Below are instructions on how to find out who owns your community Educational Broadband Service (EBS) licenses, who they have leased this asset to, and who to contact. Then listed are a series of questions that need to be asked of that license holder.
Step 1.
Go to the FCC Universal Licensing Website @ http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/searchLicense.jsp
Click on “Advanced License Search” 
Step 3.
Scroll down to the bottom of that page to Customize Your Results
Select “100” in matches displayed, sorted by “Name” in “ascending” order
Then select “Geosearch” 
When you select your State the list of Counties will automatically appear in the County(s) box. Select your County (or multiple Counties by holding down the "Ctrl" key when selecting)...
Then click 
at top or bottom right of that page.
at top or bottom right of that page.Your search results (takes a little time to display) should look something like this:
You can click on any of the licenses (e.g. 
) to view the actual license and contact information.
) to view the actual license and contact information.___________________________________________________
In the above example Florida Atlantic University (FAU) has leased to Clearwire. Let's drill down a little further and look at the lease in this major market.
Florida Atlantic University maintains EBS licenses of which the geographical service area (GSA) covers most of Palm Beach and Broward Counties (Florida) with over 3 million people and 1.4 million households. In April 2008, this EBS license holder signed a lease with Clearwire valued at $173 million over thirty years. This non-profit State College received $12,463,613 up front and has received $474,951 every month to date. Substantial service has not been launched in this market so this EBS license holder is in jeopardy of losing their EBS license.
If we carry these payments out to the May 1st, 2011 FCC substantial service deadline then Clearwire would have paid this EBS license holder a total of $17,098,236 in monthly payments, add the $12,463,613 upfront payment, for a total of $29,561,849 paid to this EBS license holder as of May 1, 2011. Assume the FCC revokes the EBS license at this point based upon lack of adherence to “substantial service” requirements.
Based upon Clearwire's average rate per user (ARPU) of $35.60/month they would only need 70,000 subscribers, for twelve months time, to cover the cost of acquiring this spectrum through the "substantial service" spectrum grab. This represents only 2.3 percent of the 3,000,000 population; not even throwing the 1.4 million households into the equation. Relatively speaking, if these EBS licenses are cancelled, they will have picked up this regional bi-county EBS spectrum for very cheap dollars.
So what will happen with this EBS license holder? Who knows... but they had better launch substantive service using the money they are receiving now, or those nice monthly payments will go away. And as an anchor institution in their region and communities, there are going to be many questions to be answered about the money, the service, Clearwire, BOT decisions, etc. if their license is revoked.
Questions to be asked of your community educational broadband service (EBS) licensee Board of Trustees or assignee:
Why did you lease?
When did you lease?
What is the value of the lease?
What are the benefits for our Community? (Other Schools/Colleges, Government, Public Safety, Libraries, other Non-Profits, etc.)
Where has the lease revenue been allocated?
Why are we not using this revenue to build out our own network using the Spectrum?
How are you protecting the (our community) EBS license from the May 2011 FCC Substantial Service Deadline?
What has Clearwire promised to meet Substantial Service criteria?
What happens to our EBS License (spectrum) if FCC substantial use is not met?
Did you hold back any of the Spectrum?
Can our Schools, Government, Public Safety use any of the Spectrum?
Why was there no public notice/education surrounding the lease of this community asset?
These are just a few questions that need to be asked. Congress should be asking the same questions.
When did you lease?
What is the value of the lease?
What are the benefits for our Community? (Other Schools/Colleges, Government, Public Safety, Libraries, other Non-Profits, etc.)
Where has the lease revenue been allocated?
Why are we not using this revenue to build out our own network using the Spectrum?
How are you protecting the (our community) EBS license from the May 2011 FCC Substantial Service Deadline?
What has Clearwire promised to meet Substantial Service criteria?
What happens to our EBS License (spectrum) if FCC substantial use is not met?
Did you hold back any of the Spectrum?
Can our Schools, Government, Public Safety use any of the Spectrum?
Why was there no public notice/education surrounding the lease of this community asset?
These are just a few questions that need to be asked. Congress should be asking the same questions.
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