(a) Compliance with requirements under selected prong. An assignee or lessee must comply with the requirements of either the small carrier or Tribal Nation transaction prong in § 1.60003 or the rural-focused transaction prong in § 1.60004, as selected in its ECIP application, and is not permitted to change prongs after the consummation of the Commission approved assignment application, grant of a de facto transfer lease application, or acceptance of a spectrum manager lease application for a Qualifying Transaction in ECIP.

(b) Construction requirement for rural-focused transaction prong assignees. Assignees shall be subject to the following construction requirements for any resulting license(s) granted in a Commission approved Qualifying Transaction through partition, a combination partition/disaggregation, or full license assignment filed under the rural-focused transaction prong in ECIP, which supersedes any service-based requirement:

(1) The assignee must construct and operate, or provide signal coverage and offer service to, 100% of the Qualifying Geography identified in the Commission approved Qualifying Transaction.

(2) The construction period is the applicable construction deadline identified on the respective license(s), as extended by § 1.60005. If no such deadline remains for the license(s), the assignee must construct and operate, or provide signal coverage and offer service to, 100% of the Qualifying Geography no later than two (2) years after the consummation of the Commission approved application.

(3) Where the assignee is subject to both an interim and final performance benchmark, the performance requirements in this paragraph (b) shall replace the interim performance benchmark and the assignee shall not be subject to a final performance requirement. Where the assignee has only a remaining final performance requirement, the performance requirements in this paragraph (b) shall replace the final benchmark.

(4) All end user devices throughout the Qualifying Geography must be capable of operation on all spectrum bands associated with license(s) that contribute to the Qualifying Geography.

(5) Consistent with § 1.946(d), notification of completion of construction must be provided to the Commission through the filing of FCC Form 601, no later than 15 days after the applicable construction deadline or the expiration of the two (2) year period in paragraph (b)(2) of this section.

(c) Operational requirement for rural-focused transaction prong assignees. Assignees in a Commission approved rural-focused transaction pursuant to § 1.60004 are subject to the following operational requirements:

(1) Assignees must construct and operate in, or provide signal coverage and offer service to, 100% of the Qualifying Geography identified in the Commission approved Qualifying Transaction for a period of at least three (3) consecutive years;

(2) Operation or service must not fall below that used to meet the construction requirement in paragraph (b) of this section for the entire three (3) year period; and

(3) Assignees must construct and operate, or provide signal coverage and offer service, as required pursuant to paragraph (b) of this section, by the applicable construction deadline identified on the license(s), as extended by § 1.60005. Where no such deadline remains for the license(s), the three (3) year continuous operational requirement must commence no later than two (2) years after the consummation of the Commission approved application filed pursuant to § 1.60002.

(d) Construction and operational requirements for rural-focused transaction prong leases. Lessees must construct and operate, or provide signal coverage and offer service to, 100% of the Qualifying Geography identified in the underlying Qualifying Transaction that was the basis for Commission approval in the ECIP. Lessees must meet this requirement no later than two (2) years after grant of the underlying de facto transfer lease application or acceptance of the underlying spectrum manager lease application, and must maintain operation for a period of at least three (3) consecutive years during any period within the initial minimum required five (5) year lease term.

(e) Operational requirement notifications. Assignees and/or lessees of rural-focused transactions subject to § 1.60004 must file the following notifications to demonstrate compliance with the requirements in paragraphs (a) through (c) of this section:

(1) Initial operational requirement notification. Assignees and/or lessees must file an initial operational notification with the Commission within 30 days of the commencement of operations that:

(i) Provides the date operations began;

(ii) Certifies that the operational requirement of 100% coverage of the Qualifying Geography for that assigned license or lease has been satisfied; and

(iii) Provides technical data demonstrating such compliance.

(2) Final operational requirement notification. Assignees and/or lessees must file a final operational notification requirement with the Commission within 30 days of completion of the three consecutive year operational requirement that:

(i) Certifies that the operational requirement of 100% coverage of the Qualifying Geography for three (3) consecutive years has been satisfied;

(ii) Provides the date the three (3) year period was completed; and

(iii) Provides technical data demonstrating the coverage provided during the three (3) year period.

(f) Holding period. Assignees and/or lessees participating in ECIP under either the small carrier or Tribal Nation transaction prong set forth in § 1.60003, or the rural-focused transaction prong set forth in § 1.60004, must comply with the following obligations:

(1) Assignees. An assignee of a license(s) granted in a Qualifying Transaction involving a partition and/or disaggregation or full assignment is required to hold any such license(s) for a period of at least five (5) years, commencing upon the consummation date of the Commission approved application filed pursuant to § 1.60002. During this holding period, except as provided in paragraph (g) of this section, the license(s) received through ECIP is not permitted to be further partitioned, disaggregated, assigned, or leased.

(2) Lessees. Lease arrangements subject to the ECIP shall not be terminated by either lessor or lessee prior to the expiration of the five (5) year term required by § 1.60003(b)(3) or § 1.60004(b)(3), where applicable, and, except as provided in paragraph (g) of this section, may not be transferred or subleased to another party during the five (5) year term.

(3) Rural-focused transaction prong assignees. Any license(s) resulting from a Qualifying Transaction under the rural-focused transaction prong pursuant to § 1.60004 may not be subsequently assigned (partition and/or disaggregation or full assignment), leased or transferred until the following conditions have been met:

(i) The license(s) has been held by the assignee of the Qualifying Transaction for a period of at least five (5) years commencing on the date of consummation of the Commission approved application filed pursuant to § 1.60002; and

(ii) The construction and operational requirements pursuant to paragraphs (a) through (d) of this section, where applicable, have been satisfied.

(g) Exceptions. The requirements in paragraphs (a) through (e) of this section do not apply to pro forma transfers pursuant to § 1.948(c)(1), and do not apply to any area of the Transaction Geography and/or Qualifying Geography, which is covered by a lease or sublease entered into for the purpose of enabling a Contraband Interdiction System (as defined in § 1.9003).

[87 FR 57417, Sept. 20, 2022, as amended at 89 FR 11743, Feb. 15, 2024]