Communications Opportunity Act of 1994

Communications Opportunity Act of 1994 - Requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to ensure the participation of small businesses, rural telephone companies, and businesses owned by minorities and women ("designated entities") in the provision of spectrum-based services, particularly through licenses. Directs the FCC, if it uses competitive bidding to grant three or more licenses which serve a market, to reserve at least one license, of up to 30 megahertz, for bidding by designated entities. Reserves at least two licenses for bidding by designated entities, one of which is at least 30 megahertz, if more than six licenses are to be conferred through competitive bidding. Requires the FCC to provide bidding preferences to designated entities which choose to bid on other licenses, but prohibits the FCC from substituting such preferences for the license reservations. Directs the FCC to equalize licenses to be bid on initially by size and area and prohibits discrimination between designated entity licenses and other licenses. Requires the FCC, in developing rules regarding licenses and licensees for the same service, to take into account the impact of those rules on the competitiveness and access to financing of designated entities. Directs the FCC, particularly for rural areas, to provide a simple regulatory process to allow and encourage voluntary partitioning of licenses between overall license holders and rural telephone companies and others which wish to serve smaller portions of the license area. Requires the FCC to seek to remove or lessen regulatory and business barriers to successful participation by designated entities and to provide flexibility to such entities, including flexibility to requirements of financial capability. Authorizes designated entity licensees to freely transfer a license to a third party which qualifies as a designated entity, without additional financial penalties or obligations. Permits the transfer to non-designated entities but requires such parties to pay the balance due of the spectrum bid immediately. Requires such parties to pay the difference, if any, between the amount initially bid by the designated entity and the market price for such licenses, based on the average of non-designated entity bids for similar licenses in that market.