On February 18, 2022, the Office of Economics and Analytics (“OEA”) and the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (“WTB”) released a Public Notice (“Third Procedures Notice”) seeking further comment on the competitive bidding procedures for Auction 108, which will auction approximately 8,300 geographic overlay licenses in the 2.5 GHz band (“the Auction”).
On February 2, 2022, WTB staff performed a geographic information systems analysis of existing licenses and prepared a new Auction inventory based on license service data extracted from the Universal Licensing System. As a result of this analysis and additional information provided by commentators, OEA and WTB added 189 licenses in 130 counties and removed 370 licenses in 301 counties from the initial Auction 108 inventory. The majority of the changes were as a result of further review of the availability of the J guard band (2568-2572 MHz) in Chanel Block 2, and further analysis of canceled, terminated, or expired licenses modified the geographic service areas of active licenses. The revised analysis also takes into account WTB action in the Rural Tribal Priority Window. The updated list of county and channel block combinations potentially available in Auction 108 can be found in Attachment A and at https://www.fcc.gov/auction/108.
In the Third Procedures Notice, OEA and WTB seek comment on whether any of the previously noticed bidding procedures for Auction 108 should be adjusted or modified in light of additions to the auction inventory and what the minimum opening bids and upfront payment amounts should be for the additional licenses.
Comments are due on or before March 4, 2022.
Please Contact Us if you have any questions.