Sec. 21.954  Submission of up front payments.

    (a) The Commission will require applicants to submit an upfront 
payment prior to the MDS auction. The amount of the upfront payment for 
each BTA service area being auctioned and the procedures for submitting 
it will be set forth in a public notice. Upfront payments may be made by 
wire transfer or by cashier's check drawn in U.S. dollars from a 
financial institution whose deposits are insured by the Federal Deposit 
Insurance Corporation and must be made payable to the Federal 
Communications Commission. No interest will be paid on upfront payments.
    (b) For MDS auctions, the Commission will require each applicant to 
submit an upfront payment equal to the largest combination of activity 
units (as defined in the Commission's activity rules established 
pursuant to Sec. 21.951(a)(2)(vi)) associated with the BTAs on which the 
applicant anticipates being active in any single round or bidding. 
Applicants who are small businesses eligible for reduced upfront 
payments will be required to submit an upfront payment amount in 
accordance with Sec. 21.960(c). If an upfront payment is not in 
compliance with the Commission's rules, or if insufficient funds are 
tendered to constitute a valid upfront payment, the applicant shall have 
a limited opportunity to correct its submission to bring it up to the 
minimum valid upfront payment prior to the auction. An applicant who 
fails to submit a sufficient upfront payment to qualify it to bid on any 
BTA service area being auctioned will be ineligible to bid, its 
application will be dismissed, and any upfront payment it has made will 
be returned.
    (c) The upfront payment(s) of a bidder will be credited toward any 
down payment required for the BTA service areas on which the bidder is 
the winning bidder. Where the upfront payment amount exceeds the 
required down payment of a winning bidder, the Commission may refund the 
excess amount after determining that no bid withdrawal payments are 
owned by that bidder. In the event a payment is assessed pursuant to 
Sec. 21.959(a) for bid withdrawal or default, upfront payments or down 
payments on deposit with the Commission will be used to satisfy the bid 
withdrawal or default payment before being applied toward any additional 
payment obligations that the winning bidder may have.
[ 60 FR 36559 , July 17, 1995]