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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 118 / Wednesday, June 23, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
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Commission to review foreign investment in radio station licenses and imposes specific restrictions on who may hold certain types of radio licenses.
Section 310 applies to applications for initial radio licenses, applications for assignments and transfers of control of radio licenses, and spectrum leasing arrangements under the Commissions secondary market rules. In completing FCC Form 175, an applicant is required to disclose information concerning foreign ownership of the applicant. If an applicant has foreign ownership interests in excess of the applicable limit or benchmark set forth in section 310b, then it may seek to participate in Auction 110 as long as it has filed a petition for declaratory ruling with the Commission prior to the FCC Form 175
filing deadline. An applicant must certify in its FCC Form 175 that, as of the deadline for filing its application to participate in the auction, the applicant either is in compliance with the foreign ownership provisions of section 310 or has filed a petition for declaratory ruling requesting Commission approval to exceed the applicable foreign ownership limit or benchmark in section 310b that is pending before, or has been granted by, the Commission. Additional information concerning foreign ownership disclosure requirements is provided in the FCC Form 175
Instructions.
F. Information Procedures During the Auction Process 36. Consistent with past practice in many prior spectrum license auctions, OEA and WTB adopt the Commissions proposal to limit information available in Auction 110 in order to prevent the identification of bidders placing particular bids until after the bidding has closed. More specifically, OEA will not make public until after bidding has closed: 1 The PEAs that an applicant selects for bidding in its short-form application, 2 the amount of any upfront payment made by or on behalf of an applicant for Auction 110, 3 any applicants bidding eligibility, and 4
any other bidding-related information that might reveal the identity of the bidder placing a bid.
37. The limited information procedures used in past auctions have helped safeguard against potential anticompetitive behavior such as retaliatory bidding and collusion. No commenters objected to this proposal, and OEA and WTB find nothing in the record to suggest departure from the Commissions now-established practice of implementing these procedures in wireless spectrum auctions. OEA and WTB find that the competitive benefits
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associated with limiting information disclosure support adoption of such procedures and outweigh the potential benefits of full disclosure.
38. Once the bidding begins in Auction 110, under the limited information procedures sometimes also referred to as anonymous bidding, information to be made public after each round of bidding will include, for licenses in each geographic area, the supply, the aggregate demand, the price at the end of the last completed round, and the price for the next round. The identities of bidders placing specific bids and the net bid amounts reflecting bidding credits will not be disclosed until after the close of bidding.
39. Throughout the auction, bidders will have access to additional information related to their own bidding and bidding eligibility through the Commissions bidding system. For example, bidders will be able to view their own level of eligibility, both before and during the auction.
40. After the close of bidding, bidders PEA selections, upfront payment amounts, bidding eligibility, bids, and other bidding-related actions will be made publicly available.
41. OEA and WTB warn applicants that direct or indirect communication to other applicants or the public disclosure of non-public information e.g., reductions in eligibility, identities of bidders could violate the Commissions rule prohibiting certain communications. Therefore, to the extent an applicant believes that such a disclosure is required by law or regulation, including regulations issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission SEC, OEA and WTB
strongly urge that the applicant consult with the Commission staff in the Auctions Division before making such disclosure.
G. Prohibited Communications and Compliance With Antitrust Laws 42. The rules prohibiting certain communications set forth in section 1.2105c apply to each applicant that files a short-form application FCC Form 175 in Auction 110. Section 1.2105c1 of the Commissions rules provides that, subject to specified exceptions, after the short-form application filing deadline, all applicants are prohibited from cooperating or collaborating with respect to, communicating with or disclosing, to each other or any nationwide provider of communications services that is not an applicant, or, if the applicant is a nationwide provider, any nonnationwide provider that is not an
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applicant, in any manner the substance of their own, or each others, or any other applicants bids or bidding strategies including post-auction market structure, or discussing or negotiating settlement agreements, until after the down payment deadline. . . .
1. Entities Subject to Section 1.2105c 43. An applicant for purposes of this rule includes all controlling interests in the entity submitting the FCC Form 175 auction application, as well as all holders of interests amounting to 10% or more of the entity including institutional investors and asset management companies, and all officers and directors of that entity.
Under section 1.2105c, a party that submits an application becomes an applicant under the rule at the application deadline, and that status does not change based on later developments. Thus, an auction applicant that does not correct deficiencies in its application, fails to submit a timely and sufficient upfront payment, or does not otherwise become qualified, remains an applicant for purposes of the rule and remains subject to the prohibition on certain communications until the Auction 110
down payment deadline.
44. As the Commission proposed in the Auction 110 Comment Public Notice, OEA and WTB consider AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon to be nationwide providers for the purposes of the prohibited communications rule for Auction 110.
2. Prohibition Applies Until Down Payment Deadline 45. The prohibition in section 1.2105c on certain communications begins at an auctions short-form application filing deadline and ends at the auctions down payment deadline after the auction closes, which will be announced in a future public notice.
3. Scope of Prohibition on Certain Communications; Prohibition on Joint Bidding Agreements 46. Section 1.2105c of the Commissions rules prohibits certain communications between applicants for an auction, regardless of whether the applicants seek permits or licenses in the same geographic area or market. The rule also applies to communications by applicants with non-applicant nationwide providers of communications services and by nationwide applicants with nonapplicant non-nationwide providers.
The rule further prohibits joint bidding arrangements, including arrangements relating to the permits or licenses being
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