Federal Communications Commission	DA 20-520


DA 20-520
May 18, 2020

UPDATED POPULATION DATA FOR 95 LICENSE AREAS FOR THE AUCTION OF PRIORITY ACCESS LICENSES IN THE 3550-3650 MHZ BAND
AVAILABILITY OF FILE WITH RECALCULATED BIDDING UNITS AND UPFRONT PAYMENT AND MINIMIUM OPENING BID AMOUNTS FOR AUCTION 105
AU Docket No. 19-244

In the Auction 105 Procedures Public Notice, the Commission adopted a methodology for calculating bidding units and upfront payment and minimum opening bid amounts for the county-based licenses to be offered in Auction 105 that is based on population and bandwidth. See Auction of Priority Access Licenses for the 3550-3650 Band; Notice and Filing Requirements, Minimum Opening Bids, Upfront Payments, and Other Procedures for Auction 105; Bidding in Auction 105 Scheduled to Begin June 25, 2020, AU Docket 19-244, Public Notice, 35 FCC Rcd 2140, 2144 paras 7-9, n.16 (2020) (Auction 105 Procedures Public Notice).
  An “Attachment A” file listing the bidding units, upfront payment amount, and minimum opening bid amount for each license was made available on the Auction 105 website at www.fcc.gov/auction/105 and labeled as “Adopted (3/2/2020).”  The Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (Bureau) and the Office of Economics and Analytics (OEA) now announce the availability of an updated version of this file.
Consistent with the Commission’s decision regarding county-based license areas in 2018 3.5 GHz Order Promoting Investment in the 3550-3700 MHz Band, GN Docket No. 17-258, Report and Order, 33 FCC Rcd 10598, 10607, para. 19 & n.71 (2018) (2018 3.5 GHz Order). 
 and with existing Commission policies and procedures used in prior auctions, the Bureau and OEA attributed the 2010 decennial census population figures to the county legal boundaries as of January 1, 2017, and used the resulting population figures for calculating bidding units, upfront payment amounts, and minimum opening bid amounts for the licenses to be offered in Auction 105.  The Bureau and OEA recently became aware of anomalies in those population figures for 95 of these license areas and have corrected the Attachment A file.  Specifically, the population has been changed in the updated file for all 91 license areas in American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as for three areas in Alaska and one area in Virginia. The affected areas in Alaska and Virginia are Hoonah-Angoon Census Area, Petersburg Borough, and Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area, Alaska, and Bedford County, Virginia.  
  In all but a few of those cases (where the change in population was relatively small), the bidding units, upfront payment amounts, and minimum opening bid amounts have changed accordingly.  The revised numbers are higher for some areas and lower for others.  
The updated file is available on the Auction 105 website at www.fcc.gov/auction/105 at the “Updated (May 18, 2020)” link under the “Attachment A Files” heading.  Corresponding updates will also be made to the FCC Form 175 including the bidding unit data provided for the license areas and in the upfront payment calculator.  The updates to the FCC Form 175 will be made before the resubmission window opens.  When making upfront payments applicants are reminded to check their calculations carefully, based on the updated figures, because there is no provision for increasing a bidder’s eligibility after the upfront payment deadline. See Auction 105 Procedures Public Notice, 35 FCC Rcd at 2182-86, paras 131-145.  See also Auction of Priority Access Licenses for the 3550-3650 MHz Band Rescheduled to Begin July 23, 2020; Auction 105 Short-Form Application Deadline Postponed to May 7, 2020, Public Notice, DA 20-330 (Mar. 25, 2020).

For further information, email auction105@fcc.gov or contact the FCC Auctions Hotline at (717) 338-2868.  To request materials in accessible formats (Braille, large print, electronic files, audio format) for people with disabilities, email fcc504@fcc.gov or call the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau at (202) 418-0530 or (202) 418-0432 (TTY). 
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