[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 123 (Tuesday, June 26, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38061-38062]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-15458]
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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
[AU Docket No. 12-25; DA 12-947]
Mobility Fund Phase I Auction Supplemental Short-Form
Instructions and Other Information
AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: In this document, the Commission's Wireless Telecommunications
and Wireline
[[Page 38062]]
Competition Bureaus provide supplemental filing instructions for the
Mobility Fund Phase I Auction for completing FCC Form 180, announce the
availability of certain updated files and provide other information
regarding Auction 901.
DATES: Short-Form applications are due prior to 6 p.m. on July 11,
2012.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Wireless Telecommunications Bureau,
Auctions and Spectrum Access Division: For Mobility Fund Phase I
supplemental filing instructions: Lisa Stover at (717) 338-2868.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Mobility Fund Phase
I Supplemental Public Notice (Supplemental Filing Instructions Public
Notice) released on June 15, 2012. The Supplemental Filing Instructions
Public Notice and its associated attachment as well as related
Commission documents may be purchased from the Commission's duplicating
contractor, Best Copy and Printing, Inc. (BCPI), 445 12th Street SW.,
Room CY-B402, Washington, DC 20554, telephone 202-488-5300, fax 202-
488-5563, or you may contact BCPI at its Web site: http://www.BCPIWEB.com. When ordering documents from BCPI, please provide the
appropriate FCC document number, for example, DA 12-947. The
Supplemental Filing Instructions Public Notice and related documents
also are available on the Internet at the Commission's Web site: http://wireless.fcc.gov/auctions/901/ or by using the search function for AU
Docket No. 12-25 on the Commission's Electronic Comment Filing System
(ECFS) Web page at http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs/.
1. On May 2, 2012, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau and
Wireline Competition Bureau (the Bureaus) announced the procedures for
the Mobility Fund Phase I auction scheduled for September 27, 2012
(Auction 901). The Bureaus provide supplemental filing instructions for
completing FCC Form 180, announce the availability of certain updated
files, and provide additional information regarding certain details of
Auction 901.
Short-Form Application (FCC Form 180) Filing Instructions
2. In the Auction 901 Procedures Public Notice, 77 FR 32092, May
31, 2012, the Bureaus provided general instructions for completing FCC
Form 180 and stated that they would provide additional information
about accessing, completing, and viewing the FCC Form 180 in a separate
public notice. The instructions provided in Attachment A to the
Supplemental Filing Instructions Public Notice supplement those
contained in the Auction 901 Procedures Public Notice.
Updated Files
3. In the Auction 901 Procedures Public Notice, the Bureaus
identified census blocks eligible for the Mobility Fund Phase I support
to be offered in Auction 901. The Bureaus also released files
containing detailed information about these census blocks. In the
Auction 901 Additional Data Formats Public Notice, (DA 12-721 released
May 8, 2012) the Bureaus announced the availability of an additional
file with information about the biddable geographic areas for Auction
901. In the Supplemental Filing Instructions Public Notice, the Bureaus
announce the availability of updated versions of some of these files,
which are available via the link for Attachment A Files at http://wireless.fcc.gov/auctions/901/. Specifically, the Biddable Items file,
the All Eligible Census Blocks file, and five of the state spreadsheets
have been updated. In the Biddable Items file, the header of one of the
columns has been changed from Pop10 to Population, and the header of
another column has been changed from Tribal Area to Tribal Land. These
changes were made to be more consistent with how the data will be
presented in the FCC Auction System. Additionally some of the entries
in the Tribe and Tribal Land columns have been changed. In the previous
version of the file, the name of any tribe or Tribal land that should
have included an apostrophe erroneously included two apostrophes. The
new file fixes this.
4. The apostrophe anomaly also affected the All Eligible Census
Blocks file and five of the state spreadsheets. Consequently, the All
Eligible Census Blocks file and the state spreadsheets for Alaska,
Arizona, Idaho, Michigan, and Montana have been revised.
Additional Details for Determining Winning Bids
5. In the Auction 901 Procedures Public Notice, the Bureaus
described the approach they would use to determine winning bids,
including procedures to ensure that at most one bid per geographic area
is awarded, the use of random numbers to address tied bids, and the
Bureaus procedures when remaining funds are insufficient to support the
next lowest bid. The Bureaus clarify those procedures, in particular
with respect to the Bureaus use of random selection numbers, so that
funds may be used to support new service to as many road miles as
possible within the Bureaus' $300 million budget.
6. For each submitted bid, the Bureaus will assign a random
selection number, which they will use in two ways: To break any tied
bids for the same area, and to establish an order in which they will
assign bids with the same dollars per road mile amount for different
areas when the remaining funds are insufficient to award support to all
the bids in that amount. The Bureaus will also calculate a gross dollar
support amount associated with the bid, equal to the gross bid amount
times the number of qualifying road miles in the area. To ensure that
they award support to at most one bid per geographic area, the Bureaus
will first compare net bids (taking into account bidding credits where
applicable) for each biddable area, and for each area, retain the
lowest net bid for further consideration. If there are ties for the
lowest bid for an area, the Bureaus will retain the bid with the
highest selection number.
7. To select winning bids, the Bureaus will then compare the
retained bids for all areas by sorting them in ascending order of net
bid amount (dollars per road mile) and descending order of selection
number. The Bureaus will award support to bids in this order, starting
with the lowest bid/highest selection number, as long as remaining
funds are sufficient to cover the gross dollar support amount of the
bid. If a bid cannot be awarded because its gross dollar support would
exceed the remaining funds, the Bureaus will skip the bid and consider
the next lowest bid/highest selection number, awarding as much support
as possible within the Bureaus' $300 million budget.
Federal Communications Commission.
Gary Michaels,
Deputy Chief, Auctions and Spectrum Access Division, WTB.
[FR Doc. 2012-15458 Filed 6-25-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P