*Pages 1--6 from Microsoft Word - 59286.doc* PUBLIC NOTICE Federal Communications Commission 445 12 th St., S. W. Washington, D. C. 20554 News Media Information 202 / 418- 0500 Internet: http:// www. fcc. gov TTY: 1- 888- 835- 5322 DA- 06- 1723 August 28, 2006 THE WIRELESS TELECOMMUNICATIONS BUREAU ANNOUNCES FCC FORM 608 IS AVAILABLE FOR FILING SPECTRUM LEASING NOTIFICATIONS AND APPLICATIONS AND PRIVATE COMMONS ARRANGEMENTS By this Public Notice, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (Bureau) announces changes to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC or Commission) Universal Licensing System (ULS) to implement FCC Form 608, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau Application or Notification for Spectrum Leasing Arrangement or Private Commons Arrangement (Form 608), which will be used for the filing of spectrum leasing and private commons arrangements effective August 28, 2006. The Bureau also announces that certain Commission rules and policies regarding spectrum leasing and private commons arrangements will take effect with the release of Form 608. Background and Overview On July 8, 2004, the Commission adopted a Second Report and Order 1 in its Secondary Markets proceeding that, among other things: 1) created a new form (Form 608) for spectrum leasing and private commons arrangements; 2) further streamlined the processing of certain long- term de facto transfer leases by providing for immediate processing of applications where the parties certify that the proposed transaction meets specific criteria indicating the absence of potential public interest concerns relating to eligibility, use restrictions, foreign ownership, designated entity policies, and competition; 3) further streamlined the processing of short- term de facto transfer leases by replacing the Special Temporary Authority (STA) procedures with immediate approval procedures that are similar to long- term de facto transfer leases; 4) further streamlined the processing of certain spectrum manager leases that do not raise public interest concerns consistent with de facto transfer leases; and 1 See generally Promoting Efficient Use of Spectrum Through Elimination of Barriers to the Development of Secondary Markets, Second Report and Order, Order on Reconsideration, and Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 19 FCC Rcd 17503 (2004) (Second Report and Order). 1 4 If the filing is for a Sublease (all purposes - New, Modification, Administrative Update, Cancel, Extend Term, or Transfer of Control of a Sublessee), the application will be scanned and attached to the Lease Record under the "Attachments" heading on the "Admin" Tab. If the filing is for a Private Commons Arrangement of a License (all purposes - New, Modification, Extend or Cancel), the application will be scanned and attached to the License Record under the "Attachments" heading on the "Admin" Tab. If the filing is for a Private Commons Arrangement of a Lease or a Sublease (all purposes - New, Modification, Extend or Cancel), the application will be scanned and attached to the Lease Record under the "Attachments" heading on the "Admin" Tab. Absent a waiver of the Commission’s rules, certain applicants and licensees must submit Form 608 electronically via ULS. 8 In order to allow all subleases and private commons arrangements to be submitted manually, the Bureau, pursuant to delegated authority, waives section 1.913( b), on its own motion, until such time as electronic filing becomes available for subleases and private commons arrangements. 9 The Bureau reminds parties that are subject to the mandatory electronic filing provisions of section 1.913( b) of the Commission’s rules that all other Form 608 filings must be submitted electronically via ULS. Converting Pending FCC Form 603- T Filings and Existing Leases Pending FCC Form 603- T filings and active leases will be converted to the new spectrum leasing format available for searching in ULS. While the Bureau is converting active leases and pending filings, all other FCC Form 603- T filings will remain searchable as 603- T applications and notifications. After conversion, additional lease application purposes, including Transfer of Control of a Lessee, Extend Term of a Lease, Administrative Update of a Lease and Cancellation of a Lease, can be filed electronically with respect to active leases that were converted. Upon conversion of an already existing lease, the licensee and lessee will receive a new Lease Arrangement Letter for the converted lease. This letter will not indicate that the lease was converted, but will give the licensee and lessee a new Lease ID, as described below. Leases that are active as of August 25, 2006 will be issued a new Lease ID consisting of the letter “L” followed by a 9- digit number. For example, a lease that was granted on January 1, 2005, with a Lease ID of ABC123- L1 and an expiration date of January 1, 2008, will be issued a new Lease ID consisting of the letter “L’ followed by a 9- digit number. However, a lease that was granted on January 1, 2005, with a Lease ID of XYZ789- L1 and an expiration date of January 1, 2006, will not be issued a new Lease ID because the lease is expired. In the example of the expired lease, the original Lease Arrangement Letter will continue to be located under the “Admin” tab of the underlying call sign from which spectrum was leased. The leases that have been converted will be viewable in ULS License Search. For additional information on how to search for spectrum leases, see Updates to ULS Search Interfaces below. Updates to ULS Search Interfaces Secondary Markets Application Search 8 47 C. F. R. § 1. 913( b). 9 47 C. F. R. § 0.331, 1. 925. 4 5 As part of incorporating leases into ULS, the Commission has implemented a specialized search for secondary markets- related applications. The Secondary Markets Search is an expansion of the former Assignments and Transfers Search and enables users to specify search criteria related to assignment, transfer, and lease applications. To accommodate leases, this search has been modified with additional lease- specific fields. License Search License Search has been changed to automatically allow users to see leases in their search results. Leases shown in the search result will be visibly distinct from licenses because the lease identifier begins with a letter “L” followed by 9 digits. To further identify leases, license records that have leases associated with that license will have an “L” icon next to the call sign. Users can exclude leases from their results by using the Advanced License Search and choosing the “Exclude Leases” check box. Specialized Lease Search ULS has been enhanced with a specialized search for leases, which is available from the license search home page. This specialized search provides lease- specific search fields and a refined search result that includes only lease data. Query Download and Public Access ULS License Search and Application Search will provide Query Download for the new Form 608 data. Query Download allows users to save the results of an application or license search as a single pipe-delimited text file, which can then be imported into spreadsheet software such as Excel. This feature is available from the ULS Application Search and License Search results pages. Form 608 data will also be included in Public Access after the launch of the form. Public Access database files are available for download from the Databases page: http:// wireless. fcc. gov/ cgi- bin/ wtb- datadump. pl and the Daily Transaction Files page: http:// wireless. fcc. gov/ cgi- bin/ wtb- transactions. pl. Viewing Spectrum Leases in ULS Previously, when an FCC Form 603- T application was processed for a new lease, a Lease Arrangement Letter was created for each call sign listed on the application and included a unique Lease ID. The Lease Arrangement Letter was sent to both the licensee and lessee. The only information available in ULS regarding a specific spectrum lease was through the Lease Arrangement Letter, which was located under the “Admin” tab of the underlying call sign for which spectrum was leased and which had to be downloaded. While a Lease Arrangement Letter will continue to be sent to both the licensee and lessee once the Form 608 is deployed, spectrum leases will now be viewable in ULS in a user- friendly manner similar to that used currently for licenses. A new “Lease” tab will be displayed on any license that contains one or more spectrum leases. By clicking on the “Lease” tab, more detailed information about each spectrum lease can be found. Each spectrum lease in ULS will consist of a “Main” tab, which will include information such as the type of lease, term of the lease, and name of the lessee, and an “Admin” tab, which will consist of information such as comments, special conditions, and related applications associated with the spectrum lease. There will also be other tabs, such as a “Market” tab or “Locations” tab, depending on the radio service in which the spectrum is being leased. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Mapping GeoSearch and Mapping functions are currently not available for Form 608 filings. It is envisioned that these features would be made available as a future enhancement to ULS. 5 6 Application and Notification Processing The Bureau’s application approval process called Immediate Approval Procedures (IAP) and General Approval Procedures (GAP) currently used for transfers and assignments filed with FCC Form 603 will be used for certain Form 608 applications. When spectrum leasing applications or notifications for new leases are granted (or accepted, based on the processing procedures), both the licensee and the lessee will receive a Lease Arrangement Letter from the Commission. However, no Lease Arrangement Letter will be sent for cancellations or transfers of control of a lessee. Additional Information For additional information or assistance, you may visit the Web at http:// esupport. fcc. gov. You may also call the FCC Support Center at (877) 480- 3201 (TTY 717- 338- 2824) and select Option #2, Forms or Licensing Assistance. Hours are from 8 a. m. to 7: 00 p. m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (except Federal holidays). To provide quality service and ensure security, all telephone calls are recorded. 6