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Service Rules for Advanced Wireless Services H Block-Implementing Section 6401 of the Middle-Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 Related to the 1915-1920 MHz and 1995-2000 MHz Bands

---
identifier: "/us/fr/2019-11047"
source: "fr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "Service Rules for Advanced Wireless Services H Block-Implementing Section 6401 of the Middle-Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 Related to the 1915-1920 MHz and 1995-2000 MHz Bands"
title_number: 0
title_name: "Federal Register"
section_number: "2019-11047"
section_name: "Service Rules for Advanced Wireless Services H Block-Implementing Section 6401 of the Middle-Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 Related to the 1915-1920 MHz and 1995-2000 MHz Bands"
positive_law: false
currency: "2019-06-06"
last_updated: "2019-06-06"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
agency: "Federal Communications Commission"
document_number: "2019-11047"
document_type: "rule"
publication_date: "2019-06-06"
agencies:
  - "Federal Communications Commission"
cfr_references:
  - "47 CFR Part 1"
  - "47 CFR Part 27"
fr_citation: "84 FR 26363"
fr_volume: 84
docket_ids:
  - "WT Docket No. 12-357"
  - "FCC 19-29"
fr_action: "Notification of order on reconsideration."
---

#  Service Rules for Advanced Wireless Services H Block—Implementing Section 6401 of the Middle-Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 Related to the 1915-1920 MHz and 1995-2000 MHz Bands

**AGENCY:**

Federal Communications Commission.

**ACTION:**

Notification of order on reconsideration.

**SUMMARY:**

The Commission denied in part and dismissed in part the Petition for Reconsideration filed by the Rural Wireless Association, Inc. on September 16, 2013.

**DATES:**

June 6, 2019.

**FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:**

Paul Malmud at the Wireless Telecommunication Bureau, at (202) 418-0006 or *[email protected].*

**SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:**

This is a summary of the Commission's Order on Reconsideration, FCC 19-29, adopted on April 10, 2019 and released on April 12, 2019. The complete text of this document is available for public inspection and copying from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) Monday through Thursday or from 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. ET on Fridays in the FCC Reference Information Center, 445 12th Street SW, Room CY-A257, Washington, DC 20554. The complete text is also available on the Commission's website at *https://www.fcc.gov/edocs.* Alternative formats are available to persons with disabilities by calling the Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau at (202) 418-0530 (voice), (202) 418-0432 (tty).

**Synopsis**

1. In 2013, the Commission released the *H Block Report and Order* 78 FR  50214 (Aug. 16, 2013), which adopted licensing and technical rules as well as a band plan for the 1915-1920 MHz and 1995-2000 MHz bands (the “H Block”) and procedures for assigning H Block licenses through a system of competitive bidding. The Rural Wireless Association, Inc. (RWA) filed a Petition for Reconsideration later that year asking the Commission to reconsider its decisions to license H Block spectrum using Economic Areas (EAs) and to adopt population-based performance requirements. The Commission disagrees with RWA's contention that the Commission should have: (1) Licensed H Block spectrum using CMAs rather than EAs, and (2) adopted geographic-based, rather than population-based, performance requirements.

2. In this document, the Commission dismisses in part and denies in part RWA's Petition for Reconsideration because the Commission acted well within its discretion, struck a reasonable and well-justified balance among multiple statutory goals. RWA also asked the Commission not to use package bidding, particularly Hierarchical Package Bidding, in the H Block Auction. The Commission dismissed this request as moot because package bidding was rejected in a related proceeding. 28 FCC Rcd 13019. Accordingly, *it is ordered* pursuant to section 4(i), 4(j), 303(r), and 309(j) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 154(i), 154(j), 303(r), and 309(j), as well as § 1.429 of the Commission's rules, 47 CFR 1.429, that the Petition for Reconsideration filed by the Rural Wireless Association, Inc., on September 16, 2013, *is dismissed* to the extent specified in this Order on Reconsideration and, alternatively and independently, *denied* as specified in the Order on Reconsideration.

Federal Communications Commission.

Marlene Dortch,

Secretary, Office of the Secretary.