SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The Commission may not conduct or sponsor a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number. No person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information subject to the PRA that does not display a valid OMB control number.

As part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork burdens, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), the FCC invited the general public and other Federal Agencies to take this opportunity to comment on the following information collection. Comments are requested concerning: (a) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the Commission, including whether the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the Commission's burden estimates; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on the respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology. Pursuant to the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2002, Public Law 107-198, see 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(4), the FCC seeks specific comment on how it might “further reduce the information collection burden for small business concerns with fewer than 25 employees.”

OMB Control Number: 3060-XXXX.

Title: Upper C-band Clearinghouse and Relocation Coordinator Real-Time Disclosure of Communications Required by §§ 27.1413(c)(10) and 27.1414(c)(4)(i).

Form Number: N/A.

Type of Review: New information collection.

Respondents: Business or other for-profit entities.

Number of Respondents and Responses: 2 respondents and up to 12 responses.

Estimated Time per Response: 1 hour.

Frequency of Response: On occasion reporting requirement.

Obligation To Respond: Required to obtain or retain benefits. Statutory authority for this information collection is contained in sections 1, 2, 4(i), 4(j), 5(c), 201, 302, 303, 304, 307(e), and 309 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 151, 152, 154(i), 154(j), 155(c), 201, 302, 303, 304, 307(e), 309.

Total Annual Burden: 12 hours.

Total Annual Cost: No cost.

Needs and Uses: Pursuant to Congress' directive in Public Law 119-21, 40002(b)(2), 139 Stat. 72 (2025), that it grant licenses for spectrum in the 3.98-4.2 GHz band (Upper C-band) through a system of competitive bidding no later than July 4, 2027, on July 22, 2026, the Commission adopted the Upper C-band Report and Order, FCC 26-46, in which it reconfigured 160 megahertz of spectrum in the 3.98-4.14 GHz portion of the Upper C-band in order to make new flexible-use licenses in that band available in a Commission auction that is tentatively scheduled to begin in April 2027.

Prior to the Commission's adoption of the Upper C-Band Report and Order, the 4.0-4.2 GHz portion of the Upper C- ( printed page 66137) band was allocated for non-Federal use on a primary basis for Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) and Fixed Service (FS) links throughout the United States, although FS operations were sunset in the contiguous United States across the entire C-band as part of the Lower C-band transition. Space station operators use 4.0-4.2 GHz nationwide to provide space-to-Earth ( i.e., downlink) signals of various bandwidths to licensed transmit-receive, registered receive-only, and unregistered receive-only earth stations throughout the United States. In addition, the 3.98-4.0 GHz portion of the Upper C-band in the contiguous United States was reserved as a guard band to protect operations in the Upper C-band from potential harmful interference. In the Upper C-band Report and Order, the Commission modified the licenses and market access authorizations of incumbent FSS operators to clear the Upper C-band for new flexible-use terrestrial wireless operations in the contiguous United States.

The Commission established a framework in the Upper C-band Report and Order for relocating impacted incumbent FSS operations within the contiguous United States and for requiring that new Upper C-band licensees reimburse eligible FSS incumbents' reasonable and necessary transition costs. To facilitate a rapid and predictable transition of incumbent FSS services in the Upper C-band, the Upper C-band Report and Order establishes a Primary Transition Deadline of December 30, 2030 for the relocation of all incumbent FSS operations in the top 75 Partial Economic Areas (PEAs) in the contiguous United States, and a Final Transition Deadline of June 30, 2031 for the entire 160 megahertz in all remaining PEAs in the contiguous United States. Terrestrial wireless operations may begin in PEAs subject to the Final Transition Deadline as of July 1, 2031 or once all eligible space station operators have had their Certifications of Completion for those PEAs validated and the associated incentive payments have been made by the new Upper C-band wireless licensees.

In keeping with the approach used to relocate incumbents in the Lower C-band, the Commission concluded in the Upper C-band Report and Order that an independent third-party clearinghouse (Upper C-band Clearinghouse) should be used to oversee the cost-related aspects of the FSS transition, and that the logistics of clearing FSS operations from 4.0-4.16 GHz should be structured around an eligible space station operator-led process facilitated by a Relocation Coordinator (RC) that will use its expertise to track and supplement transition efforts across all eligible space station operators to ensure a timely and coordinated relocation process.

To protect the fair and level playing field for applicants to participate in the Commission's auction for licenses in the Upper C-band, the Upper C-band Clearinghouse and the RC are each required to make real-time disclosures of the content and timing of and the parties to communications, if any, from or to such applicants, as applicants are defined by the Commission's rule prohibiting certain auction-related communications, 47 CFR 1.2105(c)(5)(i), whenever the prohibition in 47 CFR 1.2105(c) applies to competitive bidding for licenses in the in the Upper C-band. See 47 CFR 27.1413(c)(10) and 27.1414(c)(4)(i) (as adopted in the Upper C-band Report and Order). The Commission is seeking approval for a new information collection to permit the Upper C-band Clearinghouse and the RC to make the required real-time disclosure of any such communications, as necessary.