Auction of Advanced Wireless Services (AWS-3) Licenses; Comment Sought on Competitive Bidding Procedures for Auction 113

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION <CFR>47 CFR Parts 1 and 27</CFR> <DEPDOC>[AU Docket No. 25-117; DA 25-193; FR ID 285139]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT>Auction of Advanced Wireless Services (AWS-3) Licenses; Comment Sought on Competitive Bidding Procedures for Auction 113</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Federal Communications Commission. <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Proposed rule; proposed auction procedures. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission or FCC) announces an auction of 200 licenses in the 1695-1710 MHz, 1755-1780 MHz, and 2155-2180 MHz bands (collectively, the “AWS-3” bands). The Office of Economics and Analytics (OEA), jointly with the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB), also seeks comment in this document on the procedures to be used for this auction, which is designated as Auction 113. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Comments are due on or before April 10, 2025, and reply comments are due on or before April 25, 2025. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> Interested parties may file comments or reply comments, identified by AU Docket No. 25-117, by any of the following methods: <E T="03">Electronic Filers:</E> Comments may be filed electronically using the internet by accessing the Commission's Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) at <E T="03">https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/.</E> <E T="03">Paper Filers:</E> Parties who choose to file by paper must file an original and one copy of each filing. • Filings can be sent by hand or messenger delivery, by commercial courier, or by the U.S. Postal Service mail. All filings must be addressed to the Commission's Secretary, Office of the Secretary, Federal Communications Commission. • Hand-delivered or messenger-delivered paper filings for the Commission's Secretary are accepted between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. by the FCC's mailing contractor at 9050 Junction Drive, Annapolis Junction, MD 20701. All hand deliveries must be held together with rubber bands or fasteners. Any envelopes and boxes must be disposed of before entering the building. • Commercial courier mail (any not sent by the U.S. Postal Service) must be sent to 9050 Junction Drive, Annapolis Junction, MD 20701. • Filings sent by U.S. Postal Service First-Class Mail, Express, and Priority mail must be sent to 45 L Street NE, Washington, DC 20554. <E T="03">Email:</E> Commenters are requested to also submit a copy of their comments and reply comments electronically to the following address: <E T="03">auction113@fcc.gov.</E> <E T="03">Ex Parte Rules:</E> This proceeding shall be treated as a permit-but-disclose proceeding in accordance with the Commission's <E T="03">ex parte</E> rules. 47 CFR 1.1200 <E T="03">et seq.</E> Persons making <E T="03">ex parte</E> presentations must file a copy of any written presentation or a memorandum summarizing any oral presentation within two business days after the presentation (unless a different deadline applicable to the Sunshine Period applies). Persons making oral <E T="03">ex parte</E> presentations are reminded that memoranda summarizing the presentations must (1) list all persons attending or otherwise participating in the meeting at which the <E T="03">ex parte</E> presentation was made, and (2) summarize all data presented and arguments made during the presentation. If the presentation consisted in whole or in part of the presentation of data or arguments already reflected in the presenter's written comments, memoranda, or other filings in the proceeding, the presenter may provide citations to such data or arguments in his or her prior comments, memoranda, or other filings (specifying the relevant page and/or paragraph numbers where such data or arguments can be found) in lieu of summarizing them in the memorandum. Documents shown or given to Commission staff during <E T="03">ex parte</E> presentations are deemed to be written <E T="03">ex parte</E> presentations and must be filed consistent with 47 CFR 1.1206(b). In proceedings governed by 47 CFR 1.49(f) or for which the Commission has made available a method of electronic filing, written <E T="03">ex parte</E> presentations and memoranda summarizing oral <E T="03">ex parte</E> presentations, and all attachments thereto, must be filed through the electronic comment filing system available for that proceeding, and must be filed in their native format ( <E T="03">e.g.,</E> .doc, .xml, .ppt, searchable .pdf). Participants in this proceeding should familiarize themselves with the Commission's <E T="03">ex parte</E> rules. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> <E T="03">Auction Legal Questions:</E> Valerie M. Barrish, (202) 418-0660, <E T="03">Valerie.Barrish@fcc.gov,</E> or Yasiman E. Montgomery, (202) 418-0660, <E T="03">Yasiman.Montomery@fcc.gov.</E> <E T="03">General Auction Questions:</E> Auction Hotline at (717) 338-2868. <E T="03">AWS-3 Service Questions:</E> Madelaine Maior, (202) 418-1166, <E T="03">Madelaine.Maior@fcc.gov,</E> or Jeffrey Tignor, (202) 418-0774, <E T="03">JeffreyTignor@fcc.gov.</E> </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> This is a summary of the document, AU Docket No. 25-117, DA 25-193, adopted on March 11, 2025, and released on March 11, 2025 ( <E T="03">Auction 113 Comment Public Notice</E> ). The <E T="03">Auction 113 Comment Public Notice</E> includes the following attachments: Attachment A, Auction 113 Licenses; Proposed Bidding Units, Upfront Payments, and Minimum Opening Bid Amounts. The complete text of the <E T="03">Auction 113 Comment Public Notice,</E> including its attachment, is available on the Commission's website at <E T="03">http://www.fcc.gov/auction/113</E> or by using the search function for AU Docket No. 25-117 on the Commission's ECFS web page at <E T="03">www.fcc.gov/ecfs.</E> Alternative formats are available to persons with disabilities by sending an email to <E T="03">fcc504@fcc.gov</E> or by calling the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau at (202) 418-0530. <E T="03">Providing Accountability Through Transparency Act.</E> The Providing Accountability Through Transparency Act, Public Law 118-9, requires each agency, in providing notice of a rulemaking, to post online a brief plain-language summary of the proposed rule. The required summary of the <E T="03">Auction 113 Comment Public Notice</E> is available at <E T="03">https://www.fcc.gov/proposed-rulemakings.</E> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 Analysis</HD> The <E T="03">Auction 113 Comment Pubic Notice</E> seeks comment on proposed requirements that may result in new or modified information collection requirements. The Commission, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork burdens, invites the general public and the Office of Management and Budget to comment on the information collection requirements contained in this document, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. In addition, pursuant to the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2002, specific comment is sought on how the Commission might further reduce the information collection burden for small business concerns with fewer than 25 employees. <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. Introduction</HD> 1. In the <E T="03">Auction 113 Comment Public Notice,</E> the Commission announces an auction of 200 licenses in the 1695-1710 MHz, 1755-1780 MHz, and 2155-2180 MHz bands (collectively, the “AWS-3” bands), which is designated as Auction 113. 2. The Commission is offering the licenses in Auction 113 pursuant to the Spectrum and Secure Technology and Innovations Act of 2024 (Spectrum and Secure Technology and Innovation Act). The Spectrum and Secure Technology and Innovation Act, Public Law 118-159, directs the Commission to initiate a system of competitive bidding to grant licenses of unassigned AWS-3 spectrum in the Commission's inventory as of December 23, 2024 within 18 months of December 23, 2024. Auction proceeds will support the Commission's Supply Chain Reimbursement Program, which implements the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019 by reimbursing eligible advanced communications service providers for their costs to remove, replace, and dispose of Huawei Technologies Company or ZTE Corporation equipment and services obtained on or before June 30, 2020. 3. In this proceeding and consistent with past practice, the Office of Economics and Analytics (OEA), jointly with the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB), seeks comment in the <E T="03">Auction 113 Comment Public Notice</E> on the competitive bidding procedures and auction design to be used for bidding to acquire licenses in Auction 113, including a proposal to use an ascending clock auction format—specifically, a clock-1 format—wherein bidding in the clock phase would be for specific licenses to assign the licenses offered in Auction 113. <HD SOURCE="HD1">II. Licenses To Be Offered In Auction 113</HD> 4. The list of licenses to be offered in Auction 113 is available in the Attachment A file on the Auction 113 website at <E T="03">www.fcc.gov/auction/113.</E> The licenses available in Auction 113 will be granted pursuant to the Commission's authority under the Spectrum and Secure Technology and Innovation Act to initiate a system of competitive bidding that will grant licenses for spectrum in the Commission's inventory as of December 23, 2024 in the AWS-3 bands. Licenses for the AWS-3 spectrum previously were offered in Auction 97, however not all the licenses offered in Auction 97 were assigned following that auction. The licenses for AWS-3 spectrum that were available in the Commission's inventory as of December 23, 2024 and will be offered in Auction 113 are listed in the Attachment A file. In its <E T="03" ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 102k characters. 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