On October 13, 2020, the Commission released a Public Notice announcing the 386 applicants qualified to bid in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (“RDOF”) Phase I auction (“Auction 904”). Bidding is scheduled to begin on Thursday, October 29, 2020.
Qualified Bidders. Attachment A lists the names of the qualified bidders. Each of these applicants is qualified to bid in at least one of the states it selected for at least one of the performance tier and latency combinations it selected, as long as no further amendments are made to the short-form application that would change the applicant’s qualifications. Each qualified bidder can access its submitted application to view the eligibility determinations for each selected performance tier and latency combination in the Auction Application System on the View Eligibility Determinations page.
A determination that an applicant is a qualified bidder is not determinative of an applicant’s qualifications to receive Auction 904 support; a qualified bidder that wins one or more bids must submit a long-form application and meet other requirements explained in previous public notices. Prior public notices and other documents related to Auction 904 are available a the Commission’s auctions website: https://www.fcc.gov/auction/904.
Non-qualified Applicants. Attachment B lists each applicant that submitted a short-form application but did not qualify to bid in Auction 904.
Prohibition of Certain Communications. The prohibition of certain communications took effect as of the short-form application filing deadline on July 15, 2020, at 6:00 p.m. ET, and extends until the long-form application deadline. This prohibition applies to all applicants regardless of whether such applicants became qualified bidders or actually bid.
Registration and Access to the FCC Auction Bidding System. All qualified bidders have been automatically registered for the auction. Registration materials will be sent to the contact address identified in the qualified bidder’s FCC Form 183. Bidders can first access the FCC auction bidding system online on Thursday, October 22, 2020 from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm ET. Bidders should test their computer and browser with the FCC auction bidding system in advance of the auction. This can also be done during the mock auction.
Mock Auction. In order to accommodate the large number of qualified bidders, each qualified bidder will be assigned to one of three mock auction dates: Friday, October 23; Monday, October 26; or Tuesday, October 27, 2020. Qualified bidders can access their assigned mock auction date using the “Assigned Mock Auction Dates” link in the Education section of the Auction 904 website: www.fcc.gov/auction/904.
Auction Information. Bidding will begin on October 29, 2020, with the bidding round running from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm ET. There will be no bidding on Friday, October 30 but bidding will resume on Monday, November 2, 2020 and will continue with one round every business day until further notice. After bidding in Auction 904 concludes, a public notice will be released to identify the winning bidders and establish deadlines for filing the long-form application.
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