Fact Sheet

Date:

Auction 92 began on 7/19/2011 and closed on 7/25/2011.

Licenses:

Block A: 2 Economic Area (EA) licenses
Block B: 14 Cellular Market Area (CMA) licenses
16 licenses total

Spectrum

698-806 MHz band ("700 MHz Band")

Bandwidth:

Block A: 12 MHz (698-704 / 728-734 MHz)
Block B: 12 MHz (704-710 / 734-740 MHz)

Winning Bidders:
7 Bidders won 16 Licenses
Rounds:
30
Qualified Bidders
19
Licenses Won:
16
Total Licenses:
16
Net Bids
$19,770,250
Gross Bids:
$20,402,000

 
 
 
General information and associated licensing parameters are provided below. Public notices provide specific information regarding this auction. This fact sheet includes:

Key Dates

 

Event Date
Auction Tutorial Available (via Internet)
5/2/2011
Form 175 (Short Form) Application Filing Window Opens
5/2/2011; 12:00 noon ET
Form 175 (Short Form) Application Filing Deadline
5/11/2011; 6:00 p.m. ET
Upfront Payments Deadline
6/17/2011; 6:00 p.m. ET
Mock Auction
7/15/2011
Auction Start
7/19/2011
Auction Closed
7/25/2011
 

Licenses Offered

This spectrum is part of the 698-806 MHz band ("700 MHz Band"), which was occupied by television broadcast stations and was made available for commercial and public safety services as a result of the digital television (DTV) transition.
Auction 92 will include a total of 16 licenses. These licenses were offered in Auction 73 and remained unsold or were licenses on which a winning bidder defaulted. The following table describes the licenses available in Auction 92. For a complete list of the licenses available in Auction 92, see Attachment A of Public Notice DA 11-420 (pdf), released March 16, 2011.
Block Frequencies (MHz) Bandwidth Pairing Area Type Licenses
A 698-704, 728-734 12 MHz 2 x 6 MHz EA 2
B 704-710, 734-740 12 MHz 2 x 6 MHz CMA 14
 

Permissable Operations

The 700 MHz Band licenses may be used for flexible fixed, mobile, and broadcast uses, including fixed and mobile wireless commercial services (including FDD- and TDD-based services); fixed and mobile wireless uses for private, internal radio needs; and mobile and other digital new broadcast operations. These uses may include two-way interactive, cellular, and mobile television broadcasting services.

License Period and Construction Requirements

License Period. Initial authorizations will be granted for a ten year term. However, the license term will not exceed eight years if the licensee provides broadcast services, whether exclusively or in combination with other services.
Construction Requirements. For CMA and EA licenses offered in Auction 92, the licensees must provide signal coverage and offer service to (1) at least 35 percent of the geographic areas of their licenses within four years of the initial license grant, and (2) at least 70 percent of the geographic areas of their licenses at the end of the license term.
Licensees must file construction notifications, all necessary supporting documentation, and required certifications with the Commission to demonstrate compliance with interim and end-of-term construction benchmarks.
Any licensee that fails to meet the interim requirement within their license areas will have their license terms reduced by two years, from ten to eight years, thus requiring the licensee to meet the end-of-term benchmark at an accelerated schedule. For those licenses in which the end-of-term performance requirements have not been met, the unused portion of the license will terminate automatically without Commission action and will become available for reassignment by the Commission subject to the "keep-what-you-use" rule, 47 C.F.R. § 27.14(g).
 

Small Business Bidding Credits

Qualifying applicants in Auction 92 are eligible for a small or very small business bidding credit. 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 applicant, its affiliates, its controlling interests, and the affiliates of its controlling interest, as well as the average annual gross revenues of any entity with which the applicant has an attributable material relationship, as defined by the Commission’s rules: Bidding credits are not cumulative. A qualifying applicant may claim either a 15 percent or 25 percent bidding credit on its winning bids.

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 lands bidding credit as set forth in 47 C.F.R. §§ 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. A winning bidder need not qualify for a small business bidding credit to be eligible for a tribal lands bidding credit.
 

Incumbents

700 MHz band licensees must operate in accordance with the 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.

Licensing Rules

47 C.F.R. Parts 1 and 27.