(a) Eligibility. The following parties are eligible to participate through a Qualifying Transaction under the small carrier or Tribal Nation transaction prong of the ECIP: an assignor that is a covered geographic licensee as defined under § 1.907; a lessor in an included service as set forth in § 1.9005 that is also a covered geographic licensee as defined under § 1.907; and an unaffiliated assignee or unaffiliated lessee that is a small carrier or a Tribal Nation as defined in this subpart, except that a transaction shall not be eligible for participation in the ECIP under this prong if it includes either:

(1) A license(s) with existing shared construction obligations pursuant to § 1.950(g);

(2) An application to participate in ECIP that includes an election from the parties to share construction obligations pursuant to § 1.950(g);

(3) A light-touch leasing spectrum manager lease arrangement(s) of 3.5 GHz Priority Access Licenses in the Citizens Band Radio Service; or

(4) An application to participate in ECIP that includes a barred party pursuant to § 1.60007.

(b) Qualification requirements. An applicant in a Qualifying Transaction under the small carrier or Tribal Nation transaction prong must demonstrate that:

(1) The ECIP transaction involving a disaggregation, partition/disaggregation in combination, full license assignment, or a lease, includes a minimum of 50% of the licensed spectrum, and meets the minimum spectrum threshold at every point in the Transaction Geography (where the percentage is calculated at any point as the amount of spectrum being assigned/leased (in megahertz)/total spectrum held under the license (in megahertz);

(2) The ECIP transaction involving a partition, partition/disaggregation in combination, full license assignment, or a lease, includes a minimum Transaction Geography of 25% of the total licensed area for licenses with a licensed area that contains 30,000 square miles or less, or a minimum Transaction Geography of 10% of the total licensed area for licenses with a licensed area 30,001 square miles or larger;

(3) If a lease arrangement, the minimum term of a long-term spectrum manager lease or de facto transfer lease is at least five (5) years; and

(4) The ECIP transaction was entered into in good faith with a bona fide intent by all parties to meet the program's obligations.

(c) Qualifying Transaction limitations. Multiple licenses may be included in a Qualifying Transaction between unaffiliated parties under this prong, however, spectrum and geography cannot be aggregated across multiple licenses to meet the respective minimum thresholds; each license in a Qualifying Transaction shall be considered separately and must independently meet the respective minimum spectrum and geography thresholds in paragraph (b) of this section. Each license included in a Qualifying Transaction under this prong shall either be the subject of an assignment (full, partition and/or disaggregation) or a lease arrangement, but not both. A party to a Qualifying Transaction under this prong is not permitted to assign a part of a license and lease a different part of the same license to meet the respective minimum spectrum and geographic thresholds.

[87 FR 57417, Sept. 20, 2022]