(a) The Commission will specify by public notice a window filing period for applications for new EBS stations on rural Tribal Lands. EBS applications for new facilities will be accepted only during this window. Applications submitted prior to the window opening date identified in the public notice will be returned as premature. Applications submitted after the deadline will be dismissed with prejudice as untimely.

(b) Applicants in the Tribal priority filing window must demonstrate that they are eligible to file in that window. To be considered eligible for the Tribal priority window, an applicant must be:

(1) A federally recognized American Indian Tribe or Alaska Native Village; or an entity that is owned and controlled by a federally-recognized Tribe or a consortium of federally-recognized Tribes;

(2) Requesting a license on Tribal Land, which is defined to be any federally recognized Indian Tribe's reservation, pueblo or colony, including former reservations in Oklahoma, Alaska Native regions established pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (85 Stat. 688) and Indian Allotments, see §54.400(e) of this chapter, as well as Hawaiian Home Lands—areas held in trust for native Hawaiians by the State of Hawaii, pursuant to the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, July 9, 1921, 42 Stat 108, et seq., as amended; and any lands designated prior to July 10, 2019, as Tribal Lands pursuant to the designation process contained in §54.412 of this chapter;

(3) Requesting a GSA in a rural area, which is defined to be lands that are not part of an urbanized area or urban cluster area with a population equal to or greater than 50,000; and

(4) Have a local presence on the Tribal Land for which they are applying.

(c) Following the close of the Tribal priority window, the Commission will issue a public notice of acceptance for filing of applications submitted pursuant to paragraph (b) of this section that meet technical and legal requirements and that are not in conflict with any other application filed during the window. Petitions to deny such applications may be filed within 30 days of such public notice. A copy of any petition to deny must be served on the applicant.

(d) If applications are filed in the Tribal priority window that are mutually exclusive, the Commission will use competitive bidding to resolve the mutual exclusivity. Two or more pending applications are mutually exclusive if the grant of one application would effectively preclude the grant of one or more of the others under Commission rules in this chapter.

(e) For non-mutually exclusive applications, the applications will be processed in accordance with procedures to be specified by the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau.

[84 FR 57365, Oct. 25, 2019, as amended at 85 FR 1284, Jan. 10, 2020]