Fact Sheet

Date:

Auction 63 began on 12/7/2005 and closed on 12/7/2005.

See PN DA 05-1555
Spectrum

12.2-12.7 GHz unpaired

Bandwidth:

500 megahertz per license

Winning Bidders:
3 Bidders won 22 Licenses
Rounds:
3
Qualified Bidders
3
Licenses Won:
22
Total Licenses:
22
Net Bids
$133,160
Gross Bids:
$204,000

 
 
 

Key Dates

 

Event Date
Pre-Auction Seminar
9/28/2005
Form 175 (Short Form) Application Filing Window Opens
9/28/2005; 12:00 noon ET
Form 175 (Short Form) Application Filing Deadline
10/7/2005; 6:00 pm ET
Upfront Payments Deadline
11/7/2005; 6:00 pm ET
Mock Auction
12/5/2005
Auction Start
12/7/2005
Auction Closed
12/7/2005
 

Licenses Offered

Auction No. 63 will offer 22 licenses in the 12.2-12.7 GHz band. These are the 22 MVDDS licenses that remained unsold in Auction No. 53, which closed on January 27, 2004. Each license will consist of one 500 megahertz block of unpaired spectrum.
MVDDS Service Areas are based on the Designated Market Areas delineated by Nielsen Media Research, Inc. in its publication entitled “U.S. Television Household Estimates” dated September 2002. (See 47 C.F.R. § 101.1401). Designated Market Area (DMA®) is a registered trademark of Nielsen Media. An MVDDS license does not confer any right to use the DMA trademark or any associated maps, ranks, regions, data, or analyses owned by Nielsen Media, and that right must be sought from Nielsen Media.
Potential applicants should note that the boundaries of the service areas of the 22 licenses offered in Auction No. 63 remain unchanged since their adoption in 2003.
A complete list of licenses for Auction No. 63 and their descriptions is provided in Attachment A of PN DA 05-2188.
 

Permissible Operations

MVDDS licensees may use this spectrum for any digital fixed non-broadcast service (broadcast services are intended for reception of the general public and not on a subscribership basis) including one-way direct-to-home/office wireless service. (See 47 C.F.R. § 101.1407). Licensees are permitted to provide one-way video programming and data services. Mobile and aeronautical services are not authorized. Two-way services may be provided by using other spectrum or media for the return or upstream path.
Each MVDDS licensee is required to file an annual report by March 1 of each year detailing statistical information about the station’s service. (See 47 C.F.R. § 101.1417).
MVDDS licensees may provide service on a non-common carrier and/or on a common carrier basis.
Cable operators or entities holding an attributable interest in a cable operator shall not have an attributable interest in an MVDDS license whose geographic service area significantly overlaps such cable operator’s service area. (See 47 C.F.R. § 101.1412).
MVDDS has no spectrum aggregation cap.
Partitioning is permitted along county borders after grant of an application for partial assignment of license. (See 47 C.F.R. § 1.948). Disaggregation is not permitted. (See 47 C.F.R. § 101.1415).

License Period and Construction Requirements

MVDDS licenses are issued for a ten-year term beginning on the date of the initial authorization grant.
Each MVDDS licensee must provide “substantial service” within five years of the initial authorization grant in order to satisfy the construction requirement and must file a notice of compliance within 15 days of the expiration of this period. (See 47 C.F.R. § 1.946).
Licensees have a renewal expectancy based on a showing of substantial service at the end of five years into the license period and ten years into the license period, and substantial compliance with applicable Commission rules, policies, and the Communications Act. (See 47 C.F.R. § 101.1413).
Because the five-year build out requirement covers years one through five, for purposes of earning a renewal expectancy, an MVDDS licensee must demonstrate provision of substantial service between years five and ten. The renewal application of an MVDDS licensee requires showings including a coverage map depicting the served and unserved areas and a corresponding description of current service in terms of geographic coverage and population served or transmitter locations in the served areas. (See 47 C.F.R. § 101.1413(c)).

Bidding Credits

Bidding credits are available to very small businesses, small businesses, and entrepreneurs, or consortia thereof, (as defined in 47 C.F.R. §§ 1.2110(f) and 101.1429). A bidding credit represents the amount by which a bidder’s winning bids are discounted. The size of the bidding credit depends on the average annual gross revenues for the preceding three years of the bidder, its affiliates, its controlling interests, and the affiliates of its controlling interests:
Bidding credits are not cumulative; a qualifying applicant receives the 35 percent, 25 percent, or 15 percent bidding credit on its winning bid, but only one credit per license.

Tribal Land Bidding Credit

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 land bidding credit as set forth in 47 C.F.R. §§ 1.2107(e) and 1.2110(f). A tribal land bidding credit is in addition to, and separate from, any other bidding credit for which a winning bidder may qualify. A winning bidder need not qualify for a small business bidding credit to be eligible for a tribal lands bidding credit.
Unlike other bidding credits that are requested prior to the auction, a winning bidder applies for the tribal land bidding credit after winning the auction when it first files its long-form application (FCC Form 601). In order for a winning bidder to be awarded a tribal land bidding credit, it must provide specific certifications regarding the servicing of tribal lands and is subject to specific performance criteria as set forth in 47 C.F.R. § 1.2110(f).
Additional information on the tribal land bidding credit, including how the amount of the credit is calculated, can be found on the Commission’s auction web site at Tribal Land Bidding Credits.
 

Interference Protection and Coordination

MVDDS is licensed on a non-harmful interference co-primary basis to existing DBS operations and on a co-primary basis with NGSO FSS stations in this band. Among other things, the MVDDS operator must comply strictly with all of the interference protection and coordination requirements set forth in 47 C.F.R. §§ 1.924, 1.928, 101.103, 101.105, 101.129, 101.147, 101.1421, 101.1423, and 101.1440.
NGSO FSS: The MVDDS licensee must not locate MVDDS transmitting antennas within 10 km of any qualifying NGSO FSS receiver unless mutual agreement is obtained between the MVDDS and NGSO FSS licensees. (See 47 C.F.R. § 101.129). Prior to the construction or addition of an MVDDS transmitting antenna, the MVDDS licensee must provide notice of intent to construct the proposed antenna site to NGSO FSS licensees operating in the 12.2-12.7 GHz frequency band and maintain an Internet web site of all existing transmitting sites and transmitting antennas that are scheduled for operation within one year including the “in service” dates. (See 47 C.F.R. §§ 101.103(f), 101.105(a)(4)(i), 101.147(p)).
DBS: At least 90 days prior to the planned date of commencement of MVDDS operations, the MVDDS licensee shall provide relevant information to Direct Broadcast Satellite (“DBS”) licensee(s), including the geographic location of its proposed station license, the maximum EIRP of each transmitting antenna system and the description of the proposed service area. In addition, the MVDDS operator must make a determination of whether its signal level(s) will exceed the EPFD limit at any DBS customer of record sites. To assist in making this determination, the MVDDS provider can use the EPFD contour model developed by the Commission and described in Appendix J of Amendment of Parts 2 and 25 of the Commission’s Rules to Permit Operation of NGSO FSS Systems Co Frequency with GSO and Terrestrial Systems in the Ku Band Frequency Range, Memorandum Opinion and Order and Second Report and Order, 17 FCC Rcd 9614 (2002) or on the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology website at http://www.fcc.gov/oet/dockets/et98-206. (See 47 C.F.R.§§101.103(f), 101.105(a)(4)(ii), 101.147(p), 101.1440).
Public Safety Incumbents: Terrestrial private operational fixed point-to-point stations in the 12.2-12.7 GHz band which were licensed prior to MVDDS are incumbent point-to-point stations. However, only those stations licensed as public safety must be protected from harmful interference caused by later MVDDS entrants in the 12.2-12.7 GHz band. MVDDS operators have the responsibility of resolving any harmful interference problems that their operations may cause to these public safety incumbent point-to-point operations in the 12.2-12.7 GHz band. (See 47 C.F.R. §§ 101.147(p), 101.1409, 101.1421).
Adjacent MVDDS: MVDDS licensees in the 12.2–12.7 GHz band are required to develop sharing and protection agreements based on the design and architecture of their systems, in order to ensure that no harmful interference occurs between adjacent geographical area licensees. (See 47 C.F.R. § 101.1421).
International: MVDDS systems may not cause harmful interference to stations in Canada or Mexico. No stations are authorized within five (5) miles of the borders. (See 47 C.F.R. § 101.1423).
Quiet zones: MVDDS stations must protect the radio quiet zones. (See 47 C.F.R. § 1.924).

Additional Information

Additional information on the service-specific requirements for MVDDS can be found in subpart P of Part 101 of the Commissions Rules. (See 47 C.F.R. Part 101, subpart P).