Today: FCC CAF II Auction

FCC CAF II Auction

The FCC identified 220 applicants that are qualified to bid in the CAF II Auction (Auction 903) which is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, July 24, 2018.  The auction will award up to $1.98 billion over 10 years to service providers that commit to offer voice and broadband services to fixed locations in unserved high-cost areas.  This Public Notice also provides important information to qualified bidders regarding the CAF II Bidding System, available educational materials, the mock auction, and the start of bidding in Auction 903.  The Public Notice also reminds applicants of certain procedures the Commission adopted for the auction.  The Public Notice also lists each applicant that submitted a short-form application but did not qualify to bid in Auction 903.

All qualified bidders have been automatically registered for the auction. Registration materials will be sent by overnight delivery to the contact person at the contact person’s address identified in the qualified bidder’s FCC Form 183. The FCC will also host a workshop on the bidding process for Auction 903 on July 9, 2018.  This workshop will review the education materials available for Auction 903 and provide detailed information about the bidding system.   Qualified bidders will also be able to participate in the mock auction that will begin July 18, 2018.

Separately, the FCC issued and Order resolving various petitions for waive of the CAF II auction short form application requirements.  The order grants petitions from several applicants requesting that the FCC accept late-filed FCC Form 477s as evidence of an applicant’s  experience offering a voice and/or broadband service.  However, the FCC cautioned that its decision to permit the applicants to participate in the auction if they are otherwise deemed qualified “does not in any way serve as a waiver of our Form 477 filing deadlines and does not preclude the Commission from initiating enforcement actions against parties that violate its FCC Form 477 filing requirements.”  The order also denies: (1) a petition from one applicant that had not filed FCC Form 477s for all three relevant filing periods; and (2) a petition seeking a waiver of the requirement that applicants with fewer than two years of experience offering a voice, broadband, and/or electric transmission or distribution service submit three years of audited financial statements with their short-form applications.

 ____________________________ 

The Regulatory Mix, Inteserra’s daily blog of telecom related regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of an Inteserra Briefing.