Federal Communications Commission DA 21-1132 DA 21-1132 Released: September 10, 2021 CORRECTION OF SELECT INVENTORY ANNOUNCED IN THE AUCTION OF FLEXIBLE-USE SERVICE LICENSES IN THE 3.45–3.55 GHz BAND FOR NEXTGENERATION WIRELESS SERVICES (AUCTION 110) AU Docket No. 21-62 1. By this Public Notice, the Office of Economics and Analytics (OEA) and the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) announce a correction of an error in Attachment A (PEA Information, Upfront Payments, and Minimum Opening Bids) to accurately indicate that coordination requirements apply to both the upper six blocks (Category 2 blocks E-J) and the lower four blocks (Category 1 blocks A-D) in Partial Economic Area (PEA) 240 (Charlottesville, VA). 2. On June 9, 2021, OEA and WTB released a public notice establishing the procedures to be used for Auction 110. See generally Auction of Flexible-Use Service Licenses in the 3.45–3.55 GHz Band for Next-Generation Wireless Services; Notice and Filing Requirements, Minimum Opening Bids, Upfront Payments, and Other Procedures for Auction 110, AU Docket No. 21-62, Public Notice, DA 21-655 (rel. June 9, 2021) (Auction 110 Procedures Public Notice). The Auction 110 Procedures Public Notice detailed application requirements, minimum opening bids, upfront payments, and other procedures for Auction 110. Bidding in Auction 110 is scheduled to begin on October 5, 2021. The window for submitting a short-form application to participate in Auction 110 ended on July 21, 2021. 3. Auction 110 will offer 4,060 new flexible-use licenses for spectrum in the 3.45–3.55 GHz band (3.45 GHz band) throughout the contiguous United States. Auction 110 Procedures Public Notice at 5, para. 7. The 100 megahertz of spectrum in the band will be licensed on an unpaired basis and divided into ten 10-megahertz blocks in the PEAs located in the contiguous 48 states and the District of Columbia. Id. These 10-megahertz blocks will be designated as A through J. Id. 4. In most PEAs, new licensees generally will have unrestricted use of all ten frequency blocks. Certain blocks in the 3.45 GHz band are subject to cooperative sharing requirements, as described in the 3.45 GHz Second Report and Order, See Facilitating Shared Use in the 3100-3550 MHz Band, WT Docket No. 19-348, Second Report and Order, Order on Reconsideration, and Order of Proposed Modification, FCC 21-32 (Mar. 18, 2021) (3.45 GHz Second Report and Order) at 5-6, 11, 12-14, paras. 8-9, 21, 23-25. See also Auction 110 Procedures Public Notice at 39, para. 115. and the Public Notice issued jointly by the Commission, through WTB, and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). The Federal Communications Commission and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration: Coordination Procedures in the 3.45–3.55 Band, WT Docket No. 19-348, Public Notice, DA 21-645 (WTB/NTIA Jun. 2, 2021) (Joint Coordination Public Notice). Under this cooperative sharing framework, existing federal users are prohibited from causing harmful interference to non-federal operations, except in limited circumstances and locations—Cooperative Planning Areas (CPAs) and Periodic Use Areas (PUAs)—where non-federal systems will not be entitled to protection against harmful interference from federal operations. See 3.45 GHz Second Report & Order at 5-6, 11, paras. 8-9, 21. Cooperative Planning Areas are areas in which the DoD anticipates that federal operations will continue after the assignment of flexible use licenses in the band; Periodic Use Areas overlap with certain Cooperative Planning Areas and are areas in which the DoD will need episodic access to all or a portion of the band in specific, limited geographic areas. See id. at 13-14, para. 25. Within Cooperative Planning and Periodic Use Areas, federal and non-federal operators may reach mutually acceptable operator-to-operator agreements to permit more extensive non-federal use by identifying and mutually agreeing upon a technical approach that mitigates the interference risk to federal operations. See id. at 12, para. 23 (quoting note US431B to the Table of Allocations). In PEAs that cover, wholly or in part, CPAs or PUAs, incumbent federal station operators Incumbent federal operations include all current and planned federal use in the 3.45–3.55 GHz band. and new flexible-use licensees must coordinate with each other to facilitate shared use of the band in these specified areas and during specified time periods as described in the 3.45 GHz Second Report and Order. See 3.45 GHz Second Report and Order at 12-23, paras. 23-57; see also Auction 110 Procedures Public Notice at 54, para. 176. 5. In some of the PEAs where coordination is required, all ten blocks will be subject to the same restrictions. In others, the restrictions will vary depending upon the frequency block. Specifically, in some PEAs subject to coordination with federal incumbents, the A through D blocks may be subject to different restrictions than the E through J blocks. See Auction 110 Procedures Public Notice at 54, para. 176; see also 3.45 GHz Second Report and Order at 15-16, paras. 30-31. Accordingly, the Auction 110 Procedures Public Notice established bidding categories as follows: in PEAs where all ten blocks would either be unrestricted or all subject to the same restrictions, the ten blocks would be considered Category 1, or “Cat1.” See Auction 110 Procedures Public Notice at 54, para 177. In PEAs where the restrictions would differ among the ten blocks according to the frequency, the four blocks A through D would be considered Category 1, or “Cat1,” while the six blocks E through J would be considered Category 2, or “Cat2,” for bidding. Id. Attachment A to the Auction 110 Procedures Notice Available for download at www.fcc.gov/auction/110. identifies in which PEAs all ten blocks are considered Cat1, and in which PEAs for blocks E through J are considered Cat2. 6. The updated “Attachment A” file corrects an error to accurately indicate that coordination requirements apply to both the upper six blocks (Category 2 blocks E-J) and the lower four blocks (Category 1 blocks A-D) in PEA 240 (Charlottesville, VA). Previous versions of the “Attachment A” file originally indicated that only the Cat1 blocks within this PEA carry requirements for coordination with federal entities, which is incorrect. Both categories have restrictions—in certain geographic portions of the PEA, the Cat1 blocks are affected by the Fort Bragg CPA and the Dahlgren CPA & PUA, and Cat2 blocks are affected only by overlap with the Dahlgren CPA & PUA. Therefore, in PEA 240 a licensee for a Cat1 block is subject to restrictions owing to the overlap of portions the PEA with the Fort Bragg CPA and the Dahlgren CPA & PUA, while a Cat2 licensee is subject to restrictions corresponding to the Dahlgren CPA & PUA. The auction inventory now includes a double asterisk indicating this change to the status of the Cat2 blocks in this PEA. 7. An updated version of the “Attachment A” file that includes details about the auction inventory has been posted on the Auction 110 website at www.fcc.gov/auction/110. 8. We remind interested parties that they can find additional information about the cooperative sharing requirements, including information about the encumbrances in specific PEAs, on NTIA’s 3450-3550 MHz webpage at https://www.ntia.doc.gov/category/3450-3550-mhz. Interested parties can also find additional guidance and information on federal/non-federal coordination procedures in the public notice issued jointly by NTIA and the Commission. See Joint Coordination Public Notice. 9. For further information concerning this proceeding, contact the offices listed below: Mobility Division, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau 3.45 GHz Service questions: Jon Markman at (202) 418-7090 or Joyce Jones at (202) 418-1327 Auctions Division, Office of Economics and Analytics Auction legal questions: Mary Lovejoy or Andrew McArdell at (202) 418-0660 - FCC - 2