WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission plans to auction 528 multilateration Location and Monitoring Service licenses Dec. 15. LMS is used to locate or monitor mobile radio units, primarily located in vehicles, and is expected to be part of the emerging smart highways program being developed by the Department of Transportation.
LMS is designed as an overlay since the LMS channels are assigned to portions of the 902-928 MHz band, which also is assigned to Part 15 devices, industrial, scientific and medical equipment and government radiolocation. Government users and ISM equipment are primary users on the band. LMS is not two-way communication, and FCC rules restrict voice interconnection over the public switched telephone network on this band.
Three licenses will be awarded in each of 176 economic areas. The FCC is proposing minimum opening bids will be $2,850 for A-block, $2,500 for B-block and $2,800 for C-block. The FCC chose the minimum-bid format rather than the reserve-price format but is requesting comment on this proposal. A reserve price is an absolute minimum price below which an item will be sold at auction while a minimum bid is the beginning price below which no bids are accepted.
The auction will use a single, simultaneous multi-round format to allow bidders to take advantage of any synergies that exist among licenses.
The FCC will announce upfront payment dates later. The agency has said it expects the upfront payments to be translated into bidding credits.
