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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 153 / Thursday, August 12, 2021 / Proposed Rules
.xml., .ppt, searchable .pdf. Participants in this proceeding should familiarize themselves with the Commissions ex parte rules.
Synopsis: With this Public Notice, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau WTB or Bureau seeks comment on its proposed implementation of the Commissions incremental reduction plan for Phase I Accelerated Relocation Payments ARP relating to the ongoing transition of the 3.7 GHz band. On August 4, 2021, as directed by the Commission in the 3.7 GHz Report and Order, WTB issued a Public Notice to prescribe the filing procedures for eligible space station operators to submit Certifications of Accelerated Relocation Certifications and stakeholders to submit related challenges as part of the Phase I
migration of incumbent services in this band. Related to this process, WTB
hereby seeks comment on its proposed approach for calculating an incremental reduction for an eligible space station operators ARP due to its failure to meet the Phase I Accelerated Relocation Deadline. Filers responding to this Public Notice should submit comments in GN Docket No. 21320.
In the 3.7 GHz Report and Order, the Commission adopted rules to make 280
megahertz of mid-band spectrum available for flexible use plus a 20
megahertz guard band throughout the contiguous United States by transitioning existing services out of the lower portion of the band and into the upper 200 megahertz of the C-band i.e., 4.04.2 GHz. The 3.7 GHz Report and Order established that new 3.7 GHz Service licensees would reimburse the reasonable, actual relocation costs of eligible FSS space station operators, incumbent FSS earth station operators, and incumbent Fixed Service licensees collectively, incumbents to transition out of the band.
The 3.7 GHz Report and Order established a deadline of December 5, 2025, by which incumbent space station operators were to complete the transition of their operations to the upper 200 megahertz of the band, but it also provided an opportunity for accelerated clearing of the band by allowing eligible space station operators to voluntarily commit to relocate on a two-phased accelerated schedule, with a Phase I deadline of December 5, 2021, and a Phase II deadline of December 5, 2023. All five eligible space station operators elected accelerated relocation.
By electing accelerated relocation, the eligible space station operators, among other things, have voluntarily committed to perform all the tasks necessary to enable any incumbent earth
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station that receives or sends C-band signals to a space station owned by that operator to maintain that functionality in the upper 200 megahertz of the band.
The 3.7 GHz Report and Order stated that to the extent eligible space station operators can meet the Phase I
and Phase II Accelerated Relocation Deadlines, they will be eligible to receive the accelerated relocation payments associated with those deadlines. Once validated, the ARPs will be disbursed by the Relocation Payment Clearinghouse Clearinghouse.
The 3.7 GHz Report and Order specified that an eligible space station operators satisfaction of the Accelerated Relocation Deadlines will be determined by the timely filing of a Certification of Accelerated Relocation demonstrating, in good faith, that it has completed the necessary clearing actions to satisfy each deadline and directed WTB to prescribe the form of such Certifications. Further, the Bureau, Clearinghouse, and relevant stakeholders will have the opportunity to review the Certification of Accelerated Relocation and identify potential deficiencies.
The 3.7 GHz Report and Order also directed that if credible challenges as to the space station operators satisfaction of the relevant deadline are made, the Bureau will issue a public notice identifying such challenges and will render a final decision as to the validity of the certification no later than 60 days from its filing. Absent notice from WTB of deficiencies in the Certification within 30 days of its filing, the Certification will be deemed validated. Following validation, the Clearinghouse shall promptly notify overlay licensees, who must pay the ARP to the Clearinghouse within 60
days of the notice. The Clearinghouse must disburse the ARP to the eligible space station operator within seven 7
days of receipt. Should an eligible space station operator miss the Phase I or Phase II deadline, it may still receive a reduced, but non-zero, ARP if it otherwise meets the Certification requirements within six months after the relevant Accelerated Relocation Deadline.
The 3.7 GHz Report and Order directed WTB to: 1 prescribe the form of Certifications and any challenges by relevant stakeholders, and 2 establish the process for how such challenges will impact incremental decreases in the ARP. On August 4, 2021, the Bureau issued a Public Notice implementing filing procedures for Phase I Certifications and related challenges. With the instant Public Notice, the Bureau seeks comment on
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how different Phase I Certification scenarios will affect both the challenge process and incremental decreases in the ARP.
At the outset, we recognize the two most straightforward scenarios. First, all Certifications filed without subsequent changewhether by amendment or superseded by a refiled Certification will not be subject to any incremental decrease in the ARP if the Certification was filed before the Phase I deadline and is ultimately validated. Second, any Certifications filed for the first time after the Phase I deadline and later validated without amendment or refiling will be subject to the incremental reduction schedule established by the Commission in the 3.7 GHz Report and Order, using the Certification filing date as the Date of Completion for determining the applicable percentage by which the ARP
will be reduced. In both situations, the challenge process laid out in our recent Public Notice would remain unaffected.
Below we seek comment on more complex scenarios involving the potential amendment or refiling of Certifications, as well as on how to take into account possible remedial actions and agreements between eligible space station operators and other stakeholders on the Certification process.
Amending or Refiling a Certification by the Phase I Deadline. In the 3.7 GHz Report and Order, the Commission stated that it was adopting accelerated relocation rules to facilitate the expeditious deployment of nextgeneration services nationwide across the entire 280 megahertz made available for terrestrial use. In furtherance of this goal, we propose that eligible space station operators may amend or refile an incomplete or invalid Certification without any incremental reduction in the ARP if, prior to the Phase I deadline, the eligible space station operator corrects any underlying problems and submits an amended or refiled Certification that has no invalidating infirmities. Such amendment or refiling may be either on the eligible space station operators own motion, in response to a challenge, or in response to the Bureaus determination that the original Certification was invalid. In this scenario, any issues in the Certification would be resolved before the Phase I
deadline, and the certifying space station operator would have, in fact, come into compliance with all the requirements for claiming the ARP by said deadline.
In these circumstances, we propose that the amended or refiled Certification take the place of the original and start a new challenge process. Thus, new challenges to this amended or refiled
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