Auction 57: Automated Maritime Telecommunications System

Auction No. 57 included 20 AMTS licenses in a specialized system of public coast stations in the 217/219 MHz band. A complete list of licenses for Auction No. 57 and their descriptions is provided in Attachment A of Public Notice DA 04-1513. The AMTSAs are based on, and composed of one or more of, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s 172 Economic Areas (EAs). In addition, the Commission treats Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, and the Gulf of Mexico as EA-like areas. Each AMTSA also includes the adjacent waters under the jurisdiction of the United States.

The following table describes the licenses that will be auctioned in each of the AMTSAs:

Bidding credits are available to small or very small businesses or consortia thereof, as defined in 47 C.F.R. § 80.1252. A bidding credit is a payment discount on a winning bid determined at the conclusion of the bidding process. The size of the bidding credit depends on the average of the aggregated annual gross revenues for each of the preceding three years of the bidder, its affiliates, its controlling interests, and the affiliates of its controlling interests:

• A bidder with attributed average annual gross revenues of not more than $15 million for the preceding three years receives a 25 percent discount on its winning bid(s) for the AMTS license(s).
• A bidder with attributed average annual gross revenues of not more than $3 million for the preceding three years receives a 35 percent discount on its winning bid(s) for the AMTS license(s).

Small business bidding credits are not cumulative. A qualifying applicant receives either the 25 percent or the 35 percent bidding credit on its winning bid, but only one credit per license.