit a letter briefly summarizing the changes and subsequently update its short-form application in ISAS once the system is available. Moreover, after the filing window has closed, ISAS will not permit applicants to make certain changes, such as the applicant's legal classification and bidding credit. 79. Any letter describing changes to an applicant's short-form application should be submitted by e-mail to [email protected]. The e- mail summarizing the changes must include a subject or caption referring to Auction 92 and the name of the applicant, for example, RE: Changes to Auction 92 Short-Form Application of ABC Corp. The Bureau requests that parties format any attachments to e-mail as Adobe[supreg] Acrobat[supreg] (pdf) or Microsoft[supreg] Word documents. Questions about short-form application amendments should be directed to the Auctions and Spectrum Access Division at (202) 418-0660. 80. Any application amendment and related statements of fact must be certified by (1) the applicant, if the applicant is an individual; (2) one of the partners if the applicant is a partnership; (3) an officer, director, or duly authorized employee, if the applicant is a corporation; (4) a member who is an officer, if the applicant is an unincorporated association; (5) the trustee, if the applicant is an amateur radio service club; or (6) a duly elected or appointed official who is authorized to make such certifications under the laws of the applicable jurisdiction, if the applicant is a governmental entity. 81. Applicants must not submit application-specific material through the Commission's Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS), which was used for submitting comments regarding Auction 92. Parties submitting information related to their applications should use caution to ensure that their submissions do not contain confidential information or communicate information that would violate 47 CFR 1.2105(c) or the limited information procedures adopted for Auction 92. A party seeking to submit information that might reflect non-public information, such as an applicant's license selections, upfront payment amount, or bidding eligibility, should consider submitting any such information along with a request that the filing or portions of the filing be withheld from public inspection until the end of the prohibition of certain communications pursuant to 47 CFR 1.2105(c). J. Maintaining Current Information in Short-Form Applications 82. 47 CFR 1.65 and 1.2105(b) require an applicant to maintain the accuracy and completeness of information furnished in its pending application and in competitive bidding proceedings to furnish additional or corrected information to the Commission within five days of a significant occurrence, or to amend a short form application no more than five days after the applicant becomes aware of the need for the amendment. Changes that cause a loss of or reduction in the percentage of bidding credit specified on the originally submitted application must be reported immediately, and no later than five business days after the change occurs. If an amendment reporting substantial changes is a major amendment, as defined by 47 CFR 1.2105, the major amendment will not be accepted and may result in the dismissal of the application. As explained previously, after the application filing deadline, applicants may make only minor changes to their applications. Applicants must click on the SUBMIT button in the FCC Auction System for the changes to be submitted and considered by the Commission. In addition, an applicant cannot update its short-form application using the FCC Auction System after the initial and resubmission filing windows close. If 47 CFR 1.65 submissions are needed after these windows close, applicants must submit a letter, briefly summarizing the changes, by e-mail to [email protected]. The e- mail summarizing the changes must include a subject or caption referring to Auction 92 and the name of the applicant. The Bureau requests that parties format any attachments to e-mail as Adobe[supreg] Acrobat[supreg] (pdf) or Microsoft[supreg] Word documents. Applicants must not submit application-specific material through ECFS. A party seeking to submit information that might reflect non-public information, such as an applicant's license selections, upfront payment amount, or bidding eligibility, should consider submitting any such information along with a request that the filing or portions of the filing be withheld from public inspection until the end of the prohibition of certain [[Page 21359]] communications pursuant to 47 CFR 1.2105(c). III. Pre-Auction Procedures A. Online Auction Tutorial--Available May 2, 2011 83. No later than Monday, May 2, 2011, the Commission will post an educational auction tutorial on the Auction 92 web page for prospective bidders to familiarize themselves with the auction process. This online tutorial will provide information about pre-auction procedures, completing short-form applications, auction conduct, the FCC Auction Bidding System, auction rules, and 700 MHz Band service rules. The tutorial will also provide an avenue to ask FCC staff questions about the auction, auction procedures, filing requirements, and other matters related to this auction. 84. The auction tutorial will be accessible through a web browser from the FCC's Auction 92 web page at http://wireless.fcc.gov/auctions/92/ through an Auction Tutorial link. Once posted, this tutorial will remain available for reference in connection with the procedures outlined in the Auction 92 Procedures Public Notice and accessible anytime. B. Short-Form Applications--Due Prior to 6 p.m. ET on May 11, 2011 85. In order to be eligible to bid in this auction, applicants must first follow the procedures set forth in Attachment C to the Auction 92 Procedures Public Notice to submit a short-form application (FCC Form 175) electronically via the FCC Auction System. This short-form application must be submitted through the FCC Auction System prior to 6 p.m. ET on May 11, 2011. Late applications will not be accepted. There is no application fee required when filing an FCC Form 175, but an applicant must submit a timely upfront payment to be eligible to bid. 86. Applications may generally be filed at any time beginning at noon ET on May 2, 2011, until the filing window closes at 6 p.m. ET on May 11, 2011. Applicants are strongly encouraged to file early and are responsible for allowing adequate time for filing their applications. Applicants may update or amend their applications multiple times until the filing deadline on May 11, 2011. 87. An applicant must always click on the SUBMIT button on the Certify & Submit screen to successfully submit its FCC Form 175 and any modifications; otherwise the application or changes to the application will not be received or reviewed. Additional information about accessing, completing, and viewing the FCC Form 175 is included in Attachment C of the Auction 92 Procedures Public Notice. C. Application Processing and Minor Corrections 88. After the deadline for filing FCC Form 175 applications, the Commission will process all timely submitted applications to determine which are complete, and subsequently will issue a public notice identifying (1) those applications that are complete; (2) those applications that are rejected; and (3) those applications that are incomplete because of minor defects that may be corrected. The public notice will include the deadline for resubmitting corrected applications. 89. After the application filing deadline on May 11, 2011, applicants continue to be able to make only minor corrections to their applications. Applicants will not be permitted to make major modifications to their applications (e.g., change license selection, change control of the applicant, change the certifying official, or claim eligibility for a higher percentage of bidding credit). 90. Commission staff will communicate only with an applicant's contact person or certifying official, as designated on the applicant's short-form application, unless the applicant's certifying official or contact person notifies the Commission in writing that applicant's counsel or other representative is authorized to speak on its behalf. Authorizations may be sent by e-mail to [email protected]. D. Upfront Payments--Due June 17, 2011 91. In order to be eligible to bid in this auction, applicants must submit an upfront payment accompanied by an FCC Remittance Advice Form (FCC Form 159). After completing its short-form application, an applicant will have access to an electronic version of the FCC Form 159 that can be printed and sent by fax to U.S. Bank in St. Louis, Missouri. All upfront payments must be made as instructed in the Auction 92 Procedures Public Notice and must be received in the proper account at U.S. Bank before 6 p.m. ET on June 17, 2011. i. Making Upfront Payments by Wire Transfer 92. Wire transfer payments must be received before 6 p.m. ET on June 17, 2011. No other payment method is acceptable. The Commission will not accept checks, credit cards, or automated clearing house (ACH) payments to satisfy this upfront payment requirement. To avoid untimely payments, applicants should discuss arrangements (including bank closing schedules) with their bankers several days before they plan to make the wire transfer, and allow sufficient time for the transfer to be initiated and completed before the deadline. Information required for this wire transfer is specified in the Auction 92 Procedures Public Notice. 93. At least one hour before placing the order for the wire transfer (but on the same business day), applicants must fax a completed FCC Form 159 (Revised 2/03) to U.S. Bank at (314) 418-4232. On the fax cover sheet, applicants should write Wire Transfer--Auction Payment for Auction 92. In order to meet the Commission's upfront payment deadline, an applicant's payment must be credited to the Commission's account for Auction 92 before the deadline. 94. Each applicant is responsible for ensuring timely submission of its upfront payment and for timely filing of an accurate and complete FCC Remittance Advice Form (FCC Form 159). An applicant should coordinate with its financial institution well ahead of the due date regarding its wire transfer and allow sufficient time for the wire transfer to be initiated and completed prior to the deadline. The Commission repeatedly has cautioned auction participants about the importance of planning ahead to prepare for unforeseen last-minute difficulties in making payments by wire transfer. Each applicant also is responsible for obtaining confirmation from its financial institution that its wire transfer to U.S. Bank was successful and from Commission staff that the Commission has timely received the applicant's upfront payment and deposited it into the proper account. For confirmation that the Commission has timely received the applicant's upfront payment and deposited it into the proper account, an applicant may contact Gail Glasser of the Office of Managing Director's Auctions Accounting Group at (202) 418-0578, or alternatively, Theresa Meeks at (202) 418-2945. 95. Please note the following information regarding upfront payments: (1) All payments must be made in U.S. dollars; (2) all payments must be made by wire transfer; (3) upfront payments for Auction 92 go to a lockbox number different from the lockboxes used in previous FCC auctions, and (4) failure to deliver a sufficient upfront payment as instructed by the June 17, 2011, deadline will result in dismissal of the short-form [[Page 21360]] application and disqualification from participation in the auction. ii. FCC Form 159 96. A completed FCC Remittance Advice Form (FCC Form 159, Revised 2/03) must be faxed to U.S. Bank to accompany each upfront payment. Proper completion of FCC Form 159 is critical to ensuring correct crediting of upfront payments. Detailed instructions for completion of FCC Form 159 are included in Attachment D to the Auction 92 Procedures Public Notice. An electronic pre-filled version of the FCC Form 159 is available after submitting the FCC Form 175. Payers using the pre- filled FCC Form 159 are responsible for ensuring that all of the information on the form, including payment amounts, is accurate. The FCC Form 159 can be completed electronically, but must be filed with U.S. Bank by fax. iii. Upfront Payments and Bidding Eligibility 97. Applicants that are former defaulters, as described above, must pay upfront payments 50 percent greater than non-former defaulters. For purposes of this calculation, the applicant includes the applicant itself, its affiliates, its controlling interests, and affiliates of its controlling interests, as defined by 47 CFR 1.2110. 98. Applicants must make upfront payments sufficient to obtain bidding eligibility on the licenses on which they will bid. The amount of the upfront payment determines a bidder's initial bidding eligibility, the maximum number of bidding units on which a bidder may place bids. In order to bid on a particular license, a qualified bidder must have selected the license on its FCC Form 175 and must have a current eligibility level that meets or exceeds the number of bidding units assigned to that license. At a minimum, therefore, an applicant's total upfront payment must be enough to establish eligibility to bid on at least one of the licenses selected on its FCC Form 175, or else the applicant will not be eligible to participate in the auction. A bidder's total upfront payment does not affect the total dollar amount the bidder may bid on any given license. An applicant does not have to make an upfront payment to cover all licenses the applicant selected on its FCC Form 175, but only enough to cover the maximum number of bidding units that are associated with licenses on which the bidder wishes to place bids and hold provisionally winning bids in any given round. Provisionally winning bids are bids that would become final winning bids if the auction were to close after the given round. 99. Each license in Auction 92 is assigned a specific number of bidding units equal to the upfront payment listed for the license, on a bidding unit for dollar basis. The bidding unit level for each license will remain constant throughout the auction. 100. The upfront payment amount submitted by each applicant determines a bidder's initial bidding eligibility. The upfront payments and bidding units for each license in Auction 92 are set forth in Attachment A of the Auction 92 Procedures Public Notice. 101. In calculating its upfront payment amount, an applicant should determine the maximum number of bidding units on which it may wish to be active (bid on or hold provisionally winning bids on) in any single round, and submit an upfront payment amount covering that number of bidding units. In order to make this calculation, an applicant should add together the bidding units for all licenses on which it seeks to be active in any given round. Applicants should check their calculations carefully, as there is no provision for increasing a bidder's eligibility after the upfront payment deadline. 102. If an applicant is a former defaulter, it must calculate its upfront payment for all of its identified licenses by multiplying the number of bidding units on which it wishes to be active by 1.5. In order to calculate the number of bidding units to assign to former defaulters, the Commission will divide the upfront payment received by 1.5 and round the result up to the nearest bidding unit. If a former defaulter fails to submit a sufficient upfront payment to establish eligibility to bid on at least one of the licenses selected on its FCC Form 175, the applicant will not be eligible to participate in the auction. iv. Applicant's Wire Transfer Information for Purposes of Refunds of Upfront Payments 103. To ensure that refunds of upfront payments are processed in an expeditious manner, the Commission is requesting that all pertinent refund information specified in the Auction 92 Procedures Public Notice be supplied. Applicants can provide the information electronically during the initial short-form application filing window after the form has been submitted. (Applicants are reminded that information submitted as part of an FCC Form 175 will be available to the public; for that reason, wire transfer information must not be included in an FCC Form 175.) Wire Transfer Instructions can also be manually faxed to the FCC, Financial Operations, Auctions Accounting Group, Attn: Gail Glasser, at (202) 418-2843 (fax). All refunds will be returned to the payer of record as identified on the FCC Form 159 unless the payer submits written authorization instructing otherwise. For additional information, please call Gail Glasser at (202) 418-0578. E. Auction Registration 104. Approximately ten days before the auction, the Bureau will issue a public notice announcing all qualified bidders for the auction. Qualified bidders are those applicants with submitted FCC Form 175 applications that are deemed timely-filed, accurate, and complete, provided that such applicants have timely submitted an upfront payment that is sufficient to qualify them to bid. 105. All qualified bidders are automatically registered for the auction. Registration materials will be distributed prior to the auction by overnight mail. The mailing will be sent only to the contact person at the contact address listed in the FCC Form 175 and will include the SecurID[supreg] tokens that will be required to place bids, the Integrated Spectrum Auction System (ISAS) Bidder's Guide, and the Auction Bidder Line phone number. 106. Qualified bidders that do not receive this registration mailing will not be able to submit bids. Therefore, any qualified bidder that has not received this mailing by noon on Wednesday, July 13, 2011, should call (717) 338-2868. Receipt of this registration mailing is critical to participating in the auction, and each applicant is responsible for ensuring it has received all of the registration material. 107. In the event that SecurID[supreg] tokens are lost or damaged, only a person who has been designated as an authorized bidder, the contact person, or the certifying official on the applicant's short- form application may request replacements. Qualified bidders requiring the replacement of these items must call Technical Support at (877) 480-3201, option nine; (202) 414-1250; or (202) 414-1255 (TTY). F. Remote Electronic Bidding 108. The Commission will conduct this auction over the Internet, and telephonic bidding will be available as well. Only qualified bidders are permitted to bid. Each applicant should indicate its bidding preference--electronic or telephonic--on its FCC Form 175. In either case, each authorized bidder must have its own SecurID[supreg] token, which the Commission [[Page 21361]] will provide at no charge. Each applicant with one authorized bidder will be issued two SecurID[supreg] tokens, while applicants with two or three authorized bidders will be issued three tokens. For security purposes, the SecurID[supreg] tokens, the telephonic bidding telephone number, and the Integrated Spectrum Auction System (ISAS) Bidder's Guide are only mailed to the contact person at the contact address listed on the FCC Form 175. Each SecurID[supreg] token is tailored to a specific auction. SecurID[supreg] tokens issued for other auctions or obtained from a source other than the FCC will not work for Auction 92. 109. Please note that the SecurID[supreg] tokens can be recycled, and the Bureau encourages bidders to return the tokens to the FCC. The Bureau will provide pre-addressed envelopes that bidders may use to return the tokens once the auction has ended. G. Mock Auction--July 15, 2011 110. All qualified bidders will be eligible to participate in a mock auction on Friday, July 15, 2011. The mock auction will enable qualified bidders to become familiar with the FCC Auction System prior to the auction. Participation by all bidders is strongly recommended. Details will be announced by public notice. IV. Auction Event 111. The first round of bidding for Auction 92 will begin on Tuesday, July 19, 2011. The initial bidding schedule will be announced in a public notice listing the qualified bidders, which is to be released approximately 10 days before the start of the auction. A. Auction Structure i. Simultaneous Multiple Round Auction 112. All licenses in Auction 92 will be offered in a single auction using the Commission's standard simultaneous multiple-round (SMR) auction format. This type of auction offers every license for bid at the same time and consists of successive bidding rounds in which eligible bidders may place bids on individual licenses. A bidder may bid on, and potentially win, any number of licenses. Unless otherwise announced, bids will be accepted on all licenses in each round of the auction until bidding stops on every license. ii. Information Available to Bidders Before and During the Auction 113. After consideration of the comments submitted on this issue, the Bureau decided to restrict the information available to bidders in this auction. Pursuant to the anonymous bidding procedures adopted for Auction 92, the Bureau will withhold, until after the close of bidding, public release of (1) bidders' license selections on their short-form applications (FCC Form 175), (2) the amounts of bidders' upfront payments and bidding eligibility, and (3) information that may reveal the identities of bidders placing bids and taking other bidding-related actions. 114. After the conclusion of each round, the Bureau will disclose all relevant information about the bids placed and/or withdrawn except the identities of the bidders performing the actions and the net amounts of the bids placed or withdrawn. As in past auctions conducted with limited information procedures, the Bureau will indicate, for each license, the minimum acceptable bid amount for the next round and whether the license has a provisionally winning bid. After each round, the Bureau will also release, for each license, the number of bidders that placed a bid on the license. Furthermore, the Bureau will indicate whether any proactive waivers were submitted in each round, and the Bureau will release the stage transition percentage--the percentages of licenses (as measured in bidding units) on which there were new bids-- for the round. In addition, bidders can log in to the FCC Auction System to see, after each round, whether their own bids are provisionally winning. The Bureau will provide descriptions and/or samples of publicly-available and bidder-specific (non-public) results files prior to the start of the auction. 115. The Bureau, however, retains the discretion not to use limited information procedures if the Bureau, after examining the level of potential competition as expressed in the license selection on the short-form applications filed for Auction 92, determines that the circumstances indicate that limited information procedures would not be an effective tool for deterring anti-competitive behavior. For example, if only two applicants become qualified to participate in the bidding, limited information procedures would be ineffective in preventing bidders from knowing the identity of the competing bidder and, therefore, limited information procedures would not serve to deter attempts at signaling and retaliatory bidding behavior. 116. Other Issues. Information disclosure procedures established for this auction will not interfere with the administration of or compliance with the Commission's prohibition of certain communications. 47 CFR 1.2105(c)(1) provides that, after the short-form application filing deadline, all applicants for licenses in any of the same geographic license areas are prohibited from disclosing to each other in any manner the substance of bids or bidding strategies until after the down payment deadline, subject to specified exceptions. 117. In Auction 92, the Commission will not disclose information regarding license selection or the amounts of bidders' upfront payments and bidding eligibility. As in the past, the Commission will disclose the other portions of applicants' short-form applications through its online database, and certain application-based information through public notices. 118. To assist applicants in identifying other parties subject to 47 CFR 1.2105(c), the Bureau will notify separately each applicant in Auction 92 whether applicants with short-form applications to participate in pending auctions, including but not limited to Auction 92, have applied for licenses in any of the same geographic areas as that applicant. Specifically, after the Bureau conducts its initial review of applications to participate in Auction 92, it will send to each applicant in Auction 92 a letter that lists the other applicants that have pending short-form applications for licenses in any of the same geographic areas. The list will identify the other applicants by name but will not list their license selections. As in past auctions, additional information regarding other applicants that is needed to comply with 47 CFR 1.2105(c)--such as the identities of other applicants' controlling interests and entities with a greater than ten percent ownership interest--will be available through the publicly accessible online short-form application database. For purposes of 47 CFR 1.2105(c), the term applicant includes all officers and directors of the applicant and all other controlling interests, as well as all parties with ownership interests greater than ten percent. 119. When completing short-form applications, applicants should avoid any statements or disclosures that may violate the prohibition of certain communications pursuant to 47 CFR 1.2105(c), particularly in light of the Commission's procedures regarding the availability of certain information in Auction 92. While applicants' license selections will not be disclosed until after Auction 92 closes, the Commission will disclose other portions of short-form applications through its online database and public notices. Accordingly, applicants must avoid including any information in their short-form applications that might [[Page 21362]] convey information regarding license selections. For example, applicants should avoid using applicant names that refer to licenses being offered, referring to certain licenses or markets in describing bidding agreements, or including any information in attachments that may otherwise disclose applicants' license selections. 120. If an applicant is found to have violated the Commission's rules or antitrust laws in connection with its participation in the competitive bidding process, the applicant may be subject to various sanctions, including forfeiture of its upfront payment, down payment, or full bid amount and prohibition from participating in future auctions. 121. Direct or indirect communication to other applicants or the public disclosure of non-public information (e.g., bid withdrawals, proactive waivers submitted, reductions in eligibility) could violate the Commission's anonymous bidding procedures and 47 CFR 1.2105(c). To the extent an applicant believes that such a disclosure is required by law or regulation, including regulations issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Bureau strongly urges that the applicant consult with the Commission staff in the Auctions and Spectrum Access Division before making such disclosure. iii. Eligibility and Activity Rules 122. The Bureau will use upfront payments to determine initial (maximum) eligibility (as measured in bidding units) for Auction 92. The amount of the upfront payment submitted by a bidder determines initial bidding eligibility, the maximum number of bidding units on which a bidder may be active. Each license is assigned the specific number of bidding units listed in Attachment A of the Auction 92 Procedures Public Notice. Bidding units for a given license do not change as prices rise during the auction. A bidder's upfront payment is not attributed to specific licenses. Rather, a bidder may place bids on any of the licenses selected on its FCC Form 175 as long as the total number of bidding units associated with those licenses does not exceed its current eligibility. Eligibility cannot be increased during the auction; it can only remain the same or decrease. Thus, in calculating its upfront payment amount, an applicant must determine the maximum number of bidding units it may wish to bid on or hold provisionally winning bids on in any single round, and submit an upfront payment amount covering that total number of bidding units. At a minimum, an applicant's upfront payment must cover the bidding units for at least one of the licenses it selected on its FCC Form 175. The total upfront payment does not affect the total dollar amount a bidder may bid on any given license. 123. In order to ensure that an auction closes within a reasonable period of time, an activity rule requires bidders to bid actively throughout the auction, rather than wait until late in the auction before participating. Bidders are required to be active on a specific percentage of their current bidding eligibility during each round of the auction. 124. A bidder's activity level in a round is the sum of the bidding units associated with any licenses covered by new and provisionally winning bids. A bidder is considered active on a license in the current round if it is either the provisionally winning bidder at the end of the previous bidding round and does not withdraw the provisionally winning bid in the current round, or if it submits a bid in the current round. 125. The minimum required activity is expressed as a percentage of the bidder's current eligibility, and increases by stage as the auction progresses. Failure to maintain the requisite activity level will result in the use of an activity rule waiver, if any remain, or a reduction in the bidder's eligibility, possibly curtailing or eliminating the bidder's ability to place additional bids in the auction. iv. Auction Stages 126. For now, the Bureau will conduct the auction in two stages and employ an activity rule. A bidder desiring to maintain its current bidding eligibility would be required to be active on licenses representing at least 80 percent of its current bidding eligibility, during each round of Stage One, and at least 95 percent of its current bidding eligibility in Stage Two. 127. Stage One: During the first stage of the auction, a bidder desiring to maintain its current bidding eligibility will be required to be active on licenses representing at least 80 percent of its current bidding eligibility in each bidding round. Failure to maintain the required activity level will result in the use of an activity rule waiver or, if the bidder has no activity rule waivers remaining, a reduction in the bidder's bidding eligibility in the next round. During Stage One, reduced eligibility for the next round will be calculated by multiplying the bidder's current round activity (the sum of bidding units of the bidder's provisionally winning bids and bids during the current round) by five-fourths (\5/4\). 128. Stage Two: During the second stage of the auction, a bidder desiring to maintain its current bidding eligibility is required to be active on 95 percent of its current bidding eligibility. Failure to maintain the required activity level will result in the use of an activity rule waiver or, if the bidder has no activity rule waivers remaining, a reduction in the bidder's bidding eligibility in the next round. During Stage Two, reduced eligibility for the next round will be calculated by multiplying the bidder's current round activity (the sum of bidding units of the bidder's provisionally winning bids and bids during the current round) by twenty-nineteenths (20/19). 129. CAUTION: Since activity requirements increase in Stage Two, bidders must carefully check their activity during the first round following a stage transition to ensure that they are meeting the increased activity requirement. This is especially critical for bidders that have provisionally winning bids and do not plan to submit new bids. In past auctions, some bidders have inadvertently lost bidding eligibility or used an activity rule waiver because they did not re- verify their activity status at stage transitions. Bidders may check their activity against the required activity level by logging into the FCC Auction System. 130. The Bureau has the discretion to further alter the activity requirements before and/or during the auction as circumstances warrant, and also has other mechanisms by which it may influence the speed of an auction. v. Stage Transitions 131. The auction will start in Stage One. The Bureau will regulate the pace of the auction by announcement. The Bureau retains the discretion to change the activity requirements during the auction. For example, the Bureau could transition the auction to Stage Two, to add an additional stage with a higher activity requirement, not to transition to Stage Two, and to transition to Stage Two with an activity requirement that is higher or lower than 95 percent. This determination will be based on a variety of measures of auction activity, including, but not limited to, the number of new bids and the percentages of licenses (as measured in bidding units) on which there are new bids. Potential bidders should note that the stage of the auction does not affect the auction stopping rules. The auction may conclude in Stage One. vi. Activity Rule Waivers 132. Each bidder in the auction will be provided with three activity rule [[Page 21363]] waivers. Bidders may use an activity rule waiver in any round during the course of the auction. Use of an activity rule waiver preserves the bidder's eligibility despite the bidder's activity in the current round being below the required minimum activity level. An activity rule waiver applies to an entire round of bidding and not to a particular license. Activity rule waivers can be either proactive or automatic and are principally a mechanism for auction participants to avoid the loss of bidding eligibility in the event that exigent circumstances prevent them from placing a bid in a particular round. 133. The FCC Auction System assumes that bidders with insufficient activity would prefer to apply an activity rule waiver (if available) rather than lose bidding eligibility. Therefore, the system will automatically apply a waiver at the end of any bidding round where a bidder's activity level is below the minimum required unless (1) there are no activity rule waivers available or (2) the bidder overrides the automatic application of a waiver by reducing eligibility. If a bidder has no waivers remaining and does not satisfy the activity requirement, the FCC Auction System will permanently reduce the bidder's eligibility, possibly curtailing or eliminating the bidder's ability to place additional bids in the auction. 134. A bidder with insufficient activity that wants to reduce its bidding eligibility rather than use an activity rule waiver must affirmatively override the automatic waiver mechanism during the bidding round by using the reduce eligibility function in the FCC Auction System. In this case, the bidder's eligibility is permanently reduced to bring the bidder into compliance with the activity rule. Once eligibility has been reduced, a bidder will not be permitted to regain its lost bidding eligibility even if the round has not yet ended. 135. Finally, a bidder may apply an activity rule waiver proactively as a means to keep the auction open without placing a bid. If a bidder proactively applies an activity waiver (using the apply waiver function in the FCC Auction System) during a bidding round in which no bids are placed or withdrawn, the auction will remain open and the bidder's eligibility will be preserved. However, an automatic waiver applied by the FCC Auction System in a round in which there are no new bids, withdrawals, or proactive waivers will not keep the auction open. A bidder cannot submit a proactive waiver after submitting a bid in a round, and submitting a proactive waiver will preclude a bidder from placing any bids in that round. It is important for bidders to understand that applying a waiver is irreversible. Once a bidder submits a proactive waiver, the bidder cannot unsubmit the waiver even if the round has not yet ended. vii. Auction Stopping Rules 136. For Auction 92, the Bureau will employ a simultaneous stopping rule approach. A simultaneous stopping rule means that all licenses remain available for bidding until bidding closes simultaneously on all licenses. More specifically, bidding will close simultaneously on all licenses after the first round in which no bidder submits any new bids, applies a proactive waiver, or withdraws any provisionally winning bids. 137. As explained in the Auction 92 Procedures Public Notice, the Bureau retains the discretion to exercise alternative stopping rules, with or without prior announcement in the auction. For example, under Option 1, the auction would close for all licenses after the first round in which no bidder applies a waiver, withdraws a provisionally winning bid, or places any new bids on any license on which it is not the provisionally winning bidder. Thus, absent any other bidding activity, a bidder placing a new bid on a license for which it is the provisionally winning bidder would not keep the auction open under this modified stopping rule. Under Option 2, the auction would close for all licenses after the first round in which no bidder applies a waiver, withdraws a provisionally winning bid, or places any new bids on any license that is not FCC held. Thus, absent any other bidding activity, a bidder placing a new bid on a license that does not already have a provisionally winning bid (an FCC-held license) would not keep the auction open under this modified stopping rule. Under Option 3, the auction would close using a modified version of the simultaneous stopping rule that combines Option 1 and Option 2. Under Option 4, the auction would end after a specified number of additional rounds. If the Bureau invokes this special stopping rule, it will accept bids in the specified final round(s) and the auction will close. Under Option 5, the auction would remain open even if no bidder places any new bids, applies a waiver, or withdraws any provisionally winning bids. In this event, the effect will be the same as if a bidder had applied a waiver. Thus, the activity rule will apply as usual, and a bidder with insufficient activity will either lose bidding eligibility or use a waiver. viii. Auction Delay, Suspension, or Cancellation 138. By public notice or by announcement during the auction, the Bureau may delay, suspend, or cancel the auction in the event of natural disaster, technical obstacle, administrative or weather necessity, evidence of an auction security breach or unlawful bidding activity, or for any other reason that affects the fair and efficient conduct of competitive bidding. In such cases, the Bureau, in its sole discretion, may elect to resume the auction starting from the beginning of the current round, resume the auction starting from some previous round, or cancel the auction in its entirety. Network interruption may cause the Bureau to delay or suspend the auction. The Bureau emphasizes that exercise of this authority is solely within the discretion of the Bureau, and its use is not intended to be a substitute for situations in which bidders may wish to apply their activity rule waivers. B. Bidding Procedures i. Round Structure 139. The initial schedule of bidding rounds will be announced in the public notice listing the qualified bidders, which is released approximately 10 days before the start of the auction. Each bidding round is followed by the release of round results. Multiple bidding rounds may be conducted in a given day. Details regarding round results formats and locations will also be included in the qualified bidders public notice. 140. The Bureau has the discretion to change the bidding schedule in order to foster an auction pace that reasonably balances speed with the bidders' need to study round results and adjust their bidding strategies. The Bureau may increase or decrease the amount of time for the bidding rounds, the amount of time between rounds, or the number of rounds per day, depending upon bidding activity and other factors. ii. Reserve Price and Minimum Opening Bids 141. There will be no reserve prices for the licenses to be offered in Auction 92. After consideration of comments submitted, the Bureau adopted the specific minimum opening bid amounts for each license available in Auction 92 listed in Attachment A of the Auctions 92 Procedures Public Notice. iii. Bid Amounts 142. In each round, eligible bidders will be able to place a bid on a given license using one or more pre-defined [[Page 21364]] bid amounts, if the bidder has sufficient eligibility to place a bid on the particular license. The FCC Auction System interface will list the acceptable bid amounts for each license. In the event of duplicate bid amounts due to rounding, the FCC Auction System will omit the duplicates and will list fewer acceptable bid amounts for the license. a. Minimum Acceptable Bids 143. The first of the acceptable bid amounts is called the minimum acceptable bid amount. The minimum acceptable bid amount for a license will be equal to its minimum opening bid amount until there is a provisionally winning bid on the license. After there is a provisionally winning bid for a license, the minimum acceptable bid amount for that license will be equal to the amount of the provisionally winning bid plus a percentage of that bid amount calculated using the formula specified in the Auction 92 Procedures Public Notice. In general, the percentage will be higher for a license receiving many bids than for a license receiving few bids. In the case of a license for which the provisionally winning bid has been withdrawn, the minimum acceptable bid amount will equal the second highest bid received for the license. 144. The percentage of the provisionally winning bid used to establish the minimum acceptable bid amount (the additional percentage) is calculated at the end of each round, based on an activity index. The activity index is a weighted average of (a) the number of distinct bidders placing a bid on the license, and (b) the activity index from the prior round. Specifically, the activity index is equal to a weighting factor times the number of bidders placing a bid covering the license in the most recent bidding round plus one minus the weighting factor times the activity index from the prior round. The additional percentage is determined as one plus the activity index times a minimum percentage amount, with the result not to exceed a given maximum. The additional percentage is then multiplied by the provisionally winning bid amount to obtain the minimum acceptable bid for the next round. For round 1 calculations, however, the index from the prior round is set at 0, because there is no prior round (i.e. no round 0). 145. The weighting factor is set at 0.5, the minimum percentage (floor) at 0.1 (10%), and the maximum percentage (ceiling) at 0.3 (30%). At these initial settings, the minimum acceptable bid for a license will generally be between ten percent and thirty percent higher than the provisionally winning bid, depending upon the bidding activity for the license. Equations and examples were provided in Attachment B of the Auction 92 Procedures Public Notice. b. Additional Bid Amounts 146. Any additional bid amounts are calculated using the minimum acceptable bid amount and a bid increment percentage, which need not be the same as the percentage used to calculate the minimum acceptable bid amount. The first additional acceptable bid amount equals the minimum acceptable bid amount times one plus the bid increment percentage. The Bureau will begin the auction with eight additional bid amounts per license. The Bureau will use a bid increment percentage of 5 percent. With a bid increment percentage of 5 percent, the calculation is (minimum acceptable bid amount) * (1 + 0.05), or (minimum acceptable bid amount) * 1.05; the second additional acceptable bid amount equals the minimum acceptable bid amount times one plus two times the bid increment percentage, or (minimum acceptable bid amount) * 1.1, etc. The Bureau will start the auction without a limit on the dollar amount by which minimum acceptable bids and additional bid amounts may increase. The Bureau retains the discretion to change the minimum acceptable bid amounts, the additional bid amounts, the number of acceptable bid amounts, and the parameters of the formulas used to calculate minimum acceptable bid amounts and additional bid amounts, and impose a limit on bid amounts if it determines that circumstances so dictate. Further, the Bureau retains the discretion to do so on a license-by-license basis. If the Bureau exercises this discretion, it will alert bidders by announcement in the FCC Auction System during the auction. iv. Provisionally Winning Bids 147. At the end of each bidding round, a provisionally winning bid will be determined based on the highest bid amount received for each license. A provisionally winning bid will remain the provisionally winning bid until there is a higher bid on the same license at the close of a subsequent round. Provisionally winning bids at the end of the auction become the winning bids. Bidders are reminded that provisionally winning bids count toward activity for purposes of the activity rule. 148. The Bureau will use a random number generator to select a single provisionally winning bid in the event of identical high bid amounts being submitted on a license in a given round (i.e., tied bids). The FCC Auction System will assign a random number to each bid upon submission. The tied bid with the highest random number wins the tiebreaker and becomes the provisionally winning bid. Bidders, regardless of whether they hold a provisionally winning bid, can submit higher bids in subsequent rounds. However, if the auction were to end with no other bids being placed, the winning bidder would be the one that placed the provisionally winning bid. v. Bidding 149. All bidding will take place remotely either through the FCC Auction System or by telephonic bidding. There will be no on-site bidding during Auction 92. Please note that telephonic bid assistants are required to use a script when entering bids placed by telephone. Telephonic bidders are therefore reminded to allow sufficient time to bid by placing their calls well in advance of the close of a round. The length of a call to place a telephonic bid may vary; please allow a minimum of ten minutes. 150. A bidder's ability to bid on specific licenses is determined by two factors: (1) The licenses selected on the bidder's FCC Form 175 and (2) the bidder's eligibility. The bid submission screens will allow bidders to submit bids on only those licenses the bidder selected on its FCC Form 175. 151. In order to access the bidding function of the FCC Auction System, bidders must be logged in during the bidding round using the passcode generated by the SecurID[supreg] token and a personal identification number (PIN) created by the bidder. Bidders are strongly encouraged to print a round summary for each round after they have completed all of their activity for that round. 152. In each round, an eligible bidder will be able to place bids on a given license in any of up to nine pre-defined bid amounts, if the bidder has sufficient eligibility to place a bid on a particular license. For each license, the FCC Auction System will list the acceptable bid amounts in a drop-down box. Bidders use the drop-down box to select from among the acceptable bid amounts. The FCC Auction System also includes an upload function that allows bidders to upload text files containing bid information. 153. Until a bid has been placed on a license, the minimum acceptable bid amount for that license will be equal to its minimum opening bid amount. Once there are bids on a license, minimum acceptable bids for a license for the following round will be determined. [[Page 21365]] 154. During a round, an eligible bidder may submit bids for as many licenses as it wishes (provided that it is eligible to bid), remove bids placed in the current bidding round, withdraw provisionally winning bids from previous rounds, or permanently reduce eligibility. If a bidder submits multiple bids for the exact same license in the same round, the system takes the last bid entered as that bidder's bid for the round. Bidders should note that the bidding units associated with licenses for which the bidder has removed or withdrawn bids do not count towards the bidder's current activity. 155. Finally, bidders are cautioned to select their bid amounts carefully because bidders that withdraw a provisionally winning bid from a previous round, even if the bid was mistakenly or erroneously made, are subject to bid withdrawal payments. vi. Bid Removal and Bid Withdrawal 156. Bid Removal. Before the close of a bidding round, a bidder has the option of removing any bids placed in that round. By using the remove bids function in the FCC Auction System, a bidder may effectively unsubmit any bid placed within that round. A bidder removing a bid placed in the same round is not subject to withdrawal payments. If a bid is placed on a license during a round, it will count towards the activity for that round, but when that bid is then removed during the same round it was placed, the activity associated with it is also removed, i.e., a bid that is removed does not count toward bidding activity. 157. Bid Withdrawal. Once a round closes, a bidder may no longer remove a bid. However, in a later round, a bidder may withdraw provisionally winning bids from previous rounds for licenses using the withdraw bids function in the FCC Auction System. A provisionally winning bidder that withdraws its provisionally winning bid from a previous round during the auction is subject to the bid withdrawal payments specified in 47 CFR 1.2104(g). Once a bid withdrawal is submitted during a round, that withdrawal cannot be unsubmitted even if the round has not yet ended. 158. If a provisionally winning bid is withdrawn, the minimum acceptable bid amount will equal the amount of the second highest bid received for the license, which may be less than, or in the case of tied bids, equal to, the amount of the withdrawn bid. The Commission will serve as a placeholder provisionally winning bidder on the license until a new bid is submitted on that license. The Bureau retains the discretion to lower the minimum acceptable bid on such licenses in the next round or in later rounds. 159. Calculation of Bid Withdrawal Payment. Generally, the Commission imposes payments on bidders that withdraw provisionally winning bids during the course of an auction. If a bidder withdraws its bid and there is no higher bid in the same or subsequent auction(s), the bidder that withdrew its bid is responsible for the difference between its withdrawn bid and the winning bid in the same or subsequent auction(s). If there are multiple bid withdrawals on a single license and no subsequent higher bid is placed and/or the license is not won in the same auction, the payment for each bid withdrawal will be calculated based on the sequence of bid withdrawals and the amounts withdrawn. No withdrawal payment will be assessed for a withdrawn bid if either the subsequent winning bid or any subsequent intervening withdrawn bid, in either the same or subsequent auction(s), equals or exceeds that withdrawn bid. Thus, a bidder that withdraws a bid will not be responsible for any final withdrawal payment if there is a subsequent higher bid in the same or subsequent auction(s). 160. 47 CFR 1.2104(g)(1) sets forth the payment obligations of a bidder that withdraws a provisionally winning bid on a license during the course of an auction, and provides for the assessment of interim bid withdrawal payments. The Commission will assess an interim withdrawal payment equal to fifteen percent of the amount of the withdrawn bid. The fifteen percent interim payment will be applied toward any final bid withdrawal payment that will be assessed after subsequent auction of the license. Assessing an interim bid withdrawal payment ensures that the Commission receives a minimal withdrawal payment pending assessment of any final withdrawal payment. 47 CFR 1.2104(g) provides specific examples showing application of the bid withdrawal payment rule. vii. Round Results 161. Limited information about the results of a round will be made public after the conclusion of the round. Specifically, after a round closes, the Bureau will make available for each license, its current provisionally winning bid amount, the minimum acceptable bid amount for the following round, the amounts of all bids placed on the license during the round, and whether the license is FCC held. The system will also provide an entire license history detailing all activity that has taken place on a license with the ability to sort by round number. The reports will be publicly accessible. Moreover, after the auction closes, the Bureau will make available complete reports of all bids placed during each round of the auction, including bidder identities. viii. Auction Announcements 162. The Commission will use auction announcements to report necessary information such as schedule changes and stage transitions. All auction announcements will be available by clicking a link in the FCC Auction System. V. Post-Auction Procedures 163. Shortly after bidding has ended, the Commission will issue a public notice declaring the auction closed, identifying the winning bidders, and establishing the deadlines for submitting down payments, long-form applications, final payments, and ownership disclosure information reports. A. Down Payments and Final Payments 164. Within ten business days after release of the auction closing public notice, each winning bidder must submit sufficient funds (in addition to its upfront payment) to bring its total amount of money on deposit with the Commission for Auction 92 to 20 percent of the net amount of its winning bids (gross bids less any applicable small business bidding credit). 165. Each winning bidder will be required to submit the balance of the net amount of its winning bids within ten business days after the applicable deadline for submitting down payments. B. Long-Form Application (FCC Form 601) 166. Within ten business days after release of the auction closing notice, winning bidders must electronically submit a properly completed long-form application (FCC Form 601) for the license(s) they won through Auction 92. Winning bidders claiming eligibility for a small business or very small business bidding credit must demonstrate their eligibility for the bidding credit. Further instructions on these and other filing requirements will be provided to winning bidders in the auction closing public notice. 167. Winning bidders organized as bidding consortia must comply with applicable long-form application procedures as described in the Auction 92 Procedures Public Notice. Specifically, each member (or group of members) of a winning consortium [[Page 21366]] seeking separate licenses will be required to file a separate long-form application for its respective license(s). If the license is to be partitioned or disaggregated, the member (or group) filing the long- form application must provide the relevant partitioning or disaggregation agreement in its long-form application. In addition, if two or more consortium members wish to be licensed together, they must first form a legal business entity, and any such entity must meet the applicable designated entity criteria. C. Ownership Disclosure Information Report (FCC Form 602) 168. Within ten business days after release of the auction closing public notice, each winning bidder must also comply with the ownership reporting requirements in 47 CFR 1.913, 1.919, and 1.2112 by submitting an ownership disclosure information report for wireless telecommunications services (FCC Form 602) with its long-form application. 169. If an applicant already has a complete and accurate FCC Form 602 on file in ULS, it is not necessary to file a new report, but applicants must verify that the information on file with the Commission is complete and accurate. If the applicant does not have an FCC Form 602 on file, or if it is not complete and accurate, the applicant must submit one. 170. When an applicant submits a short-form application, ULS automatically creates an ownership record. This record is not an FCC Form 602, but may be used to pre-fill the FCC Form 602 with the ownership information submitted on the applicant's short-form application. Applicants must review the pre-filled information and confirm that it is complete and accurate as of the filing date of the long-form application before certifying and submitting the FCC Form 602. Further instructions will be provided to winning bidders in the auction closing public notice. D. Tribal Lands Bidding Credit 171. A winning bidder that intends to use its license(s) to deploy facilities and provide services to federally recognized tribal lands that are unserved by any telecommunications carrier or that have a wireline penetration rate equal to or below 85 percent is eligible to receive a tribal lands bidding credit as set forth in 47 CFR 1.2107 and 1.2110(f). A tribal lands bidding credit is in addition to, and separate from, any other bidding credit for which a winning bidder may qualify. 172. Unlike other bidding credits that are requested prior to the auction, a winning bidder applies for the tribal lands bidding credit after the auction when it files its long-form application (FCC Form 601). When initially filing the long-form application, the winning bidder will be required to advise the Commission whether it intends to seek a tribal lands bidding credit, for each license won in the auction, by checking the designated box(es). After stating its intent to seek a tribal lands bidding credit, the applicant will have 180 days from the close of the long-form application filing window to amend its application to select the specific tribal lands to be served and provide the required tribal government certifications. Licensees receiving a tribal lands bidding credit are subject to performance criteria as set forth in 47 CFR 1.2110(f)(3)(vii). 173. For additional information on the tribal lands bidding credit, including how the amount of the credit is calculated, applicants should review the Commission's rulemaking proceeding regarding tribal lands bidding credits and related public notices. Relevant documents can be viewed on the Commission's Web site by going to http://wireless.fcc.gov/auctions/ and clicking on the Tribal Lands Credits link. E. Default and Disqualification 174. Any winning bidder that defaults or is disqualified after the close of the auction (i.e., fails to remit the required down payment within the prescribed period of time, fails to submit a timely long- form application, fails to make full payment, or is otherwise disqualified) will be subject to the payments described in 47 CFR 1.2104(g)(2). The payments include both a deficiency payment, equal to the difference between the amount of the bidder's bid and the amount of the winning bid the next time a license covering the same spectrum is won in an auction, plus an additional payment equal to a percentage of the defaulter's bid or of the subsequent winning bid, whichever is less. The Bureau set the additional default payment for this auction at fifteen percent of the applicable bid. 175. Finally, in the event of a default, the Commission has the discretion to re-auction the license or offer it to the next highest bidder (in descending order) at its final bid amount. In addition, if a default or disqualification involves gross misconduct, misrepresentation, or bad faith by an applicant, the Commission may declare the applicant and its principals ineligible to bid in future auctions, and may take any other action that it deems necessary, including institution of proceedings to revoke any existing authorizations held by the applicant. F. Refund of Remaining Upfront Payment Balance 176. After the auction, applicants that are not winning bidders or are winning bidders whose upfront payment exceeded the total net amount of their winning bids may be entitled to a refund of some or all of their upfront payment. All refunds will be returned to the payer of record, as identified on the FCC Form 159, unless the payer submits written authorization instructing otherwise. Bidders should not request a refund of their upfront payments before the Commission releases a public notice declaring the auction closed, identifying the winning bidders, and establishing the deadlines for submitting down payments, long-form applications, and final payments. Bidders must comply with the specific instructions provided in the Auction 92 Procedures Public Notice for such refunds. Federal Communications Commission. Gary D. Michaels, Deputy Chief, Auctions and Spectrum Access Division, WTB. [FR Doc. 2011-9200 Filed 4-14-11; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6712-01-P