[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 135 (Friday, July 12, 1996)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 36629-36653]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-17640]
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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
47 CFR Parts 1 and 64
[MD Docket No. 96-84; FCC 96-295]
Assessment and Collection of Regulatory Fees for Fiscal Year 1996
AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.
ACTION: Final rule.
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SUMMARY: The Commission has revised its Schedule of Regulatory Fees in
order to recover the amount of regulatory fees that Congress has
required it to collect for fiscal year 1996. Section 9 of the
Communications Act of 1934, as amended, provides for the annual
assessment and collection of regulatory
[[Page 36630]]
fees. For fiscal year 1996 sections 9(b)(2) and (3) provide for annual
``Mandatory Adjustments'' and ``Permitted Amendments'' to the Schedule
of Regulatory Fees. These revisions will further the National
Performance Review goals of reinventing Government by requiring
beneficiaries of Commission services to pay for such services.
EFFECTIVE DATE: September 10, 1996.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Peter W. Herrick, Office of Managing
Director at (202) 418-0443, or Terry D. Johnson, Office of Managing
Director at (202) 418-0445.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Adopted: July 1, 1996;
Released: July 5, 1996.
By the Commission: Commissioner Chong concurring and issuing a
statement in which Commissioner Quello joins at a later date.
Table of Contents
Paragraph
Topic Nos.
I. Introduction............................................ 1-4
II. Background............................................. 5-7
III. Discussion............................................ 8-73
A. Overall Methodology................................... 8-11
B. Adjustment of Payment Units........................... 12
C. Adjustment of Television Station Fees................. 13
D. Recalculation of Fees--Mandatory Adjustments.......... 14
E. Proposed Permitted Amendments......................... 15-50
1. Commercial Mobile Radio Service....................... 16-22
2. Commercial AM/FM Radio................................ 23-29
3. Commercial VHF/UHF Television Stations................ 30-32
4. Auxiliary Broadcast Stations.......................... 33-36
5. Intelsat & Inmarsat Signatory......................... 37-47
6. Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellite Systems............... 48-49
7. Minimum Fee Payment Liability......................... 50
F. Additional Regulatory Fee Issues...................... 51-68
1. Cable Television Systems.............................. 51-57
2. International Bearer Circuits......................... 58-65
3. National Exchange Carriers Association................ 66-67
4. Mobile Satellite Service (MSS)........................ 68
G. Procedures for Payment of Regulatory Fees............. 69-74
1. Annual Payments of Standard Fees...................... 70-72
2. Installment Payments for Large Fees................... 73
3. Advance Payments of Small Fees........................ 74
H. Schedule of Regulatory Fees........................... 75
IV. Ordering Clause........................................ 76
V. Authority and Further Information....................... 77-78
Appendix A--Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis
Appendix B--Sources of Payment Unit Estimates
Appendix C--Calculation of Pro-Rata Adjustments
Appendix D--Schedule of Regulatory Fees
Appendix E--Comparison Between FY 1995, Proposed FY 1996 and Final
FY 1996 Fees
Appendix F--Detailed Guidance on Who Must Pay Regulatory Fees
Appendix G--Description of FCC Activities
Appendix H--Parties Filing Comments and Reply Comments
Final Rules
I. Introduction
1. By this Report and Order, the Commission completes its
rulemaking proceeding to revise its Schedule of Regulatory Fees in
order to recover the amount of regulatory fees that Congress, pursuant
to Section 9(a) of the Communications Act, has required it to collect
for Fiscal Year (FY) 1996. See 47 U.S.C. Sec. 159(a).
2. For FY 1996, Congress has required that we collect $126,400,000
in regulatory fees in order to recover the costs of our enforcement,
policy and rulemaking, international and user information activities
for FY 1996. Public Law No. 104-134 and 47 U.S.C. Sec. 159(a)(2). This
is $10 million more than Congress designated for recovery through
regulatory fees for FY 1995. See Assessment and Collection of
Regulatory Fees for Fiscal Year 1995, FCC 95-227, released June 19,
1995, 60 FR 34004 (June 29, 1995). See FY 1995 Report and Order, 10 FCC
Rcd 13531. It is also $10 million more than Congress initially required
us to collect in regulatory fees for FY 1996.\1\ See Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking in the Matter of Assessment and Collection of Regulatory
Fees for Fiscal Year 1996, FCC 96-153, released April 9, 1996, 61 FR
16432 (April 15, 1996). The current Schedule of Regulatory Fees
(``Schedule'') is set forth in Sections 1.1152 through 1.1156 of the
Commission's rules. 47 CFR Secs. 1.1152-1.1156.
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\1\ Subsequent to the April 9, 1996 release of our NPRM in this
proceeding, the Congress passed and the President signed on April
26, 1996, H.R. 3019 (Public Law No. 104-134), 110 STAT. 1321, which
changed the total amount of regulatory fees to be collected in FY
1996 from $116.4 million (contained in Public Law No. 104-99) to
$126.4 million.
3. In addition to adjusting our Section 9 regulatory fees to ensure
collection of the $126.4 million that Congress requires us to collect
in FY 1996, we are also adjusting the Schedule and associated payment
procedures to reflect changes to certain fee amounts recently mandated
by Congress in Public Law No. 104-134, to reflect changes in the
estimated number of payment units associated with services subject to a
fee and to incorporate certain public interest considerations. See 47
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U.S.C. 159(b).
4. Finally, we are amending the Schedule in order to assess
regulatory fees upon licensees and/or regulatees of services not
currently subject to payment of a fee, to simplify and streamline the
Schedule and to clarify and/or revise certain payment procedures. 47
U.S.C. Sec. 159(b)(3). Except where noted, in those instances where we
received no comments on a proposal set forth in our NPRM, we are
adopting the proposal without further discussion.
II. Background
5. Section 9(a) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended,
requires us to assess and collect annual regulatory fees to recover the
costs, as determined annually by Congress, that we incur in carrying
out enforcement, policy and rulemaking, international, and user
information activities. 47 U.S.C. 159(a). In our FY 1994 Report and
Order, 59 FR 30984 (June 16, 1994), 9 FCC Rcd 5333, we adopted the
Schedule of Regulatory Fees that Congress established and we prescribed
rules to govern payment of the fees, as required by Congress. 47 U.S.C.
Sec. 159(b), (f)(1). Subsequently, in our FY 1995 Report and Order, we
modified the Schedule to increase by approximately 93 percent the
revenue generated by our regulatory fees due to the increased amount
that Congress required us to collect in FY 1995. 60 FR 34004 (June 29,
1995). Also, in the FY 1995 Report and Order, we amended certain rules
governing our regulatory fee program based upon our experience
administering the program in FY 1994. See 47 CFR Secs. 1.1151 et seq.
6. As noted above, for FY 1994 we adopted the Schedule of
Regulatory Fees established in Section 9(g) of the Act. For fiscal
years after FY 1994, however, Sections 9(b)(2) and (3), respectively,
provide that we adjust our fees by making ``Mandatory Adjustments'' and
``Permitted Amendments'' to the Schedule of Regulatory Fees. 47 U.S.C.
159(b)(2), (b)(3). Section 9(b)(2), entitled
[[Page 36631]]
``Mandatory Adjustments'', requires that we revise the Schedule of
Regulatory Fees whenever Congress changes the amount that we are to
recover. 47 U.S.C. 159(b)(2).
7. Section 9(b)(3), entitled ``Permitted Amendments,'' requires
that we determine annually whether to adjust the fees to take into
account factors that are reasonably related to the benefits provided to
the payors of the fees and factors that are in the public interest. In
making these amendments, we are to ``add, delete, or reclassify
services in the Schedule to reflect additions, deletions or changes in
the nature of its services.'' 47 U.S.C. 159(b)(3). Section 9(i)
requires that we develop accounting systems necessary to making
permitted amendments. 47 U.S.C. 159(i). Finally, we are required to
notify Congress of any permitted amendments 90 days before those
amendments go into effect. 47 U.S.C. 159(b)(4)(B).
III. Discussion
A. Overall Methodology
8. As noted above, Congress has required that we recover
$126,400,000 for FY 1996 through the collection of regulatory fees,
representing the costs applicable to our enforcement, policy and
rulemaking, international, and user information activities. 47
Sec. U.S.C. 159(a).
9. In our NPRM, we proposed to develop our fees for FY 1996 by
first adjusting our estimates of payment units so that we could
determine how much revenue we would collect even if we did not change
any individual fee amounts. We then compared the total estimated
revenue that we would collect at the existing fee amounts to the total
revenues that we are required to collect in FY 1996 ($126.4 million),
and pro-rated the difference among all the existing fee categories.\2\
We then intended to compare these projected revenues with cost data
accumulated from our new cost accounting system and to make any further
adjustments necessary to ensure that costs generally correlated with
revenues in each fee category. As discussed in the NPRM, this step was
not performed due to implementation problems associated with our new
cost accounting system.
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\2\ As noted earlier, Congress increased the amount to be
collected in FY 1996 from $116.4 million to $126.4 million
subsequent to release of our NPRM in this proceeding.
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10. We next considered various recommendations made by our Bureaus'
and Offices' managers concerning adjustments to the fees and to our
collection procedures. The results of these actions, the detailed steps
we followed in the development of our proposed FY 1996 regulatory fees,
and a proposed new Schedule of Regulatory Fees were presented in our
NPRM.\3\ In addition, we provided detailed descriptions of each fee
category, information on the entity responsible for payment of each
fee, and other critical information designed to assist potential fee
payers in determining the extent of fee liability, if any, for FY 1996.
We invited interested parties to comment on our proposed methodology
and on our various proposals to revise the Schedule of Regulatory Fees.
We are adopting the same general methodology, as set forth in
Paragraphs 12-14 below, for developing FY 1996 regulatory fees as we
proposed in our NPRM.
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\3\ Permitted amendments are being made pursuant to Section
9(b)(3) to incorporate CMRS Mobile Services, CMRS One-Way Paging,
Intelsat & Inmarsat Signatory, and Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellite
Systems regulatory fee categories and to make related changes to
Geosynchronous Space Station fees. These new permitted amendments
will require 90 days Notice to Congress prior to implementation. 47
U.S.C. 159(b)(4)(B). However, it should be noted that for the CMRS
Mobile Services, licensees who have not elected to convert their
stations from private to commercial status will not be subject to
payment of a CMRS Mobile Services regulatory fee for FY 1996.
Therefore, for stations licensed as commercial on or before the date
of determination of fee liability the fee will become effective 60
days from the date of publication in the Federal Register. See para.
17-22.
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11. While we received no comments specifically supporting or
opposing the proposed methodology, the law firm of Bernstein and
McVeigh contends that regulatees are entitled to a fee payment credit
because the Federal government, including the Commission, was closed
for business for significant periods due to budget disputes and
snowstorms resulting in substantially lower regulatory expenditures
than anticipated. However, we have no discretion in the amount that we
are required to collect since it is Congress that annually establishes
the amount that we are to collect through regulatory fees. See 47
U.S.C. 159(a). Thus, Bernstein and McVeigh's pleading requires no
further discussion.
B. Adjustment of Payment Units
12. In order to calculate individual service fees for FY 1996, we
first adjusted the estimated payment units for each service because, in
many services, payment units have changed substantially since last
year. We obtained our estimates through a variety of means, including
our licensee data bases, actual prior year payment records, and
industry and trade group projections. Herein, we are further adjusting
certain payment units to reflect refinements to our unit counts since
adoption of our NPRM. Appendix B provides a summary of how payment
units were determined for each fee category.
C. Adjustment of Television Station Fees
13. On April 26, 1996, the President signed H.R. 3019 (Public Law
No. 104-134), ``The Balanced Budget Downpayment Act.'' This
legislation, in addition to requiring that we collect $126.4 million in
regulatory fees, revised the fees for television broadcast licensees
set forth in Section 1.1153 of our rules.\4\ As Congress has required,
we have incorporated its revised television station fees into our
Schedule of Regulatory Fees for FY 1996.
D. Recalculation of Fees--Mandatory Adjustments
14. We next determined the amount of revenue to be collected from
television station licensees based on the new fee amounts established
by Congress, as discussed in Paragraph 13. See Appendix C. We
subtracted our estimated television revenues ($10,060,000) from the
total amount that Congress requires us to collect in FY 1996
($126,400,000). The difference ($116,340,000) is the amount to be
recovered from all other regulatees in order to meet Congress'
requirement for FY 1996. We then multiplied the revised payment unit
estimates for FY 1996 by the corresponding FY 1995 fee amounts in each
non-television fee category to determine the revenue we would collect
in FY 1996, assuming no other change to the FY 1995 fees. Next, we
adjusted the revenue requirements for each fee category on a
proportional basis, consistent with Section 9(b)(2) of the Act, in
order to insure that we would collect approximately $116,340,000 from
these fee categories. Finally, we recalculated the individual fee
amounts in order to collect the adjusted amount in each service, and
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\4\ Specifically, Public Law No. 104-134 made the following changes to
Section 1.1153:
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FY 1995 New FY
Fee category (VHF/UHF Television stations) fee 1996 fee
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VHF Markets 1-10.................................... $22,420 $32,000
VHF Markets 11-25................................... 19,925 26,000
VHF Markets 26-50................................... 14,950 17,000
VHF Markets 51-100.................................. 9,975 9,000
Remaining VHF Markets............................... 6,225 2,500
UHF Markets 1-10.................................... 17,925 25,000
UHF Markets 11-25................................... 15,950 20,000
UHF Markets 26-50................................... 11,950 13,000
UHF Markets 51-100.................................. 7,975 7,000
Remaining UHF Markets............................... 4,975 2,000
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[[Page 36632]]
rounded each fee amount as provided by Section 9(b)(2).\5\ Appendix C
provides detailed calculations describing how the revised fee amounts
were determined.
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\5\ Section 9(b)(2) requires that we round fees to the nearest
$5 in the case of fees under $1,000, or to the nearest $25 in the
case of fees of $1,000 or more. 47 U.S.C. 159(b)(2).
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E. Proposed Permitted Amendments
15. In our NPRM, we proposed certain changes and additions to our
current fee categories and to our methodologies for assessing fees in
individual service categories. We have given full consideration to the
comments by interested parties and, in certain instances, we have
decided that further adjustments to the Schedule of Regulatory Fees are
warranted based upon the public interest and other criteria established
in 47 U.S.C. 159(b)(3). Each of these changes is discussed below
together with any comments we received in response to our NPRM.
However, as noted above, we will not discuss further any of our
proposals from the NPRM which received no comments. Instead, these
proposals are incorporated as proposed in our NPRM or are not adopted
in those cases in which we proposed not to change our current rules and
procedures. These include: Commercial AM/FM/TV Construction Permits,
where we considered and rejected including the revenue requirement in
the fees for the broadcast station licensees; Wireless Cable, where we
considered and rejected the idea of basing the payment units on
subscriber counts instead of on a per license basis; Direct Broadcast
Satellite (DBS) Service, where we also considered and rejected a
proposal to establish payment units on a subscriber basis rather than
per satellite; Interstate Telephone Service Providers, where we
proposed to consolidate several service categories into one category;
and Earth Stations, where we also proposed to consolidate several
service categories into one category.
1. Commercial Mobile Radio Service (CMRS)
16. In the NPRM, we proposed to establish a CMRS Mobile Services
fee category and to include in the category cellular providers and CMRS
service licensees authorized to provide interconnected mobile radio
services for profit to the public, or to such classes of eligible users
as to be effectively available to a substantial portion of the public.
See NPRM at para. 19. We stated that the new CMRS Mobile Services
category was intended to replace the Public Mobile/Cellular Radio
regulatory fee category and that certain mobile services assigned to
the Private Land Mobile Radio Service fee category for FY 1995 would be
included in the new CMRS category for FY 1996.\6\ Also, we proposed to
defer assessing a regulatory fee upon licensees in the Personal
Communications Service (PCS) because PCS is in a very early start-up
phase. Finally, we proposed that CMRS Mobile Services fee payors
calculate their annual regulatory fee based on their total mobile or
cellular unit (mobile or cellular call sign or telephone number) count,
or on their total per unit (two-way pager) count, as determined on
December 31, 1995.
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\6\ Specifically, we proposed that the CMRS Mobile Service fee
category would include cellular providers (Part 22) and Business
Radio Services, 220-222 MHz Land Mobile Systems, Specialized Mobile
Radio Services (Part 90); Public Coast Stations (Part 80); Public
Mobile Radio, 800 MHz Air-Ground Radiotelephone, and Offshore Radio
Services (Part 22). Licensees who have not elected to convert from
private to commercial operations will be exempt from payment of the
annual CMRS Mobile Services fee for FY 1996. Existing commercial
licensees and those who elected to convert prior to December 31,
1995, must pay the annual CMRS Mobile Services fee for FY 1996.
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17. The American Mobile Telecommunications Association, Inc. (AMTA)
and Nextel Communications, Inc. (Nextel) oppose including Specialized
Mobile Radio (SMR) licensees and other mobile communications providers,
previously assigned to one of the Private Mobile Radio Services (PMRS)
fee categories, in the CMRS Mobile Services fee category for FY 1996.
The parties contend that these mobile service providers are not
properly subject to the CMRS Mobile Services fee because their
operations were not a part of the CMRS service on December 31, 1995,
the date for calculating the CMRS Mobile Services fee, and, in fact,
will not convert to CMRS status until August 10, 1996. AMTA and Nextel
also urge that we exclude from the CMRS Mobile Services category any
mobile units that do not have full interconnection capability with the
public switched network. In addition, Nextel contends that, given the
competitive status of CMRS providers, we should not subject some new
mobile service providers to a CMRS Mobile Services fee and defer
imposition of the requirement on other new providers, such as PCS.
Instead, AMTA and Nextel urge that current mobile service providers pay
no fee or remain in the PMRS fee category. Finally, AMTA contends that
existing mobile licensees who have paid their regulatory fees in
advance should not be subject to a CMRS Mobile Services fee until they
file applications for renewal or reinstatement. In the alternative,
AMTA and Nextel contend that current licensees that become subject to
the CMRS Mobile Services fee before their existing licenses expire are
entitled to a credit for the remaining years of their advance fee
payments.
18. In the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993, Congress
provided that private carrier systems, including 220-222 MHz and SMR
services, providing interconnected mobile radio services for profit to
the public, or to such classes of eligible users as to be effectively
available to a substantial portion of the public, were to be
reclassified as CMRS licensees.\7\ Congress provided a three year
transition period pursuant to which private carrier licensees
authorized prior to August 10, 1993, would continue to be regulated as
private carriers until August 10, 1996. Therefore, we agree with the
commenters that we should not require licensees that will not become
subject to CMRS regulation until August 10, 1996, to pay a CMRS Mobile
Services fee for FY 1996. Further, we agree with the parties that
existing CMRS licensees should include in their calculations of the
CMRS Mobile fee only those units operational on December 31, 1995.
Also, as a result of this decision, we have reduced our estimate of the
number of payment units for this category.
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\7\ See Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993, Public Law
No. 103-66, Title VI Sec. 6002(b), 107 Stat. 312, 392.
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19. However, we do not agree that CMRS units that do not fully
connect with the public switched network should not be subject to the
CMRS fee. Consistent with Sections 9(a) and 9(b), our CMRS Mobile
Services fee is based upon the costs of our regulatory oversight. As
such, we will require mobile providers to submit a CMRS Mobile Services
fee based upon our regulatory costs rather than the particular use that
a provider makes of its frequencies. Therefore, mobile operators,
otherwise subject to the CMRS Mobile Services fee, should submit a CMRS
Mobile services fee for any unit operating under the authority of a
license authorizing the operator to provide ``for profit'' service to
the public and to interconnect its services with the public switched
network, without limitation, or to such classes of eligible users as to
be effectively available to a substantial portion of the public, as
[[Page 36633]]
described in Section 20.3 of our Rules.\8\ 47 CFR 20.3.
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\8\ For regulatory fee purposes, ``distress'' traffic is not
included as part of a public coast station licensee's subscriber
count.
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20. In addition, we reject Nextel's argument that, because we have
decided that PCS licensees should not be subject to the fee for FY
1996, all new providers of CMRS service should be excepted from payment
of the CMRS Mobile Services fee. Unlike other services within the CMRS
category of services, PCS has only recently been established and few
PCS providers are now operational. In contrast, SMR licensees, such as
Nextel, have long been eligible to provide mobile service, including
interconnection with the public switched network, and thus, although
they may be newly assigned to CMRS, these operators cannot be said to
be new providers of mobile services.
21. We recognize that some current mobile service providers have
paid Private Land Mobile fees covering the length of their license
term. However, we decline to defer assessing a CMRS fee on these
licensees until the expiration of their current licenses.\9\ In our
NPRM, we stated that payors of advance fees would not have these fees
``adjusted'' during their license term. See NPRM at para. 56. Our clear
purpose was to assure payors of advance fees that we would not require
any additional payment if we increased the fee amount required for the
fee category in which the payment was made. It was not our intent that
licensees transferred from one fee category to another would not be
subject to the fee payment required by their new fee category until the
expiration of their current license. Nevertheless, under our Rules, a
licensee is entitled to a refund of an advance payment, upon request,
whenever we ``adopt new rules that nullify a license or other
authorization.'' 47 CFR 1.1159(2)(i). Therefore, any licensee that
converts from private to CMRS and has paid its fees in advance for a
period of years, may file a request for refund with its initial CMRS
regulatory fee payment. Detailed procedures for refund requests will be
issued by Public Notice.
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\9\ Because Private Land Mobile regulatory fees are submitted
with license applications and paid for the number of years in the
term of the license, these licensees have paid their regulatory fees
several years in advance. See 47 U.S.C. 159(f)(2).
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22. Destineer, Inc., a PCS licensee, asks that we establish a CMRS
Messaging Service fee category to replace our CMRS One-Way Paging fee
category. Destineer recognizes that, as a PCS provider, it is not
subject to any fee payment for FY 1996. However, it states that, with
the exception of two-way paging services, our CMRS Mobile category
includes only broadband services and that broadband services, unlike
paging services, provide for real time two-way interactive voice
communications. We agree with Destineer that there are important
regulatory, technical and competitive differences between the two
narrowband and broadband services that may warrant establishing a fee
category that would include all narrowband services, including two-way
paging. However, Destineer has provided us with no information
concerning how to structure its proposed fee category, e.g., estimated
units that would be included in the category for FY 1996 or the impact
of the new fee category on revenues from our CMRS Mobile fee category.
Therefore, we will adopt our proposed CMRS Mobile Services and CMRS
One-Way Paging fee categories for FY 1996, but we invite interested
parties to file proposals and comments on alternative methods to assess
CMRS fees in our proceeding to establish regulatory fees for FY 1997.
2. Commercial AM/FM Radio
23. In our NPRM, we discussed a proposal to assess regulatory fees
for Commercial AM and FM radio licensees according to the size of a
station's market, but concluded that development of a market-based fee
assessment methodology for radio broadcast stations appeared to be not
cost effective. See FCC 96-153 at para. 20.\10\ As a result, we
proposed to assess radio broadcast fees solely on the basis of class of
license, utilizing the statutory fee structure that we adopted for FY
1994 and FY 1995. 47 U.S.C. 159(g). In our NPRM, we invited comments
proposing alternatives to the current radio fee structure. Id. at para.
21.
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\10\ In our FY 1995 NPRM, we recognized ``that the population
density of a station's geographic location was also a public
interest factor warranting recognition in the fee schedule.'' FCC
95-14 at para. 29. Subsequently, we declined to adopt a market-based
fee structure for AM and FM radio because we were unable to develop
a reliable and accurate method for differentiating among radio
markets. See FY 1995 Report and Order, 10 FCC Rcd at 13531-532.
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24. The Montana Broadcasters Association (Montana) filed comments
proposing a radio broadcast service fee structure based on class of
station and on market size. Montana maintains that its proposed fee
structure is similar to the fee structure that Congress enacted for
television broadcast stations and that it would more fairly allocate
regulatory fees among radio stations by reducing the fees for small
market radio stations and increasing them for larger stations. See 47
U.S.C. 159(g).
25. Montana's proposed fee structure takes into account both a
station's market size and the classification of its facilities. The
proposed fee structure establishes broad groupings of radio broadcast
markets determined by market size. It assigns a different level of fees
for each market grouping predicated on the ratios between fees that
Congress initially assessed for licensees in different sized television
markets. Montana proposes four specific market classifications: Markets
1 through 25, Markets 26 through 50, Markets 51 through 100, and
Remaining Markets. Stations are assigned to a market grouping based
upon Arbitron Rating Co. (Arbitron) market designations. Montana
proposes ratios between fees paid by larger market radio broadcast
stations and fees paid by remaining market radio broadcast stations as
follows:
Markets 1 through 25--1 to 3.4\11\
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\11\ See Montana's petition, n. 4 at p 4. The ratios that
Montana employs are those that Congress established in its fee
structure for television broadcast regulatory fees. See 47 U.S.C.
Sec. 159(g). The Montana proposal would raise the fees for stations
in larger markets and reduce the fees in smaller markets. For
example the NPRM proposed a regulatory fee for Class A AM stations
of $1,125. Utilizing the proposed Montana Schedule, Class A stations
in remaining markets would have their fees reduced to $850; while
Class A stations in Markets 1 through 25 would pay $2,890; in
Markets 26 through 50 they would pay $2,040 and in Markets 51-100
they would pay $1,360. We note that Congress recently directed the
Commission to modify the regulatory fee schedule to increase the
differential between the fees paid by major market television
stations and fees paid by television stations located outside of the
top 50 markets. Utilizing new ratios between fees paid by television
in larger and smaller markets based on the relationship between the
fees Congress has established would further increase the
differential between payments by radio stations in larger and
smaller markets.
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Markets 26 through 50--1 to 2.4
Markets 51 through 100--l to 1.6
26. Montana assigns different classes of stations to each market by
relying on an analysis of the broadcast markets conducted by Dataworld
MediaXpert Service. According to Montana, its proposed rate structure
would result in aggregate revenue to the Commission approximating the
amount to be recovered from AM and FM licensees through the fee
structure proposed in our NPRM. Although the Montana proposal would
raise the fees for radio stations in the top 100 markets, no comments
were filed by parties who would be adversely affected by the proposal.
27. Montana proposes to utilize the Dataworld data base which in
turn is based on Arbitron market rankings. Inour
[[Page 36634]]
FY 1995 Report and Order, we found that a proposal to base fees on
Arbitron data did not provide a sufficiently accurate and equitable
methodology for determining fees. 10 FCC Rcd at 531-532. Moreover,
because Congress recently mandated that we amend the regulatory fee
schedule for television stations, we believe that further evaluation of
the proposal is necessary in order to determine the proper ratio
between fees for radio stations in different markets and to evaluate
the impact of this change. See H.R. 3019, H. Rept. 104-537.
28. As a result, for FY 1996, we have decided to adopt the basic
fee structure proposed in our NPRM, which differentiates between
licensees based on the class of a station's license. The fees therein
are low enough so that they should not be an onerous burden on most
licensees, and our policy is to grant waivers of the fees where our
licensees can make a showing of a compelling case of financial
hardship.
29. We agree, however, that there may be inequities in requiring
all radio stations of the same class to pay the same fee without regard
to the size of their market, particularly since stations serving
greater populations generally have greater revenues than stations
serving smaller markets. Thus, we believe that the Montana proposal
warrants further study and consideration. It is our intention to
consider the Montana proposal, or some modification thereof, for
assessment of the FY 1997 fees. We will be commencing, subsequent to
this proceeding, a Notice of Inquiry in order to develop a more
appropriate methodology for assessing AM and FM fees. We invite
interested parties to comment on Montana's proposal and to submit
alternative AM and FM fee methodologies for our consideration in the
context of that proceeding.
3. Commercial VHF/UHF Television Stations
30. Subsequent to the release of the FY 1996 NPRM, Congress
required that we revise Section 1.1153 of the rules in order to
increase the fees for VHF and UHF Television Stations located in the
top 50 markets and to reduce the fees for stations in the 51 to 100
largest markets and in the remaining markets category. Public Law No.
104-134. Therefore, as required by Congress, we will amend Section
1.1153 of our rules to include the specific fees that Congress
determined should be assessed licensees in the Television Broadcast
Service for FY 1996. See Appendix D for a listing of the FY 1996
Television Broadcast fees.
31. In our NPRM we proposed to rely on Nielsen DMA rankings to
determine the appropriate regulatory fee for television licensees in FY
1996 because Arbitron has ceased publication of its Areas of Dominant
Influence that we formerly relied upon. See NPRM at para. 27. Southern
Broadcast Corporation of Sarasota (Southern), licensee of Station
WWSB(TV), Sarasota, Florida, opposes reliance on Nielsen DMA's because,
as calculated by the DMA, its market rank would change to the 15th
largest DMA market from the 153rd ADI market. As a result, Southern
will be subject to a substantially higher fee than it has previously
been assessed.
32. We have decided to rely on Nielsen's DMA market rankings, as
proposed. As noted above, current Arbitron data for assessing
television regulatory fees is no longer available. Nielsen data is
generally accepted throughout the industry and will be updated and
published annually by Warren Publishing in its Television and Cable
Factbook. While the change may result in some licensees being assigned
to new markets, this is not a basis for rejecting Nielsen markets.
Nielsen markets may, in fact, provide a more accurate reflection of an
applicant's service area than do Arbitron markets. We will consider the
equities concerning the fees of licensees that change markets on a
case-by-case basis, upon request, and, where a licensee demonstrates
that it does not serve its assigned market, we will consider reducing
the assigned fees to a more equitable level, based upon the area
actually served by the licensee.
4. Auxiliary Broadcast Stations
33. This fee category includes licensees of Remote Pickup Stations,
Aural Broadcast Auxiliary Stations, Television Broadcast Auxiliary
Stations, and Low Power Auxiliary Stations, authorized under Part 74 of
the Commission's Rules. These stations are generally associated with a
particular television or radio broadcast station or cable television
system.
34. In an attempt to simplify the Fee Schedule, our NPRM considered
the feasibility and equity of combining Auxiliary Broadcast Station
fees with the primary fees paid by broadcast station licensees and
cable television operators into a single, consolidated fee. Although a
consolidated fee has certain advantages, there are significant problems
with using this approach and we found that such a fee would likely
result in serious inequities since larger commercial broadcast stations
and cable systems in the most profitable markets are more likely to
utilize multiple auxiliary stations. While a consolidated fee would
have little impact on stations serving larger populations, it could
result in less profitable stations in smaller markets subsidizing
regulatory fees for stations serving larger markets. Thus, our NPRM
proposed to retain Auxiliary Broadcast Station fees as a separate
category in FY 1996.
35. The Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE) urges reduction or
elimination of the Auxiliary Broadcast Station fee. It contends that
frequency coordination and regulation of these facilities are in large
part conducted by volunteers and supported by voluntary contributions
from the industry. In SBE's view, imposition of a regulatory fee on
broadcast auxiliary stations could ``possibly place the entire program
of SBE-affiliated frequency committees in jeopardy.''
36. We have decided to not reduce or eliminate the Auxiliary
Broadcast Station fee. We cannot conclude that our proposed regulatory
fee would adversely impact voluntary coordination of auxiliary
stations. Moreover, the relatively small fee for Auxiliary Broadcast
Stations already takes into account volunteer efforts, including those
described by SBE. Accordingly, we will retain a separate Auxiliary
Broadcast Station fee as proposed in the NPRM. See Appendix F,
Paragraph 27.
5. Intelsat and Inmarsat Signatory
37. In our NPRM, we proposed to establish a Signatory fee category
to recover our costs of regulating the U.S. Signatories to the
International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (Intelsat) and
to the International Mobile Satellite Organization (Inmarsat). See FY
1996 NPRM at para. 43. We stated that the new fee was warranted due to
the unique role of the U.S. Signatories in Intelsat's and Inmarsat's
structure and our regulatory role with respect to these entities. The
U.S. Signatory to Intelsat is the Communications Satellite Corporation
(Comsat), the entity designated, pursuant to the Communications
Satellite Act, as the sole operating entity to participate in Intelsat
in order to construct and operate the space segment of the global
commercial telecommunications satellite system established under the
Interim Agreement and Special Agreement signed by the Governments on
August 20, 1964. See 47 U.S.C. 731. Also, pursuant to the
Communications Satellite Act, Comsat is solely designated to
participate in the Inmarsat. See 47 U.S.C. 751. Because Comsat is the
entity that Congress
[[Page 36635]]
designated as the U.S. Signatory to both Intelsat and Inmarsat, the fee
would apply only to Comsat.
38. Comsat has opposed our adoption of the Signatory Fee,
contending that the proposed fee is unlawful and, even if lawful,
excessive. GE American Communication, Inc. (GE Americom) has filed
comments supporting our adoption of the Signatory fee and reply
comments responding to certain of Comsat's arguments.
39. Comsat believes that the Signatory fee is beyond our authority
in light of Congress' intention not to assess a fee upon space stations
operated by international organizations. See FY 1995 Report and Order
at para. 110. In addition, Comsat argues that we are authorized to
establish new fee categories only in those instances in which there has
been a change in our regulation or in the law. Comsat also claims that
the Signatory fee is prohibited by Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 of
the United States Constitution as an unauthorized and unconstitutional
tax because it bears no relationship to any specific regulatory benefit
that Comsat receives from the Commission. Instead, Comsat argues,
Congress alone conferred upon Comsat its ``special benefit'' of
Signatory status. Finally, Comsat maintains that, even assuming that we
have authority to establish a Signatory fee, the total amount to be
recovered by the fee is grossly excessive.
40. We reject Comsat's contention that the Signatory fee
contravenes Congressional intent reflected in Section 9. In the
Conference Report accompanying Section 9, Congress stated with respect
to space station fees that--
the Committee intends that fees in this category be assessed on
operations of U.S. facilities, consistent with U.S. jurisdiction.
Therefore, these fees will only apply to space stations directly
licensed by the Commission under Title III of the Communications
Act. Fees will not be applied to space stations operated by
international organizations subject to the International
Organizations Immunities Act, 22 U.S.C. Section 288 et seq.\12\
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\12\ See H.R. Rept. No. 213, 103d Cong., 1st Sess. 499 (1993);
see also H.R. Rep. No. 102-207, 102d Cong., 1st Sess. 26. Both
Intelsat and Inmarsat are subject to the International Organizations
Immunities Act. See Exec. Order No. 11,996, 42 Fed. Reg. 4331
(1977); Exec. Order No. 12,238, 45 Fed. Reg. 60,877 (1980).
In contrast to the space stations referred to in the Conference Report,
however, the Signatory fee will not be imposed on Intelsat and
Inmarsat, or on their operation of international space stations. The
fee applies only to Comsat, a private, for-profit, U.S. corporation
that receives benefits from its special role in international satellite
communications. Moreover, in contrast to Congress' rejection of a fee
on Intelsat's and Inmarsat's space stations as inconsistent with U.S.
jurisdiction, nothing in Section 9 limits our authority to recover our
costs of regulating Comsat, a U.S. Corporation.
41. Comsat is also mistaken that the second sentence in subsection
9(b)(3) limits our authority to establish new fee categories.
Specifically, subsection 9(b)(3) states that ``the Commission shall
add, delete, or reclassify services in the Schedule to reflect
additions, deletions, or changes in the nature of its services as a
consequence of Commission rulemaking proceedings or changes in law.''
47 U.S.C. 159(b)(3). The subsection provides that we must add new fees
to the Schedule to reflect changes in the nature of our services. The
statement does not purport to limit our statutory authority, and duty,
to otherwise modify fees as provided in Section 9.
42. In that regard, subsection 9(b)(3) requires that we ``amend the
Schedule of Regulatory Fees if the Commission determines that the
Schedule requires amendment to comply with the requirements of
paragraph (1)(A).'' Paragraph (1)(A), in turn, requires that we assess
and collect regulatory fees to cover the costs of regulatory
activities, including international activities, by ``tak[ing] into
account factors that are reasonably related to the benefits provided to
the payor of the fee by the Commission's activities and other factors
that the Commission determines are necessary in the public interest.''
47 U.S.C. 159(b)(1)(A). Thus, Section 9 both authorizes and requires
amendment of the Schedule when, as here, we determine that such action
is necessary to recover our regulatory costs for international
activities, taking into account the benefits that we provide the payor
and other public interest factors.
43. Further, we find no merit in Comsat's argument that our
proposed Signatory fee constitutes an unauthorized and unconstitutional
tax. Relying on National Cable Television Association v. United States,
(NCTA), Comsat claims that the fee is an unconstitutional tax, rather
than a fee, because it bears no relationship to any regulatory benefit
conferred by the Commission on Comsat as a signatory. Comsat also
asserts that Congress may not delegate the power to levy a tax. Comsat,
however, misstates the law concerning delegations of taxing authority.
In Skinner v. Mid-America Pipe Line Co., the Supreme Court made clear
that, even if agency fees are a form of taxation, the delegation of
discretionary authority under Congress' taxing power is subject to no
constitutional scrutiny greater than applied to other nondelegation
challenges. 490 U.S. 212, 224; 109 S.Ct. 1762, 1733 (1989). Thus, so
long as the fees in question are within the scope of Congress' lawful
delegation of authority in Section 9, they are constitutional. No
requirement exists to establish that all of the administrative costs
recovered through the signatory fee are not a tax in that they ``inure
directly to the benefit of regulated parties,'' rather than to the
public generally. Id. at 223-24.
44. Consistent with the Supreme Court's guidance in Skinner,
Congress in Section 9 of the Act declared that the fees are to be
assessed in a rulemaking proceeding, based upon our costs of performing
enforcement, policy and rulemaking, international and user information
activities, ``taking into account'' the benefits provided to the payor
of the fee by these activities, as well as other public interest
factors, and that we are to recover our costs only in the aggregate
amount annually appropriated by Congress.
45. We believe that the fee in question fully satisfies the
statutory requirements in Section 9. As noted in the NPRM, our review
of our Signatory activities disclosed that approximately 14.7% of the
costs attributable to space station regulatory oversight ($3,175,850)
\13\, as determined in Appendix C, is directly related to Intelsat and
Inmarsat Signatory activities (5.25 FTEs \14\ out of a total of 35.7
direct FTEs). As a result, $466,850 (rounded) must be collected from
the Signatories to offset the regulatory costs attributed to them
($3,175,850 x 14.7%). Dividing this revenue requirement by two (there
are Signatories to two separate organizations), yields a Signatory fee
of $233,425. See Appendix F, Paragraph 37. We also have no doubt that
Comsat benefits significantly from its status as signatory and the
regulatory oversight that is necessitated by that status.\15\
[[Page 36636]]
Therefore, taking into account these benefits, we perceive no public
interest basis for relieving Comsat of the costs that the Commission
incurs in regulating its activities.
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\13\ Revenue requirements have been adjusted throughout the
satellite fee categories as a result of adjustments to the
assessable payment units for some fee categories and the
Congressionally imposed fees for VHF and UHF television stations.
Therefore, the amounts will not match the amounts shown in the NPRM.
\14\ Full Time Equivalent (FTE) employment is the total number
of regular straight-time hours (i.e., not including overtime or
holiday hours) worked or to be worked by current and future
employees divided by the number of compensable hours applicable to
each fiscal year.
\15\ For example, we are currently conducting several
proceedings concerning Comsat's authority to provide services via
Intelsat and Inmarsat, its authority to participate in the
procurement or leasing of various Intelsat and Inmarsat space
stations, and its authority to participate in certain Intelsat and
Inmarsat-associated businesses. There also are proceedings pending
before us related to whether Comsat has conformed to applicable
structural and financial separation rules. In addition, we actively
participate on an ongoing basis with the Executive Branch in the
oversight of Comsat's representations of U.S. policy at the Intelsat
and Inmarsat governing boards through the U.S. Government
Instructional process.
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46. Since the Signatory fee will recover our costs attributable to
our Signatory oversight, we are able to reduce the space station fee.
The new space station fee is computed by reducing the revenue
requirement for space stations calculated in Appendix C ($3,175,850) by
the $466,850 to be collected from signatories and dividing the reduced
space station revenue requirement ($2,709,000) by the number of payment
units (38 operational space stations). The result of these calculations
is a new fee of $71,300 (rounded) for each operational space
station.\16\
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\16\ This fee is further adjusted in Paragraph 47.
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47. Finally, although we have imposed a Signatory fee in our FY
1996 Schedule of Regulatory Fees, we intend in FY 1997 to explore
alternative means of recovering these costs. We may, for example,
conclude that it is more efficient to recover these regulatory costs
through increases in the fees for international bearer circuits.
However, before making such changes, we will seek public comment in the
rulemaking proceeding to implement the FY 1997 Schedule of Regulatory
Fees.
6. Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellite Systems
48. In our NPRM, we proposed for the first time to adopt a fee for
Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellite Systems.\17\ In developing that fee, we
proposed to apportion the total revenue requirement for all space
stations between LEO systems and geosynchronous space station
licensees. In so doing, we also proposed to preserve the same relative
relationship between the fees established by the Congress in Section
9(g) of the Act for geosynchronous space stations and LEO systems;
i.e., an approximate 38.5% differential between the fee for LEO systems
and the fee for geosynchronous space stations. 47 U.S.C. 159(g). After
reducing the space station revenue requirement by the amount of the
Signatory fees, the resultant LEO fee is $97,725 (rounded) and the new
geosynchronous fee is $70,575 (rounded).\18\
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\17\ Congress' Schedule of Regulatory Fees contains a fee for
LEO systems. However, for FY 1994 and FY 1995, we determined that no
LEO systems were operational on the effective date of the fee
requirement for these years. See FY 1995 Report and Order at para.
15.
\18\ The FY 1996 adjusted revenue requirement for all space
stations has been determined to be $2,709,000. See Paragraph 46. For
FY 1996, there is only one LEO system, and there are 37
geosynchronous (including DBS) space stations subject to fee
payment. The formula for computing the new LEO and geosynchronous
space station fees is as follows:
(a) We have assigned ``L'' to represent the LEO system fee and
``G'' to represent geosynchronous space station fee.
(b) The relationship between the LEO fee and the geosynchronous
fee may be expressed as:
L=1.385G (i.e., the LEO fee needs to be 38.5% higher than the
corresponding geosynchronous space station fee).
(c) The total revenue to be collected from LEOs and
geosynchronous space stations may be expressed as:
L+37G=$2,709,000 (i.e., the one existing LEO system and 37
geosynchronous space stations together must account for $2,709,000
in revenues).
(d) Substituting the value of ``L'' in (b) above into the
formula in (c) above yields the following:
1.385G+37G=$2,709,000
38.385G=$2,709,000
G=$470,574
(e) Therefore, ``G'' (Geosynchronous space station fee) is
$70,575 (rounded).
(f) Substituting the computed value of ``G'' in (d) above into
the formula in (c) above yields the following:
L+37(70,575)=2,709,000
L+2,611,275=2,709,000
L=97,725
(g) Therefore, ``L'' (LEO fee) is $97,725.
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49. Motorola requests that we defer imposing any regulatory fee on
a LEO system until an entire planned constellation has been launched
and is fully operational. In our FY 1994 Report and Order, we decided
that a LEO system would become subject to a fee payment when its first
satellite became operational upon certification by its licensee that
the operations of the first satellite in its system conforms to the
terms and conditions of its authorization pursuant to 47 CFR
Sec. 25.120(d). Nothing in Motorola's comments persuades us otherwise.
It may take several years for an entire constellation to be completed.
However, a system is capable of providing commercial customer services
prior to full deployment of all authorized satellites. Thus, because
our regulatory oversight of a LEO system begins when its initial
satellite is launched and placed in operation, we will require that a
LEO system licensee submit a fee once it certifies to the operation of
its initial satellite pursuant to Section 25.120(d) of our rules.
7. Minimum Fee Payment Liability
50. As proposed in our NPRM at para. 57, we will adopt a minimum
fee payment policy in order to minimize the cost of our regulatory fee
program because our collection and verification costs for small
payments are considerably more than our revenues from these
collections. A regulatee will be relieved of its fee payment
requirement if its total fee due, including all categories of fees for
which payment is due by the entity, amounts to less than $10. We have
reconsidered our proposal to submit the Form FCC 159 and have
determined that we will not require those entities qualifying for the
minimum fee liability exemption to file Form FCC 159. Those qualifying
for exemption, however, are advised that as part of our verification
program, it may be necessary for them to provide proof of exemption
should we choose to audit their fee liability.
F. Additional Regulatory Fee Issues
1. Cable Television Systems
51. The National Cable Television Association (NCTA) has filed
comments objecting to our proposed fee for cable television systems.
NCTA asserts that we failed to discuss in our NPRM the basis for our
proposed fee and that we did not demonstrate that the fee is reasonably
related to our costs of regulating cable television. NCTA also believes
that with deregulation, the fee for cable television should decrease
rather than increase, particularly in light of our ``social contract''
resolution of rate complaints, ongoing deregulation of small cable
systems and its expectation of further rate deregulation. Further, NCTA
contends that the cable television per subscriber fee should not be set
as high relative to the proposed fee for Wireless Cable (MMDS)
licensees.
52. In our NPRM, we discussed in detail our methodology for
developing our proposed fees for FY 1996, including our cable
television fees. See NPRM at Paras. 8-12 and Appendix C. Therein, we
set forth both our steps used to develop the fees and our mathematical
calculations underlying the development of specific fee proposals. We
also explained that, for various reasons, our cost accounting system
was not yet able to provide reliable information to assist us in
developing our fees. See NPRM at paras. 13-17. Thus, for FY 1996, we
were unable to compare the individual fee category revenues with actual
data accumulated from our new cost accounting system.
53. Even though we were not able to use our new cost accounting
system, we
[[Page 36637]]
believe the fees for cable systems are reasonably related to our costs
attributable to cable television regulation which consist of several
different categories of costs. Direct staff costs are those costs
attributable to staff assigned to the Cable Services Bureau engaged in
activities described in Section 9(a)(1) of the Act. Indirect or
overhead support staff costs are those costs attributable to staff
assigned to other Bureaus and Offices within the Commission who support
direct staff working in the Cable Services Bureau. Support staff
accounts for approximately 40% of staff costs attributable to cable
television oversight. Other obligations costs are non-personnel costs
such as office space rental, equipment, contractual services, supplies,
etc. which are attributable to the Cable Services Bureau. In total,
these costs have not changed significantly from FY 1995.
54. Additionally, we must recover from our regulatory fees other
costs that cannot be specifically attributed to a particular class of
licensee. These costs, in the interest of fairness, are allocated on a
pro-rata basis to all fee payors. For example, Congress has exempted
several classes of licensees from regulatory fees, including amateur
radio licensees, non-commercial radio and television stations, non-
profit entities and public safety licensees. Although these entities
are exempt from payment of a fee, Congress requires that our regulatory
costs associated with these entities be borne by those regulatees not
exempt from the fee requirement. Additionally, in making the mandatory
adjustments to the fee amounts required by Section 9(b)(2)(a), an
overall revenue shortfall occurs due to changes in the number of
payment units from FY 1995 to FY 1996. This shortfall (over $1 million)
is allocated on a pro rata basis to all fee categories, including cable
television system operators.
55. Also, we disagree with NCTA's contention that our regulatory
costs related to cable television systems should be lower at this stage
of the industry's deregulation. Based on the foregoing, our costs
attributable to the regulatory categories for which we are required to
recover our costs through regulatory fees are actually much higher than
they may appear due to overhead and indirect costs. Second, although we
are deregulating the cable television industry, our regulatory costs
related to cable television have not diminished for FY 1996. Since the
Telecommunications Act of 1996 became law, we have commenced several
important rulemaking proceedings to further our cable deregulatory
policies, requiring significant personnel resources. In addition,
because of the large volume of work required of the Commission under
the 1996 Act, the Cable Bureau has taken on significant new
responsibilities in a number of areas related to the provision of video
programming services. For example, the Bureau is responsible for
developing and enforcing rules concerning open video systems pursuant
to new section 653 of the Communications Act, over-the-air reception
devices under section 207 of the 1996 Act and telecommunications
navigation devices under new section 629. And the Bureau has been
assigned the responsibility to implement the amendments to section 224
(Regulation of Pole Attachments) of the Communications Act of 1934, as
well as new section 713 of the Communications Act concerning video
programming accessibility. These proceedings (whose costs must be
offset by regulatory fees) are in addition to our on-going oversight
responsibilities involving rate complaints, program access complaints,
informational services, and adjudicatory proceedings work, which must
continue even as we implement the Telecommunications Act. Thus, while
we agree with NCTA that our ``social contracts'' with cable operators
and the deregulation of small cable operators and similar policy
initiatives reduce certain costs of regulation, we cannot conclude that
our overall costs of cable regulation or those additional regulatory
costs that we must recover from cable operators justify a reduction in
the cable television fee for FY 1996.
56. Finally, we reject NCTA's complaint that the cable subscriber
fee is too high relative to the regulatory fees paid by Wireless Cable
(MMDS) licensees. NCTA estimates that MMDS fees would be $.20 per
subscriber if its fee were assessed on a per subscriber basis rather
than a call sign basis. As NCTA is aware, cable and MMDS are subject to
substantially different regulatory oversight programs. As a consequence
of our oversight of these services, our estimated total cost to
regulate the cable television industry in FY 1996 is $31 million as
opposed to an estimated total cost to regulate MMDS entities in FY 1996
of $158,000. In view of these estimated costs, in large part due to
their different regulatory regimes, we see no unreasonable disparity
between the revenue requirement that we have assigned to the two
services. NCTA should note that MMDS regulatory fees have increased
nearly twice as much as cable television fees since Congress
established its Schedule of Regulatory Fees in 1993. See 47 U.S.C.
159(g).
57. In summary, we expect that our deregulatory activities will
result in reduced oversight costs in future years, but those costs have
not and will not diminish for FY 1996. Thus, for FY 1996, we will adopt
the cable television fee shown in Appendix D.
2. International Bearer Circuits
58. International Bearer Circuit fees are assessed upon facilities-
based common carriers activating a circuit in any transmission facility
for the provision of service to an end user or a resale carrier. In our
NPRM, we proposed a fee of $4.00 per bearer circuit upon facilities-
based common carriers activating a circuit in any transmission facility
for the provision of service to an end user or a resale carrier.
59. Comsat contends that our proposed fee for international bearer
circuits is approximately twice the appropriate fee amount necessary to
recover the revenue requirement that we assigned to this fee category.
Comsat states that the revenue requirement associated with bearer
circuits has increased significantly in one year without any
explanation. In Comsat's view, the increase in the revenue requirement
for bearer circuits arises from underforecasting payment units in FY
1995 and the use of actual payment units as the basis for our FY 1996
forecast. Comsat states that, since there is no evidence that the costs
which the bearer circuit fee is designed to recover have increased, our
proposed retention of the $4.00 per circuit fee, based on our
underestimate of bearer circuit payment units for FY 1995, is
unjustified.
60. The Commission, in its FY 1995 NPRM, estimated that there were
62,000 international bearer circuits susceptible to regulatory fee
payment (based on estimated counts as of December 1994). As a result of
comments received from interested parties in that rulemaking, we more
than doubled (to 125,000) the number of estimated circuits applicable
to our development of FY 1995 regulatory fees in our FY 1995 Report and
Order. Based on actual numbers of bearer circuits for which fee
payments were made in FY 1995, we proposed in our FY 1996 NPRM a total
of 228,000 circuits for FY 1996 (based on estimated counts as of
December 31, 1995).
61. The Commission knows of no reliable source of bearer circuit
counts. We do not maintain this data at the Commission nor do we know
of any central repository of this information. As such, we must rely on
industry estimates or actual prior year payment information in order to
determine the
[[Page 36638]]
number of payment units for any particular fiscal year. The payment
unit estimate for FY 1995 was based on the best information available
to us and relied upon information provided by regulatees. The same is
true for FY 1996. Although Comsat questions our estimate of payment
units for FY 1996, it did not provide its own estimate of circuits, nor
did any other commentor. As such, we believe our FY 1996 payment unit
estimate based on actual circuits paid for in FY 1995 is appropriate.
62. Comsat's concerns relative to the total revenues being
collected from bearer circuits are not persuasive. The methodology for
calculating regulatory fees established by the Congress requires that
prior year fee amounts be proportionally adjusted in order to ensure
that the total amount to be collected is apportioned fairly among our
regulatees. The Congress also provided that further adjustments to the
fees (``permitted amendments'') should be supported by costs derived
from our cost accounting system. As noted elsewhere in this item, we
were unable to utilize cost data from our new cost accounting system
this year and were therefore unable to determine the total costs
attributable to bearer circuit regulation and to compare this to our
estimate of revenue requirements. This data should be available for
development of our FY 1997 regulatory fees. In the absence of reliable
cost accounting information, we performed an informal review of bearer
circuit costs and found that our costs may significantly exceed the
revenue requirement for bearer circuits established in this rulemaking.
Estimated staff resources devoted to bearer circuit oversight also seem
to support a higher revenue requirement. As such, we believe that our
revenue requirement and estimated payment units are based on the most
accurate information available, and we will utilize these estimates for
FY 1996.
63. In addition, Comsat states that our estimated unit count for
bearer circuits may also be low because we failed to consider that we
recently authorized domestic satellites to provide international bearer
circuits. See FCC 96-14 (released Jan. 22, 1996), summary published 61
FR 9946 (Mar. 12, 1996), 11 FCC Rcd 2429, (DISCO-I Order). Also, Comsat
contends that our definition of bearer circuits should include all
bearer circuits, not only those provided by common carriers, because
the statutory fee schedule contemplates that the bearer circuit fee
will be collected from common and private carriers alike.
64. Nothing in Section 9 of our implementing rules limits payment
of international bearer circuit fees to international common carriers.
Therefore, any common carrier, including domestic satellite licensees
providing international bearer circuits, as described in our FY 1995
Report and Order at paras. 115 through 117, is subject to the bearer
circuit fee. However, because our DISCO-I Order did not become
effective until after the calculation date for bearer circuits (October
1, 1995), domestic satellite licensees were not authorized to provide
international bearer circuits at the time for calculating the bearer
circuit regulatory fee, and, therefore, we have not included bearer
circuits provided by domestic satellite carriers in our estimates of
bearer circuit payment units for FY 1996.
65. Finally, Comsat contends that Section 9 provides for the
payment of a bearer circuit fee by private carriers. However, our NPRM,
as well as prior year NPRMs, did not propose to collect international
bearer circuit fees from other than common carriers. We do not have any
information in the record of this proceeding on which to calculate a
fee applicable to bearer circuits provided directly to end users over
non-common carrier international facilities. As a result, we have no
other viable alternative but to adopt the fee as proposed in the NPRM.
However, we believe that Comsat's proposal warrants further
consideration. It is our intention to consider Comsat's proposal, or
some modification thereof, for assessment of the FY 1997 fees.
3. National Exchange Carrier Association (NECA)
66. NECA has requested by comments in this proceeding that we amend
our rules governing confidentiality of information NECA receives in its
role as administrator of the Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS)
Fund to permit it to use TRS data for the sole additional purpose of
aggregating regulatory fees from local exchange carriers (LECs) in
accordance with our requirements for assessment of their fees.\19\ See
47 CFR Sec. 64.604(c)(4)(iii)(I). There were no other comments filed
addressing NECA's proposal.
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\19\ NECA is a not-for-profit, membership association,
consisting of all local exchange carriers in the United States,
Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Micronesia. NECA is
responsible, under Subpart G of our Rules, for preparation of access
charge tariffs on behalf of all local telephone companies that do
not file separate tariffs, collection and distribution of access
charge revenues, administration of the Universal Service and
Lifeline Assistance programs, and the administration of the TRS
fund. See 47 CFR Sec. 69.603 and Sec. 64.604.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
67. Currently, our rules prohibit NECA from using the TRS data it
collects for any purpose other than administration of the TRS fund. See
47 CFR 64.604(c)(4)(iii)(I). Because our assessment of regulatory fees
from LECs and other common carriers is modeled in large part upon the
methodology that we adopted for contributions by these carriers to the
TRS fund, we believe that a specific limited modification of the rule
governing NECA's use of TRS information would increase NECA's
efficiency in determining the appropriate regulatory fee due from any
carrier that avails itself of NECA's services in paying its regulatory
fee. Thus, we will amend our rules to permit NECA to use TRS
information for determining a carrier's fee. Section
64.604(c)(4)(iii)(i) will be amended to state that NECA may also use
TRS information ``to calculate the regulatory fees of interstate common
carriers and to aggregate their fee payments for submission to the
Commission.''
4. Mobile Satellite Service (MSS)
68. Motorola Satellite Communications, Inc's. (``Motorola'') has
requested clarification that hand-held transmit and transmit/receive
units used in the mobile satellite service (MSS) are within the
category of MSS ``blanket'' earth station licenses subject to a single
fee for all authorized units on one license. We have incorporated
language in Appendix F that MSS ``blanket'' earth station licenses
include hand-held transmit and transmit/receive units as well as
vehicle-based transceivers and are, therefore, subject to a fee
payment.
G. Procedures for Payment of Regulatory Fees
69. Section 9(f) requires that we permit ``payment by installments
in the case of fees in large amounts, and in the case of small amounts,
shall require the payment of the fee in advance for a number of years
not to exceed the term of the license held by the payor.'' See 47
U.S.C. Sec. 159(f)(1). Consistent with the section, we are again
establishing three categories of fee payments, based upon the category
of service for which the fee payment is due and the amount of the fee.
In general, we are retaining the procedures that we have established
for the payment of regulatory fees.
1. Annual Payments of Standard Fees
70. Standard fees are those regulatory fees that are payable in
full on an annual basis. Payers of standard fees are not required to
make advance payments
[[Page 36639]]
for their full license term and are not eligible for installment
payments. All standard fees are payable in full on the date we
establish for payment of fees in their regulatory fee category.
71. The payment due date for standard fees will be announced by
Public Notice in the Federal Register following Congressional
notification. For licensees, permittees and holders of various
authorizations in the Common Carrier, Mass Media, International, and
Cable Television Services whose fees are not based on a subscriber,
unit, or circuit count, liability for fee payment is established for
any authorization held as of October 1, 1995, the first day of FY 1996.
However, the licensee, permittee, or other regulatee at the time a fee
payment is due is the individual or entity legally liable for the fee
payment.
72. In the case of regulatees whose fees are based upon a
subscriber, unit, or circuit count, the number of a regulatee's
subscribers or circuits on December 31, 1995, will be used to calculate
the fee payment.\20\ As noted in the preceding paragraph, the licensee,
permittee, or other regulatee at the time a fee payment is due is
legally liable for the fee payment.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\20\ Cable systems have been calculating their regulatory fees
using subscriber data submitted to the Commission in their Annual
Report of Cable Television Systems (Form FCC 325). Consistent with
this methodology, we ask that cable system operators compute their
subscribers as follows: Number of single family dwellings + number
of individual households in multiple dwelling unit (apartments,
condominiums, mobile home parks, etc.) paying at the basic
subscriber rate + bulk rate customers + courtesy and free service.
Note: Bulk-Rate Customers = Total annual bulk-rate charge divided by
basic annual subscription rate for individual households.
Accordingly, the number of cable subscribers will not necessarily be
based on a count as of December 31, 1995, but rather on ``a typical
day in the last full week'' of December 1995.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Installment Payments for Large Fees
73. There will be insufficient time following the effective date of
our FY 1996 Schedule of Regulatory Fees to permit implementation of an
installment payment program for large fees. All entities who would
otherwise have been eligible for installments, i.e., whose fee
liability exceeds our previously established level of $12,000, must
submit their fee payments on the date we will announce by Public Notice
in the Federal Register.
3. Advance Payments of Small Fees
74. As we have in the past, we are treating regulatory fee payments
by certain licensees as small fees subject to advance payments. Advance
payments will be required from licensees of those services that have
been required to make advance payments in the past.\21\ Payers of
advance fees are required to submit the entire regulatory fee for the
full term of their license when filing their initial, renewal or
reinstatement application. Regulatees subject to a payment of small
fees shall pay the amount due for the current fiscal year multiplied by
the number of years in the term of their requested license. In the
event that the regulatory fee is adjusted following payment of the fee,
the new fee will not become effective until the expiration of the
licensing term. Thus, payment for the full license term would be made
based upon the regulatory fee applicable at the time the application is
filed. The effective date for the payment of all small fees pursuant to
the FY 1996 Schedule will be announced by Public Notice in the Federal
Register following Congressional notification.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\21\ Applicants for new, renewal and reinstatement licenses in
the following services are required to pay their regulatory fees in
advance: Land Mobile Services, Microwave Services, Interactive Video
Data Services (IVDS), Marine (Ship) Service, Marine (Coast) Service,
Private Land Mobile (Other) Services, Aviation (Aircraft) Service,
Aviation (Ground) Service, General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS). In
addition, applicants for Amateur Radio vanity call signs are
required to submit an advance payment.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
H. Schedule of Regulatory Fees
75. The Commission's Schedule of Regulatory Fees for FY 1996 is
contained in Appendix D of this Report and Order.
IV. Ordering Clause
76. Accordingly, it is ordered that the rule changes as specified
herein are adopted. It is further ordered that the rule changes made
herein will become effective September 10, 1996, except that changes to
the Schedule of Regulatory Fees, made pursuant to Section 9(b)(3) of
the Communications Act, and incorporating regulatory fees for CMRS
Mobile Services, CMRS One-Way Paging, Geosynchronous Space Stations,
Intelsat and Inmarsat Signatories, and Low Earth Orbit Satellite
Systems, will become effective 90 days from notification to Congress.
However, it should be noted that for the CMRS Mobile Services,
licensees who did not elect to convert their stations from private to
commercial status prior to December 31, 1995, will not be subject to
payment of a regulatory fee for FY 1996. Therefore, for stations
licensed as commercial on or before the date of determination of fee
liability the fee will become effective September 10, 1996. See para.
17-22 supra. As noted above, the date payment of the regulatory fee is
due will be announced by Public Notice in the Federal Register.
V. Authority and Further Information
77. Authority for this proceeding is contained in Sections 4 (i)
and (j), 9, and 303(r) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended,
47 U.S.C. Secs. 154 (i) and (j) and 159 and 303(r).
78. Further information about this proceeding may be obtained by
contacting the Fees Hotline at (202) 418-0192.
List of Subjects
47 CFR Part 1
Administrative practice and procedure, Communications common
carriers, Federal Communications Commission, Radio, Telecommunications,
Television.
47 CFR Part 64
Communications common carriers, Federal Communications Commission,
Radio, Telegraph, Telephone.
Federal Communications Commission.
William F. Caton,
Acting Secretary.
Rule Changes
Parts 1 and 64 of Chapter I of Title 47 of the Code of Federal
Regulations are amended as follows:
PART 1--PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE
1. The authority citation for Part 1 continues to read as follows:
Authority: Sec. 5, 48 Stat. 1068, as amended; 47 U.S.C. 155,
225, unless otherwise noted.
2. Section 1.1152 is revised to read as follows:
Sec. 1.1152 Schedule of annual regulatory fees and filing locations
for wireless radio services.
[[Page 36640]]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Exclusive use services (per license) Fee amount Address
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Land Mobile (Above 470 MHz, Base
Station & SMRS)(47 CFR, Part 90)
(a) 800 MHz New, Renewal, Reinstatement $7.00 FCC, 800 MHz, P.O. Box 358235, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-5235.
(FCC 574).
(b) 900 MHz New, Renewal, Reinstatement 7.00 FCC, 900 MHz, P.O. Box 358240, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-5240.
(FCC 574).
(c) 470-512,800,900, 220 MHz, 220 MHz 7.00 FCC, 470-512, P.O. Box 358245, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-5245.
Nationwide Renewal (FCC 574R, FCC 405A).
(d) Correspondence Blanket Renewal (470- 7.00 FCC, Corres., P.O. Box 358305, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-5305.
512,800,900,220 MHz) (Remittance
Advice, Correspondence).
(e) 220 MHz New, Renewal, Reinstatement 7.00 FCC, 220 MHz, P.O. Box 358360, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-5360.
(FCC 574).
(f) 470-512 MHz New, Renewal, 7.00 FCC, 470-512, P.O. Box 358810, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-5810.
Reinstatement (FCC 574).
(g) 220 MHz Nationwide New, Renewal, 7.00 FCC, Nationwide, P.O. Box 358820, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-
Reinstatement (FCC 574). 5820.
2. Microwave (47 CFR Part 101)
(a) Microwave New, Renewal, 7.00 FCC, Microwave, P.O. Box 358250, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-
Reinstatement (FCC 402). 5250.
(b) Microwave Renewal (FCC 402R)........ 7.00 FCC, Microwave, P.O. Box 358255, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-
5255.
(c) Correspondence Blanket Renewal 7.00 FCC, Corres., P.O. Box 358305, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-5305.
(Microwave) (Remittance Advice,
Correspondence).
3. Interactive Video Data Service
(a) IVDS Renewal (FCC 574R, FCC 405A)... 7.00 FCC, IVDS, P.O. Box 358245, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-5245.
(b) Correspondence Blanket Renewal 7.00 FCC, Corres., P.O. Box 358305, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-5305.
(IVDS) (Remittance Advice,
Correspondence).
(c) IVDS New, Renewal, Reinstatement 7.00 FCC, IVDS, P.O. Box 358365, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-5365.
(FCC 574).
4. Shared Use Services
(a) Land Transportation (LT) New, 3.00 FCC, Land Trans., P.O. Box 358215, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-
Renewal, Reinstatement (FCC 574). 5215.
(b) Business (Bus.) New, Renewal, 3.00 FCC, Business, P.O. Box 358220, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-
Reinstatement (FCC 574). 5220.
(c) Other Industrial (OI) New, Renewal, 3.00 FCC, Other Indus., P.O. Box 358225, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-
Reinstatement (FCC 574). 5225.
(d) General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) 3.00 FCC, GMRS, P.O. Box 358230, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-5230.
New, Renewal, Reinstatement (FCC 574).
(e) Business, Other Industrial, Land 3.00 FCC, Bus., OI, LT, GMRS, P.O. Box 358245, Pittsburgh, PA
Transportation, GMRS Renewal (FCC 574R, 15251-5245.
FCC 405A).
(f) Ground New, Renewal, Reinstatement 3.00 FCC, Ground, P.O. Box 358260, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-5260.
(FCC 406).
(g) Coast New, Renewal, Reinstatement 3.00 FCC, Coast, P.O. Box 358265, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-5265.
(FCC 503).
(h) Ground Renewal (FCC 452R)........... 3.00 FCC, Ground, P.O. Box 358270, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-5270.
(i) Coast Renewal (FCC 452R)............ 3.00 FCC, Coast, P.O. Box 358270, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-5270.
(j) Ship New, Renewal, Reinstatement 3.00 FCC, Ship, P.O. Box 358275, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-5275.
(FCC 506).
(k) Aircraft New, Renewal, Reinstatement 3.00 FCC, Aircraft, P.O. Box 358280, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-
(FCC 404). 5280.
(l) Ship Renewal (FCC 405B)............. 3.00 FCC, Ship, P.O. Box 358290, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-5290.
(m) Aircraft Renewal (FCC 405B)......... 3.00 FCC, Aircraft, P.O. Box 358290, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-
5290.
(n) Correspondence Blanket Renewal 3.00 FCC, Corres., P.O. Box 358305, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-5305.
(Bus., OI, LT, GMRS) (Remittance
Advice, Correspondence).
(o) Correspondence Blanket Renewal 3.00 FCC, Corres., P.O. Box 358305, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-5305.
(Ground) (Remittance Advice,
Correspondence).
(p) Correspondence Blanket Renewal 3.00 FCC, Corres., P.O. Box 358305, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-5305.
(Coast) (Remittance Advice,
Correspondence).
(q) Correspondence Blanket Renewal 3.00 FCC, Corres., P.O. Box 358305, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-5305.
(Aircraft) (Remittance Advice,
Correspondence).
(r) Correspondence Blanket Renewal 3.00 FCC, Corres., P.O. Box 358305, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-5305.
(Ship) (Remittance Advice,
Correspondence).
5. Amateur Vanity Call Signs............ 3.00 FCC, Amateur Vanity, P.O. Box 358924, Pittsburgh, PA
15251-5924.
6. CMRS Mobile Services (per unit)...... .17 FCC, Cellular, P.O. Box 358835, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-
5835.
[[Page 36641]]
7. CMRS One-Way Paging (per unit)....... .02 FCC, Paging, P.O. Box 358835, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-5835.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Sec. 1.1153 is revised to read as follows:
Sec. 1.1153 Schedule of annual regulatory fees and filing locations
for mass media services.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fee amount Address
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AM Radio (47 CFR, Part 73)
1. Class D Daytime...................... $345 FCC, AM Branch, P.O. Box 358835, Pittsburgh, PA, 15251-
5835.
2. Class A Fulltime..................... 1,250
3. Class B Fulltime..................... 690
4. Class C Fulltime..................... 280
5. Construction Permits................. 140
FM Radio (47 CFR, Part 73)
1. Classes C,C1,C2,B.................... $1,250 FCC, FM Branch, P.O. Box 358835, Pittsburgh, PA.
2. Classes A,B1,C3...................... 830
3. Construction Permits................. 690
TV (47 CFR, Part 73) VHF Commercial
1. Markets 1 thru 10.................... $32,000 FCC, TV Branch, P.O. Box 358835, Pittsburgh, PA, 15251-
5835.
2. Markets 11 thru 25................... 26,000
3. Markets 26 thru 50................... 17,000
4. Markets 51 thru 100.................. 9,000
5. Remaining Markets.................... 2,500
6. Construction Permits................. 5,550
UHF Commercial
1. Markets 1 thru 10.................... $25,000 FCC, UHF Commercial, P.O. Box 358835, Pittsburgh, PA,
15251-5835.
2. Markets 11 thru 25................... 20,000
3. Markets 26 thru 50................... 13,000
4. Markets 51 thru 100.................. 7,000
5. Remaining Markets.................... 2,000
6. Construction Permits................. 4,425
Satellite UHF/VHF Commercial
1. All Markets.......................... $690 FCC Satellite TV, P.O. Box 358835, Pittsburgh, PA, 15251-
5835
2. Construction Permits................. 250
Low Power TV, TV/FM Translator, & TV/FM $190 FCC, Low Power, P.O. Box 358835, Pittsburgh, PA, 15251-
Booster (47 CFR, Part 74). 5835.
Broadcast Auxiliary..................... 35 FCC, Auxiliary, P.O. Box 358835, Pittsburgh, PA, 15251-
5835.
Multipoint Distribution................. 155 FCC, Multipoint, P.O. Box 358835, Pittsburgh, PA, 15251-
5835.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Sec. 1.1154 is revised to read as follows:
Sec. 1.1154 Schedule of annual regulatory charges and filing locations
for common carrier services.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fee amount Address
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Radio Facilities
1. Domestic Public Fixed................ $155 FCC, Dom. Pub. Fixed, P.O. Box 358835, Pittsburgh, PA,
15251-5835.
Carriers
1. Interstate Telephone Service .00098 FCC, Carriers, P.O. Box 358835, Pittsburgh, PA.
Providers (per dollar contributed to
TRS Fund).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Sec. 1.1155 is revised to read as follows:
Sec. 1.1155 Schedule of regulatory fees and filing locations for cable
television services.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fee amount Address
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Cable Antenna Relay Service.......... $325 FCC, Cable,
[[Page 36642]]
2. Cable TV System (per subscriber)..... .55 P.O. Box 358835, Pittsburgh, PA, 15251-5835.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. Section 1.1156 is revised to read as follows:
Sec. 1.1156 Schedule of regulatory fees and filing locations for
international services.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fee amount Address
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Radio Facilities
1. International (HF):
Broadcast........................... $280 FCC, International, P.O. Box 358835, Pittsburgh, PA,
15251-5835.
2. International Public:
Fixed............................... 225 FCC, International, P.O. Box 358835, Pittsburgh, PA,
15251-5835.
Space Stations (Geosynchronous Orbit)... 70,575 FCC, Space Stations, P.O. Box 358835, Pittsburgh, PA,
15251-5835.
Low Earth Orbit Satellite............... 97,725 FCC, Space Stations, P.O. Box 358835, Pittsburgh, PA,
15251-5835.
INMARSAT/INTELSAT Signatory............. 233,425 FCC, Space Stations, P.O. Box 358835, Pittsburgh, PA,
15251-5835.
Earth Stations:
Transmit/Receive & Transmit Only 370 FCC, Earth Station, P.O. Box 358835, Pittsburgh, PA,
(per authorization or registration). 15251-5835.
Carriers:
1. International Circuits (per active 4.00 FCC, International, P.O. Box 358835, Pittsburgh, PA,
64KB circuit or equivalent) 15251-5835.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PART 64--MISCELLANEOUS RULES RELATING TO COMMON CARRIERS
1. The authority citation for Part 64 continues to read as follows:
Authority: Sections 4, 48 Stat. 1066, as amended; 47 U.S.C. 154,
unless otherwise noted. Interpret or apply Sections 201, 218, 226,
228, 48 Stat. 1070, as amended, 1077; 47 U.S.C. 201, 218, 226, 228,
unless otherwise noted.
2. Section 64.604(c)(4)(iii)(I) is revised to read as follows:
Sec. 64.604 Mandatory minimum standards.
* * * * *
(c) * * *
(4) * * *
(iii) * * *
(I) Information filed with the administrator. The administrator
shall keep all data obtained from contributors and TRS providers
confidential and shall not disclose such data in company-specific form
unless directed to do so by the Commission. The administrator shall not
use such data except for purposes of administering the TRS Fund,
calculating the regulatory fees of interstate common carriers, and
aggregating such fee payments for submission to the Commission. The
Commission shall have access to all data reported to the administrator,
and authority to audit TRS providers.
* * * * *
Appendix A--Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis
[This Appendix A will not be published in the Code of Federal
Regulations.]
Final Analysis of the Report and Order
1. As required by Section 603 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act,
5 U.S.C. 603, an Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (IRFA) was
provided in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM). The Commission
sought written public comments on the proposals in the NPRM,
including the IRFA.
2. Need for and Objective of the Report and Order: Congress has
directed the Commission to collect $126,400,000 in regulatory fees
for fiscal year (FY) 1996. The Commission, pursuant to 47 U.S.C.
159, is modifying its Schedule of Regulatory Fees in order to comply
with the Congressional directive.
3. Summary of Significant Issues Raised by the Public in
response to the IRFA: No comments were submitted in response to the
IRFA.
4. Description and Estimate of Number of Small Businesses to
Which the Modifications of the Schedule of Fees Will Apply: The
Regulatory Flexibility Act generally defines the term ``small
business'' as having the same meaning as the term ``small business
concern'' under the Small Business Act, 15 U.S.C. Sec. 632. A small
business concern is one which (1) is independently owned and
operated; (2) is not dominant in its field of operations; and
satisfies additional criteria established by the Small Business
Administration (SBA). Id. According to the SBA's regulations,
entities engaged in the provision of communications services may
have maximum revenues of $11 million in order to qualify as a small
business concern. 13 CFR Sec. 121.201. Therefore, this standard also
applies in determining whether an entity is a small business for
purposes of the Regulatory Flexibility Act.
5. The Report and Order creates a Commercial Mobile Radio
Services (CMRS) category of fees which replaces the Cellular/Public
Mobile category in our FY 1995 Schedule of Regulatory Fees. Creation
of the new category does not affect any fees payable by licensees
nor the manner in which these fees are paid. Cellular and Public
Mobile Service licensees representing an estimated 30 million
assessable units will continue to pay an annual fee as they have in
the past. Business Radio, Special Mobile Radio Services and 220-222
Land Mobile Systems, which are regulated under Part 90 of the Rules,
and Public Coast Stations, which are regulated under Part 80,
currently pay small fees in advance for the full period of their
license terms, when filing their initial, reinstatement or renewal
application. Certain of these licensees may now elect to become CMRS
licensees. However, they are not required to make that choice before
August 10, 1996. When and if they do, those licensees which have
converted from the Private Mobile Radio Services (PMRS) to CMRS will
be required to pay annual regulatory fees predicated on the number
of units they have in service. Based on survey responses from
licensees, we estimate that roughly 120,000 stations will be
eligible for conversion from PMRS to CMRS. Although we know that
many entities hold licenses for
[[Page 36643]]
multiple stations and not all licensees are small entities, we
estimate the number of small entities that will be affected in the
future to be approximately 20,000. However, because these
conversions will not occur until the end of FY 1996 and were not
effective on our established date for fee liability, no annual fee
is being imposed on them for FY 1996.
6. With certain exceptions not relevant here, the Commission's
Regulatory Fee Schedule applies to all Commission licensee and
regulatees. The only other changes in the fee schedule, consist of
adjustments in the assessments for various entities necessitated by
the Congressionally mandated increase in the amount of fees to be
recovered and new fees for Low Earth Orbit Satellite Systems, and
Intelsat and Inmarsat Signatory Fees. There is only one Low Earth
Orbit System, and Comsat is the sole Intelsat and Inmarsat
Signatory. They are dominant carriers. Thus, we certify that these
new fees are not subject to the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980,
as amended, because they do not apply to small entities as defined
by Section 601(3) of the Regulatory Flexibility Act. We further
certify that the changes in the amounts of the other regulatory fees
to be collected are not subject to the Act because they are
relatively small and not likely to have a significant economic
impact on a substantial number of small entities. Moreover, the
Commission's policy is to waive the regulatory fee for licensees
which can establish that payment of the regulatory fees would create
a compelling case of financial hardship.
7. Description of Projected Reporting, Record Keeping and Other
Compliance Requirements: Compliance with the fee schedule requires
CMRS licensees to tabulate the number of units they have in service,
complete and file a form FCC 159, and pay an annual regulatory fee
based on the number of units in service. Licensees ordinarily will
keep a list of the number of units they have in service as part of
their normal business practices. No outside professional skills are
required to complete the form FCC 159, and it can be completed by
the employees responsible for an entity's business records. The
Commission estimates that it will take each licensee about 5-15
minutes to fill in and file a form FCC 159 after computing the
number of units subject to the fee. As an option, licensees are
permitted to file electronically or on computer diskette to ease the
burden of filing information which would require multiple forms FCC
159. Although not mandatory, the latter may require additional
professional skills. For Cellular and Public Mobile Services
licensees there is no change to these requirements. Licensees who
paid small fees in advance supplied fee information as part of their
application and did not use form FCC 159. When and if they convert
to CMRS, they must use the form FCC 159, but the impact would be
minimal since the basic information is the same as was on the
application form.
8. Minimizing the Impact on Small Entities and Consistent with
Stated Objectives: Although no comments were submitted on the IRFA,
we have amended our procedures in a manner calculated to minimize
the impact on small entities. The fee schedule will assess the fees
to be paid by those who choose to convert from PMRS to CMRS in the
future, and require that the fees be paid on an annual basis. These
new CMRS licensees will also be required to make annual fee
payments, since single advance payments would no longer be
practicable because of fluctuations in the numbers of units a
licensee may have in service over the length of its license term.
Additionally, the economic burden of annual fee payments would be
substantially less than would be the burden of requiring advance
payment of larger fees. Moreover, the conversion is voluntary, and
any licensee can avoid the burden by remaining a private carrier. In
addition, because the conversion of existing stations will not take
effect until August 10, 1996, licensees who have not converted will
be exempt from the fee for FY 1996. Finally, in order to ease the
burden on small entities, licensees with fee obligations of less
than $10 will be exempt from the fees.
[This Appendix B will not be published in the Code of Federal
Regulations]
Appendix B--Sources of Payment Unit Estimates for FY 1996
In order to calculate individual service fees for FY 1996, we
adjusted FY 1995 payment units for each service to more accurately
reflect expected FY 1996 payment liabilities. We obtained our
updated estimates through a variety of means. For example, we used
Commission licensee data bases, actual prior year payment records
and industry and trade association projections when available. We
tried to obtain verification for these estimates from multiple
sources and, in all cases, we compared FY 1996 estimates with actual
FY 1995 payment units to ensure that our revised estimates were
reasonable. Where it made sense, we adjusted and/or rounded our
final estimates to take into consideration the fact that certain
variables that impact on the number of payment units yet cannot be
estimated exactly. These include an unknown number of waivers and/or
exemptions that may occur in FY 1996 and the fact that, in many
services, the number of actual licensees or station operators
fluctuates from time to time due to economic, technical or other
reasons. Therefore, when we note, for example, that our estimated FY
1996 payment units are based on FY 1995 actual payment units, it
does not necessarily mean that our FY 1996 projection is exactly the
same number as FY 1995. It means that we have either rounded the FY
1995 number or adjusted it slightly to account for these variables.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sources of payment unit
Fee Category estimates
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Land Mobile (All), Microwave, IVDS, Marine Based on Wireless
(Ship & Coast), Aviation (Aircraft & Telecommunications Bureau
Ground), GMRS, Amateur Vanity Call Signs, (WTB) projections of new
Domestic Public Fixed. applications and renewals
taking into consideration
existing Commission
licensee data bases.
Aviation (Aircraft) and
Marine (Ship) estimates
have been adjusted to take
into consideration
proposals to license
portions of these services
on a voluntary basis.
CMRS Mobile Services (incl. Cellular/ Based on actual FY 1995
Public Mobile Radio Services and Two Way payment units adjusted to
Paging Services). take into consideration
industry estimates of
growth between FY 1995 and
FY 1996 and Wireless
Telecommunications Bureau
projections of new
applications and average
number of mobile units
associated with each
application.
CMRS One Way Paging Services.............. Based on industry estimates
of the number of pager
units in operation.
AM/FM Radio Stations...................... Based on actual FY 1995
payment units.
UHF/VHF Television Stations............... Based on actual FY 1995
payment units.
AM/FM/TV Construction Permits............. Based on actual FY 1995
payment units.
LPTV, Translators and Boosters............ Based on actual FY 1995
payment units.
Auxiliaries............................... Based on actual FY 1995
payment units.
MDS/MMDS.................................. Based on actual FY 1995
payment units.
Cable Antenna Relay System (CARS)......... Based on actual FY 1995
payment units.
Cable Television System Subscribers....... Based on Cable Services
Bureau and industry
estimates of
subscribership.
[[Page 36644]]
IXCs/LECs, CAPs, Other Service Providers.. Based on actual FY 1995
interstate revenues
associated with
contributions to the
Telecommunications Relay
System (TRS) Fund adjusted
to take into consideration
FY 1996 revenue growth in
this industry as estimated
by the Common Carrier
Bureau.
Earth Stations............................ Based on actual FY 1995
payment units.
Space Stations & LEOs..................... Based on International
Bureau licensee data bases.
International Bearer Circuits............. Based on actual FY 1995
payment units.
International HF Broadcast Stations, Based on actual FY 1995
International Public Fixed Radio Service. payment units.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Page 36645]]
Appendix C
[This Appendix C will not be published in the Code of Federal Regulations]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FY 1996 Regulatory fees-calculation of mandatory adjustments
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fee category (times) (equals) Recalculated Rounded fee New FY 1996
FY 1996 Payment (times) Adj. FY Applicable Computed FY Pro-rated fee revenue
units 1995 fee years 1996 revenue revenue **
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LM (220 MHz. > 470 MHZ-Base, SMRS....................... 1,350 6 5 $40,500 45,125 7 7 47,250
Microwave............................................... 7,025 6 10 421,500 469,635 7 7 491,750
IVDS.................................................... 10 6 5 300 334 7 7 350
Marine (Ship)........................................... 24,650 3 10 739,500 823,951 3 3 739,500
GMS..................................................... 1,025 3 5 15,375 17,131 3 3 15,375
LM (Other).............................................. 75,000 3 5 1,125,000 1,253,475 3 3 1,125,000
Aviation (Aircraft)..................................... 12,050 3 10 361,500 402,783 3 3 361,500
Marine (Coast).......................................... 1,800 3 5 27,000 30,083 3 3 27,000
Aviation (Ground)....................................... 17,00 3 5 25,500 28,412 3 3 25,500
Amateur Vanity Calls Signs.............................. 20,000 3 10 600,000 668,520 3 3 600,000
AM Class A.......................................... 110 1,120 1 123,200 137,269 1,248 1,250 137,500
AM Class B.......................................... 1,350 620 1 837,000 932,585 691 690 931,500
AM Class C.......................................... 1,080 250 1 270,000 300,824 279 280 302,400
AM Class D.......................................... 1,450 310 1 449,500 500,833 345 345 500,250
AM Construction Permits............................. 35 125 1 4,375 4,875 139 140 4,900
FM Classes C, C1, C2, B............................. 2,220 1,120 1 2,486,400 2,770,347 1,248 1,250 2,775,000
FM Classes A, B1, C3................................ 2,200 745 1 1,639,000 1,826,174 830 830 1,826,000
FM Construction Permits............................. 350 620 1 217,000 241,781 691 690 241,500
TV Satellites........................................... 90 620 1 55,800 62,172 691 690 62,100
VHF Construction Permits............................ 10 4,975 1 49,750 55,431 5,543 5,550 55,500
UHF Construction Permits............................ 60 3,975 1 238,500 265,737 4,429 4,425 265,500
Auxilliaries............................................ 20,000 30 1 600,000 668,520 33 35 700,000
International HF Broadcast.............................. 4 250 1 1,000 1,114 279 280 1,120
LPTV/Translators/Boosters............................... 2,000 170 1 340,000 378,828 189 190 380,000
Satellite TV Construction Permit........................ 5 225 1 1,125 1,253 251 250 1,250
CARS.................................................... 2,200 290 1 638,000 710,860 323 325 715,000
Cable Systems........................................... 62,000,000 0.49 1 30,380,000 33,849,396 0.55 0.55 34,100,000
IXC, LECs, CAPS, Others................................. 56,467,000,000 0.00088 1 49,690,960 55,365,668 0.00098 0.00098 55,337,660
CMRS Mobile Services (Cellular/Public Mobile)........... 30,000,000 0.15 1 4,500,000 5,013,900 0.17 0.17 5,100,000
CMRAS--One Way Paging................................... 24,500,000 0.02 1 490,000 545,958 0.02 0.02 490,000
Domestic Public Fixed................................... 16,000 140 1 2,240,000 2,495,808 156 155 2,480,000
MDS/MMDS................................................ 1,130 140 1 158,200 176,266 156 155 175,150
International Circuits.................................. 228,000 4 1 912,000 1,016,150 4 4 912,000
International Public Fixed.............................. 15 200 1 3,000 3,343 223 225 3,375
Earth Stations.......................................... 5,700 330 1 1,881,000 2,095,810 368 370 2,109,000
Space Stations (Geosynchronous)......................... 38 75,000 1 2,850,000 3,175,470 83,565 83,575 3,175,850
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
****** Total Estimated Revenue Collected.......... ............... ............... ............... $104,411,985 $116,335,834 ............... ............... $116,215,780
****** Total Revenue Requirement.................. ............... ............... ............... $116,340,000 $116,340,000 ............... ............... $116,340,000
Difference........................................ ............... ............... ............... ($11,928,015) ($4,166) ............... ............... ($124,220)
** 1.1142 factor applied to other than TV............... ............... ............... ............... ............... ............... ............... ............... ...............
Television stations:
VHF Markets 1-10.................................... 40 32,000 1 1,280,000 ............... ............... 32,000 1,280,000
VHF Markets 11-25................................... 45 26,000 1 1,170,000 ............... ............... 26,000 1,170,000
VHF Markets 26-50................................... 80 17,000 1 1,360,000 ............... ............... 17,000 1,360,000
VHF Markets 51-100.................................. 110 9,000 1 990,000 ............... ............... 9,000 990,000
VHF Remaining Markets............................... 200 2,500 1 500,000 ............... ............... 2,500 500,000
[[Page 36646]]
UHF Markets 1-10.................................... 65 25,000 1 1,625,000 ............... ............... 25,000 1,625,000
UHF Markets 11-25................................... 60 20,000 1 1,200,000 ............... ............... 20,000 1,200,000
UHF Markets 26-50................................... 65 13,000 1 845,000 ............... ............... 13,000 845,000
UHF Markets 51-100.................................. 110 7,000 1 770,000 ............... ............... 7,000 770,000
UHF Remaining Markets............................... 160 2,000 1 320,000 ............... ............... 2,000 320,000
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
**** Total Estimated Revenue-Television (less Sat.
TV).............................................. ............... ............... ............... $10,060,000 ............... ............... ............... $10,060,000
Total Estimated Fee Revenue....................... ............... ............... ............... ............... ............... ............... ............... $126,275,780
Total Revenue Requirement......................... ............... ............... ............... ............... ............... ............... ............... $126,400,000
Difference........................................ ............... ............... ............... ............... ............... ............... ............... ($124,220)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Page 36647]]
Appendix D--FY 1996 Schedule of Regulatory Fees
[This Appendix D will not be published in the Code of Federal
Regulations]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Annual
Fee category regulatory
fee
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Land Mobile (per license) (220-222 Mhz, above 470 Mhz, Base
Station and SMRS) (47 CFR Part 90)........................ 7
Microwave (per license) (47 CFR Part 101).................. 7
Interactive Video Data Service (per license) (47 CFR Part
95)....................................................... 7
Marine (Ship) (per station) (47 CFR Part 80)............... 3
Marine (Coast) (per license) (47 CFR Part 80).............. 3
General Mobile Radio Service (per license) (47 CFR Part 95) 3
Land Mobile (per license) (all stations not covered above). 3
Aviation (Aircraft) (per station) (47 CFR Part 87)......... 3
Aviation (Ground) (per license) (47 CFR Part 87)........... 3
Amateur Vanity Call Signs (per call sign) (47 CFR Part 97). 3
CMRS Mobile Services (per unit) (47 CFR Parts 20, 22, 80
and 90)................................................... .17
CMRS One-Way Paging (per unit) (47 CFR Parts 20, 22 and 90) .02
Domestic Public Fixed Radio & Multipoint Distribution
Services (per call sign) (47 CFR Part 21)................. 155
AM Radio (47 CFR Part 73):
Class A................................................ 1,250
Class B................................................ 690
Class C................................................ 280
Class D................................................ 345
Construction Permits................................... 140
FM Radio (47 CFR Part 73):
Classes C, C1, C2, B................................... 1,250
Classes A, B1, C3...................................... 830
Construction Permits................................... 690
TV (47 CFR Part 73) VHF Commercial:
Markets 1-10........................................... 32,000
Markets 11-25.......................................... 26,000
Markets 26-50.......................................... 17,000
Markets 51-100......................................... 9,000
Remaining Markets...................................... 2,500
Construction Permits................................... 5,550
TV (47 CFR Part 73) UHF Commercial:
Markets 1-10........................................... 25,000
Markets 11-25.......................................... 20,000
Markets 26-50.......................................... 13,000
Markets 51-100......................................... 7,000
Remaining Markets...................................... 2,000
Construction Permits................................... 4,425
Satellite Television Stations (All Markets)................ 690
Construction Permits--Satellite Television Stations........ 250
Low Power TV, TV/FM Translators & Boosters (47 CFR Part 74) 190
Broadcast Auxiliary (47 CFR Part 74)....................... 35
Cable Antenna Relay Service (47 CFR Part 78)............... 325
Cable Television Systems (per subscriber) (47 CFR Part 76). .55
Interstate Telephone Service Providers (per revenue dollar) .00098
Earth Stations (47 CFR Part 25)............................ 370
Space Stations (per operational station in geosynchronous
orbit) (47 CFR Part 25) also includes Direct Broadcast
Satellite Service (per operational station) (47 CFR Part
100)...................................................... 70,575
Low Earth Orbit Satellite (per operational system) (47 CFR
Part 25).................................................. 97,725
INMARSAT/INTELSAT Signatory (per signatory)................ 233,425
International Circuits (per active 64KB circuit)........... 4
International Public Fixed (per call sign) (47 CFR Part 23) 225
International (HF) Broadcast (47 CFR Part 73).............. 280
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Appendix E--Comparison Between FY 1995, FY 1996 Proposed and FY 1996 Final Regulatory Fees
[This Appendix E will not be published in the Code of Federal Regulations]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Annual Annual
Fee category regulatory fee NPRM proposed regulatory fee
FY 1995 fee FY 1996 FY 1996
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Land Mobile (per license) (220-222 Mhz, above 470 Mhz, Base
Station and SMRS) (47 CFR Part 90)........................... 6 6 7
Microwave (per license) (47 CFR Part 101)..................... 6 6 7
Interactive Video Data Service (per license) (47 CFR Part 95). 6 6 7
Marine (Ship) (per station) (47 CFR Part 80).................. 3 3 3
Marine (Coast) (per license) (47 CFR Part 80)................. 3 3 3
General Mobile Radio Service (per license) (47 CFR Part 95)... 3 3 3
Land Mobile (per license) (all stations not covered above).... 3 3 3
Aviation (Aircraft) (per station) (47 CFR Part 87)............ 3 3 3
[[Page 36648]]
Aviation (Ground) (per license) (47 CFR Part 87).............. 3 3 3
Amateur Vanity Call Signs (per call sign) (47 CFR Part 97).... 3 3 3
CMRS Mobile Services (per unit) (47 CFR Parts 20, 22, 80 and
90).......................................................... .15 .15 .17
CMRS One-Way Paging (per unit) (47 CFR Parts 20, 22, and 90).. .02 .02 .02
Domestic Public Fixed Radio & Multipoint Distribution Services
(per call sign) (47 CFR Part 21)............................. 140 140 155
AM Radio (47 CFR Part 73):
Class A................................................... 1,120 1,125 1,250
Class B................................................... 620 630 690
Class C................................................... 250 255 280
Class D................................................... 310 315 345
Construction Permits...................................... 125 125 140
FM Radio (47 CFR Part 73):
Classes C, C1, C2, B...................................... 1,120 1,125 1,250
Classes A, B1, C3......................................... 745 755 830
Construction Permits...................................... 620 625 690
TV (47 CFR Part 73) VHF Commercial:
Markets 1-10.............................................. 22,420 22,700 32,000
Markets 11-25............................................. 19,925 20,175 26,000
Markets 26-50............................................. 14,950 15,125 17,000
Markets 51-100............................................ 9,975 10,100 9,000
Remaining Markets......................................... 6,225 6,300 2,500
Construction Permits...................................... 4,975 5,025 5,550
TV (47 CFR Part 73) UHF Commercial:
Markets 1-10.............................................. 17,925 18,150 25,000
Markets 11-25............................................. 15,950 16,150 20,000
Markets 26-50............................................. 11,950 12,100 13,000
Markets 51-100............................................ 7,975 8,075 7,000
Remaining Markets......................................... 4,975 5,025 2,000
Construction Permits...................................... 3,975 4,025 4,425
Satellite Television Stations (All Markets)................... 620 625 690
Construction Permits--Satellite Television Stations........... 225 230 250
Low Power TV, TV/FM Translators & Boosters (47 CFR Part 74)... 170 170 190
Broadcast Auxiliary (47 CFR Part 74).......................... 30 30 35
Cable Antenna Relay Service (47 CFR Part 78).................. 290 295 325
Earth Stations (47 CFR Part 25)............................... 330 335 370
Cable Television Systems (per subscriber) (47 CFR Part 76).... .49 .50 .55
Interstate Telephone Service Providers (per revenue dollar)... .00088 .00089 .00098
Space Stations (per operational station in geosynchronous
orbit) (47 CFR............................................... 75,000 63,500 70,575
Part 25) also includes Direct Broadcast Satellite Service (per
operational station) (47 CFR Part 100)....................... n/a 63,500 70,575
Low Earth Orbit Satellite (per operational system) (47 CFR
Part 25)..................................................... n/a 87,725 97,725
INMARSAT/INTELSAT Signatory (per signatory)................... n/a 217,575 233,425
International Circuits (per active 64KB circuit).............. 4 4 4
International Public Fixed (per call sign) (47 CFR Part 23)... 200 200 225
International (HF) Broadcast (47 CFR Part 73)................. 250 255 280
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[This Appendix F will not be published in the Code of Federal
Regulations]
Appendix F--FY 1996 Guidelines for Regulatory Fee Categories
1. The guidelines below provide an explanation of regulatory fee
categories established by the Schedule of Regulatory Fees in section
9 (g) of the Communications Act, 47 U.S.C. 159(g) as modified in the
instant Report and Order. Where regulatory fee categories need
interpretation or clarification, we have relied on the legislative
history of section 9, our own experience in establishing and
regulating the Schedule of Regulatory Fees for Fiscal Years (FY)
1994 and 1995 and the services subject to the fee schedule, and the
comments of the parties in our proceeding to adopt fees for FY 1995.
The categories and amounts set out in the schedule have been
modified to reflect changes in the number of payment units,
additions and changes in the services subject to the fee requirement
and the benefits derived from the Commission's regulatory
activities, and to simplify the structure of the schedule. The
schedule may be similarly modified or adjusted in future years to
reflect changes in the Commission's budget and in the services
regulated by the Commission. See 47 U.S.C. 159(b)(2), (3).
2. Exemptions. Most licensees and other entities regulated by
the Commission must pay regulatory fees in 1996. However,
governments and nonprofit (exempt under Section 501 of the Internal
Revenue Code) entities are exempt from paying regulatory fees and
should not submit payment, but may be asked to submit a current IRS
Determination Letter documenting its nonprofit status, a
certification of governmental authority, or certification
[[Page 36649]]
from a governmental entity attesting to its exempt status. The
governmental exemption applies even where the government-owned or
community-owned facility is in direct competition with commercial
stations. Other specific exemptions are discussed below in association
with a particular service category or group.
I. Private Wireless Radio Services
3. Two levels of statutory fees were established for the Private
Wireless Radio Services--exclusive use services and shared use
services. Thus, licensees who generally receive a higher quality
communication channel due to exclusive or lightly shared frequency
assignments, will pay a higher fee than those who share marginal
quality assignments. This dichotomy is consistent with the directive
of section 9 that the regulatory fees reflect the benefits provided
to the licensees. See 47 U.S.C. Sec. 159(b)(1)(A). In addition,
because of the generally small amount of the fees assessed against
Private Wireless Radio Service licensees, applicants for new
licenses and reinstatements and for renewal of existing licenses are
required to pay a regulatory fee covering the entire license term,
with only a percentage of all licensees paying a regulatory fee in
any one year. Applications for modification or assignment of
existing authorizations do not require the payment of regulatory
fees. The expiration date of those authorizations will reflect only
the unexpired term of the underlying license rather than a new
license term.
a. Exclusive Use Services
4. Land Mobile Services: Regulatees in this category include
those authorized under Part 90 of the Commission's Rules to provide
limited access Wireless Radio service that allows high quality voice
or digital communications between vehicles or to fixed stations to
further the business activities of the licensee. These services,
using the 220-222 MHz band and frequencies at 470 MHz and above, may
be offered on a private carrier basis in the Specialized Mobile
Radio Services (SMRS).\1\ For FY 1996, Land Mobile licensees will
pay a $7 annual regulatory fee per license, payable for an entire
five or ten year license term at the time of application for a new,
renewal or reinstatement license.\2\ The total regulatory fee due is
either $35 for a license with a five year term or $70 for a license
with a 10 year term.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ This category only applies to licensees of shared-use
private 220-222 MHz and 470 MHz and above in the Specialized Mobile
Radio (SMR) service who have elected not to change to the Commercial
Mobile Radio Service (CMRS). Those who have elected to change to the
CMRS are referred to paragraph 14 of this Appendix.
\2\ Although this fee category includes licenses with ten year
terms, the estimated volume of ten year license applications in FY
1996 is less than one tenth of one percent and, therefore, is
statistically insignificant.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Microwave Services: These services include private microwave
systems and private carrier systems authorized under Part 101 of the
Commission's Rules to provide telecommunications services between
fixed points on a high quality channel of communications. Microwave
systems are often used to relay data and to control railroad,
pipeline and utility equipment. For FY 1996, Microwave licensees
will pay a $7 annual regulatory fee per license, payable for an
entire ten year license term at the time of application for a new,
renewal or reinstatement license. The total regulatory fee due is
$70 for the ten year license term.
6. Interactive Video Data Service (IVDS): The IVDS is a two-way
point-to-multi-point radio service allocated high quality channels
of communications and authorized under Part 95 of the Commission's
Rules. The IVDS provides information, products and services, and
also the capability to obtain responses from subscribers in a
specific service area. The IVDS is offered on a private carrier
basis. For FY 1996, IVDS licensees will pay a $7 annual regulatory
fee per license, payable for an entire five year license term at the
time of application for a new, renewal, or reinstatement license.
The total regulatory fee due is $35 for the five year term of the
license.
b. Shared Use Services
7. Marine (Ship) Service: This service is a shipboard radio
service authorized under Part 80 of the Commission's Rules to
provide telecommunications between watercraft or between watercraft
and shore-based stations. Radio installations are required by
domestic and international law for large passenger or cargo vessels.
Radio equipment may be voluntarily installed on smaller vessels,
such as recreational boats. The recently enacted Telecommunications
Act of 1996 gave the Commission the authority to license certain
ship stations by rule rather than by individual license. Private
boat operators sailing entirely within domestic U.S. waters and who
are not otherwise required by treaty or agreement to carry a radio,
may no longer be required to hold a marine license if the Commission
enacts rules to that effect, and they will not be required to pay a
regulatory fee. For FY 1996, parties required to be licensed and
those choosing to be licensed for Marine (Ship) Stations will pay a
$3 annual regulatory fee per station, payable for an entire ten year
license term at the time of application for a new, renewal or
reinstatement license. The total regulatory fee due is $30 for the
ten year license term.
8. Marine (Coast) Service: This service includes land-based
stations in the maritime services, authorized under Part 80 of the
Commission's Rules, to provide communications services to ships and
other watercraft in coastal and inland waterways. For FY 1996,
licensees of Marine (Coast) Stations will pay a $3 annual regulatory
fee per call sign, payable for the entire five year license term at
the time of application for a new, renewal or reinstatement license.
The total regulatory fee due is $15 per call sign for the five year
license term.
9. Private Land Mobile (Other) Services: These services include
Land Mobile Radio Services operating under Parts 90 and 95 of the
Commission's Rules. Services in this category provide one or two way
communications between vehicles, persons or to fixed stations on a
shared basis and include radiolocation services, industrial radio
services and land transportation radio services. For FY 1996,
licensees of services in this category will pay a $3 annual
regulatory fee per call sign, payable for an entire five year
license term at the time of application for a new, renewal or
reinstatement license. The total regulatory fee due is $15 for the
five year license term.
10. Aviation (Aircraft) Service: These services include stations
authorized to provide communications between aircraft and from
aircraft to ground stations and includes frequencies used to
communicate with air traffic control facilities pursuant to Part 87
of the Commission's Rules. The recently enacted Telecommunications
Act of 1996 gave the Commission the authority to license certain
aircraft radio stations by rule rather than by individual license.
Private aircraft operators flying entirely within domestic U.S.
airspace and who are not otherwise required by treaty or agreement
to carry a radio, may no longer be required to hold an aircraft
license if the Commission enacts rules to that effect, and they will
not be required to pay a regulatory fee. For FY 1996, parties
required to be licensed and those choosing to be licensed for
Aviation (Aircraft) Stations will pay a $3 annual regulatory fee per
station, payable for the entire ten year license term at the time of
application for a new, renewal or reinstatement license. The total
regulatory fee due is $30 per station for the ten year license term.
11. Aviation (Ground) Service: This service includes stations
authorized to provide ground-based communications to aircraft for
weather or landing information, or for logistical support pursuant
to Part 87 of the Commission's Rules. Certain ground-based stations
which only serve itinerant traffic; i.e., possess no actual units on
which to assess a fee, are exempt from payment of regulatory fees.
For FY 1996, licensees of Aviation (Ground) Stations will pay a $3
annual regulatory fee per license, payable for the entire five year
license term at the time of application for a new, renewal or
reinstatement license. The total regulatory fee is $15 per call sign
for the five year license term.
12. General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS): These services include
Land Mobile Radio licensees providing personal and limited business
communications between vehicles or to fixed stations for short-
range, two-way communications pursuant to Part 95 of the
Commission's Rules. For FY 1996, GMRS licensees will pay a $3 annual
regulatory fee per license, payable for an entire five year license
term at the time of application for a new, renewal or reinstatement
license. The total regulatory fee due is $15 per license for the
five year license term.
c. Amateur Radio Vanity Call Signs
13. Amateur Vanity Call Signs: This fee covers voluntary
requests for specific call signs in the Amateur Radio Service
authorized under part 97 of the Commission's Rules. For FY 1996,
applicants for Amateur Vanity Call-Signs will pay a $3 annual
regulatory fee per call sign, payable for an entire ten year license
term at the time of application for a vanity call sign. The total
[[Page 36650]]
regulatory fee due would be $30 per license for the ten year license
term.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ Section 9(h) exempts ``amateur radio operator licenses under
Part 97 of the Commission's rules (47 CFR Part 97)'' from the
requirement. However, Section 9(g)'s fee schedule explicitly
includes ``Amateur vanity call signs'' as a category subject to the
payment of a regulatory fee.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
d. Commercial Wireless Radio Services
14. Commercial Mobile Radio Services (CMRS) Mobile Services: The
Commercial Mobile Radio Service (CMRS) is a new ``umbrella''
descriptive term attributed to various existing services authorized
to provide interconnected mobile radio services for profit to the
public, or to such classes of eligible users as to be effectively
available to a substantial portion of the public. CMRS Mobile
Services include certain licensees which formerly were licensed as
part of the Private Radio Services (e.g., Specialized Mobile Radio
Services) and others formerly licensed as part of the Common Carrier
Radio Services (e.g., Public Mobile Services and Cellular Radio
Service). While specific rules pertaining to each covered service
remain in separate Parts 22, 80 and 90; general rules for CMRS are
contained in Part 20. We have replaced the Public Mobile/Cellular
Radio regulatory fee category with a CMRS Mobile Services category
for regulatory fee collection purposes. CMRS Mobile Services will
include: qualifying Business Radio Services, 220-222 MHz Land Mobile
Systems, Specialized Mobile Radio Services (Part 90); \4\ Public
Coast Stations (Part 80); Public Mobile Radio, Cellular, 800 MHz
Air-Ground Radiotelephone, and Offshore Radio Services (Part 22).
Licensees who have not elected to convert from private to commercial
operations will be exempt from payment of the annual CMRS Mobile
Services fee for FY 1996. Existing commercial licensees and those
who converted prior to December 31, 1995, must pay the annual CMRS
Mobile Services fee for FY 1996. Each licensee in this group will
pay an annual regulatory fee for each mobile or cellular unit
(mobile or cellular call sign or telephone number), including two-
way paging units, assigned to its customers, including resellers of
its services. For FY 1996, the regulatory fee is $.17 per unit.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\ This category does not include licensees of private shared-
use 220 MHz and 470 MHz and above in the Specialized Mobile Radio
(SMR) service who have elected to remain non-commercial. Those who
have elected not to change to the Commercial Mobil Radio Service
(CMRS) are referred to paragraph 4 of this Appendix. Further,
Congress provided for a three year transition period until August
10, 1996, for conversion to CMRS. See Omnibus Budget Reconciliation
Act of 1993, Public Law No. 103-66, Title VI Sec. 6002(b), 107 Stat.
312,392. Therefore, licensees who had not converted to CMRS prior to
December 31, 1995, are not subject to the CMRS Mobile Services fee
for FY 1996.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
15. Personal Communications Service (PCS): For FY 1996, the
Personal Communications Service (PCS) covered by Part 24 of the
rules is exempt from payment of regulatory fees.
16. Commercial Mobile Radio Services (CMRS) One-Way Paging
Services: The Commercial Mobile Radio Service (CMRS) is a new
``umbrella'' descriptive term attributed to various existing
services authorized to provide interconnected mobile radio services
for profit to the public, or to such classes of eligible users as to
be effectively available to a substantial portion of the public.
CMRS One-Way Paging Services include certain licensees which
formerly were licensed as part of the Private Radio Services (e.g.,
Private Paging) and others formerly licensed as part of the Common
Carrier Radio Services (e.g., Public Mobile One-Way Paging). While
specific rules pertaining to each covered service remain in separate
Parts 22 and 90; general rules for CMRS are contained in Part 20. We
have replaced the Public Mobile One-Way Paging regulatory fee
category with a CMRS One-Way Paging Services category for regulatory
fee collection purposes. Licensees who have not elected to convert
from private to commercial operations will be exempt from payment of
the annual CMRS One-Way Paging Services fee for FY 1996. Existing
commercial licensees and those who converted prior to December 31,
1995, must pay the annual CMRS One-Way Paging Services fee for FY
1996. Each licensee in the CMRS One-Way Paging Services will pay an
annual regulatory fee for each paging unit, assigned to its
customers, including resellers of its services. For FY 1996, the
regulatory fee is $.02 per unit.
II. Mass Media Services
17. The regulatory fees for the Mass Media fee category apply to
broadcast licensees and permittees. Noncommercial Educational
Broadcasters are exempt from regulatory fees.
a. Commercial AM and FM Radio
18. These categories include licensed Commercial AM (Classes A,
B, C, and D) and FM (Classes A, B, B1, C, C1, C2, and C3) Radio
Stations operating under Part 73 of the Commission's Rules.\5\ The
regulatory fees for AM and FM Stations for FY 1996 are as follows:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\5\ The Commission acknowledges that certain stations operating
in Puerto Rico and Guam have been assigned a higher level station
class than would be expected if the station were located on the
mainland. Although this results in a higher regulatory fee, we
believe that the increased interference protection associated with
the higher station class is necessary and justifies the fee.
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AM Radio
Class A..........................................................$1,250
Class B.............................................................690
Class C.............................................................280
Class D.............................................................345
FM Radio
Classes C, C1, C2, B.............................................$1,250
Classes A, B1, C3...................................................830
b. Construction Permits--Commercial AM Radio
19. This category includes holders of permits to construct new
Commercial AM Stations. For FY 1996, permittees will pay a fee of
$140 for each permit held. Upon issuance of an operating license,
this fee would no longer be applicable and licensees would be
required to pay the applicable fee for the designated class of the
station.
c. Construction Permits--Commercial FM Radio
20. This category includes holders of permits to construct new
Commercial FM Stations. For FY 1996, permittees will pay a fee of
$690 for each permit held. Upon issuance of an operating license,
this fee would no longer be applicable. Instead, licensees would pay
a regulatory fee based upon the designated class of the station.
d. Commercial Television Stations
21. This category includes licensed Commercial VHF and UHF
Television Stations covered under Part 73 of the Commission's Rules,
except commonly owned Television Satellite Stations, addressed
separately below. Markets are Nielsen Designated Market Areas (DMA)
as listed in the Television & Cable Factbook, Stations Volume No.
63, 1995 Edition, Warren Publishing, Inc. The fees for each category
of station are as follows:
VHF Markets 1-10................................................$32,000
VHF Markets 11-25................................................26,000
VHF Markets 26-50................................................17,000
VHF Markets 51-100................................................9,000
VHF Remaining Markets.............................................2,500
UHF Markets 1-10................................................$25,000
UHF Markets 11-25................................................20,000
UHF Markets 26-50................................................13,000
UHF Markets 51-100................................................7,000
UHF Remaining Markets.............................................2,000
e. Commercial Television Satellite Stations
22. Commonly owned Television Satellite Stations in any market
(authorized pursuant to Note 5 of Section 73.3555 of the
Commission's Rules) that retransmit programming of the primary
station are assessed a fee of $690 annually. Those stations
designated as Television Satellite Stations in the 1995 Edition of
the Television and Cable Factbook are subject to the fee applicable
to Television Satellite Stations. All other television licensees are
subject to the regulatory fee payment required for their class of
station and market.
f. Construction Permits--Commercial VHF Television Stations
23. This category includes holders of permits to construct new
Commercial VHF Television Stations. For FY 1996, VHF permittees will
pay an annual regulatory fee of $5,550. Upon issuance of an
operating license, this fee would no longer be applicable. Instead,
licensees would pay a fee based upon the designated market of the
station.
g. Construction Permits--Commercial UHF Television Stations
24. This category includes holders of permits to construct new
UHF Television Stations. For FY 1996, UHF Television permittees will
pay an annual regulatory fee of $4,425. Upon issuance of an
operating license, this fee would no longer be applicable. Instead,
licensees would pay a fee based upon the designated market of the
station.
h. Construction Permits--Satellite Television Stations
25. The fee for UHF and VHF Television Satellite Station
construction permits for FY
[[Page 36651]]
1996 is $250. An individual regulatory fee payment is to be made for
each Television Satellite Station construction permit held.
i. Low Power Television, FM Translator and Booster Stations, TV
Translator and Booster Stations
26. This category includes Low Power UHF/VHF Television stations
operating under Part 74 of the Commission's Rules with a transmitter
power output limited to 1 kW for a UHF facility and, generally, 0.01
kW for a VHF facility. Low Power Television (LPTV) stations may
retransmit the programs and signals of a TV Broadcast Station,
originate programming, and/or operate as a subscription service.
This category also includes translators and boosters operating under
Part 74 which rebroadcast the signals of full service stations on a
frequency different from the parent station (translators) or on the
same frequency (boosters). The stations in this category are
secondary to full service stations in terms of frequency priority.
We have also received requests for waivers of the regulatory fees
from operators of community based Translators. These Translators are
generally not affiliated with commercial broadcasters, they are
nonprofit, nonprofitable, or only marginally profitable, serve small
rural communities, and are supported financially by the residents of
the communities served. We are aware of the difficulties these
Translators have in paying even minimal regulatory fees, and we have
addressed those concerns in the ruling on reconsideration of the FY
1994 Report and Order. Community based Translators are exempt from
regulatory fees. For FY 1996, licensees in this category will pay a
regulatory fee of $190 for each license held.
j. Broadcast Auxiliary Stations
27. This category includes licensees of remote pickup stations,
Aural Broadcast Auxiliary Stations, Television Broadcast Auxiliary
Stations, and Low Power Auxiliary Stations, authorized under Part 74
of the Commission's Rules. Auxiliary Stations are generally
associated with a particular television or radio broadcast station
or cable television system. For FY 1996, licensees of Commercial
Auxiliary Stations will pay a $35 annual regulatory fee on a per
call sign basis.
k. Multipoint Distribution Service
28. This service is included in the Domestic Public Fixed
Service category and covers Multipoint Distribution Service (MDS),
and Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service (MMDS), authorized
under Part 21 of the Commission's Rules to use microwave frequencies
for video and data distribution within the United States. For FY
1996, MDS and MMDS stations will pay an annual regulatory fee of
$155 per call sign. See para. 31 below.
III. Cable Services
a. Cable Television Systems
29. This category includes operators of Cable Television
Systems, providing or distributing programming or other services to
subscribers under Part 76 of the Commission's Rules. For FY 1996
Cable Systems will pay a regulatory fee of $.55 per subscriber.\6\
Payments for Cable Systems are to be made on a per subscriber by
community unit basis as of December 31, 1995. Cable Systems should
determine their subscriber numbers by calculating the number of
single family dwellings, the number of individual households in
multiple dwelling units, e.g., apartments, condominiums, mobile home
parks, etc., paying at the basic subscriber rate, the number of bulk
rate customers and the number of courtesy or fee customers. In order
to determine the number of bulk rate subscribers, a system should
divide its bulk rate charge by the annual subscription rate for
individual households. See FY 1994 Report and Order, Appendix B at
para. 31.
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\6\ Cable systems are to pay their regulatory fees on a per
subscriber basis rather than per 1,000 subscribers as set forth in
the statutory fee schedule. See FY 1994 Report and Order at para.
100.
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b. Cable Antenna Relay Service
30. This category includes Cable Antenna Relay Service (CARS)
stations used to transmit television and related audio signals,
signals of AM and FM Broadcast Stations and cablecasting from the
point of reception to a terminal point from where the signals are
distributed to the public by a Cable Television System. For FY 1996,
licensees will pay an annual regulatory fee of $325 per CARS
license.
IV. Common Carrier Services
a. Fixed Radio Services
31. Domestic Public Fixed Radio Service: This category includes
licensees in the Point-to-Point Microwave Radio Service, Local
Television Transmission Radio Service, Digital Electronic Message
Service, Multipoint Distribution Service (MDS), and Multichannel
Multipoint Distribution Service (MMDS),\7\ authorized under Part 21
of the Commission's Rules to use microwave frequencies for video and
data distribution within the United States. For FY 1996, Domestic
Public Fixed Radio Service licensees pay a $155 annual regulatory
fee per call sign.
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\7\ MDS and MMDS are regulated by the Mass Media Bureau.
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b. Interstate Telephone Service Providers
32. This category includes Inter-Exchange Carriers (IXCs), Local
Exchange Carriers (LECs), Competitive Access Providers (CAPs),
domestic and international carriers that provide operator services,
Wide Area Telephone Service (WATS), 800, 900, telex, telegraph,
video, other switched, interstate access, special access, and
alternative access services either by using their own facilities or
by reselling facilities and services of other carriers or telephone
carrier holding companies, and companies other than traditional
local telephone companies that provide interstate access services to
long distance carriers and other customers. This category also
includes pre-paid calling card providers. These common carriers,
including resellers, must submit fee payments based upon their
proportionate share of gross interstate revenues using the
methodology that we have adopted for calculating contributions to
the TRS fund. See Telecommunications Relay Services, 8 FCC Rcd 5300
(1993), 58 FR 39671 (1993). In order to avoid imposing any double
payment burden on resellers, we will permit carriers to subtract
from their gross interstate revenues, as reported to NECA in
connection with their TRS contribution, any payments made to
underlying common carriers for telecommunications facilities and
services, including payments for interstate access service, that are
sold in the form of interstate service. For this purpose, resold
telecommunications facilities and services are only intended to
include payments that correspond to revenues that will be included
by another carrier reporting interstate revenue. For FY 1996,
carriers should multiply their adjusted gross revenue figure (gross
revenue reduced by the total amount of their payments to underlying
common carriers for telecommunications facilities or services) by
the factor 0.00098 to determine the appropriate fee for this
category of service. You may want to use the following worksheet to
determine your fee payment:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Interstate
------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) Revenue reported in TRS Fund worksheets
(2) Less: Access charges paid
(3) Less: Other telecommunications facilities and
services taken for resale
(4) Adjusted revenues (1)minus (2)minus(3)
(5) Fee factor................................... ......... 0.00098
(6) Fee due (4)times(5)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
V. International Services
a. Earth Stations
33. Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) Earth Stations,
equivalent C-Band Earth Stations and antennas, and earth station
systems comprised of very small aperture terminals operate in the 12
and 14 GHz bands and provide a variety of communications services to
other stations in the network. VSAT systems consist of a network of
technically-identical small Fixed-Satellite Earth Stations which
often include a larger hub station. VSAT Earth Stations and C-Band
Equivalent Earth Stations are authorized pursuant to Part 25 of the
Commission's Rules. Mobile Satellite Earth Stations, operating
pursuant to Part 25 of the Commission's Rules under blanket licenses
for mobile antennas (transceivers), are smaller than one meter and
provide voice or data communications, including position location
information for mobile platforms such as cars, buses or trucks.\8\
Fixed- Satellite Transmit/Receive and Transmit Only Earth Station
antennas, authorized or registered
[[Page 36652]]
under Part 25 of the Commission's Rules, are operated by private and
public carriers to provide telephone, television, data, and other
forms of communications. Included in this category are telemetry,
tracking, and control (TT&C) earth stations and earth station
uplinks. For FY 1996, licensees of VSATs, Mobile Satellite Earth
Stations, and Fixed-Satellite Transmit/Receive and Transmit Only
Earth Stations will pay a fee of $370 per authorization or
registration as well as a separate fee of $370 for each associated
Hub Station.
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\8\ Mobile earth stations are hand-held or vehicle-based units
capable of operation while the operator or vehicle is in motion. In
contrast, transportable units are moved to a fixed location and
operate in a stationary (fixed) mode. Both are assessed the same
regulatory fee for FY 1996.
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34. Receive only earth stations. For FY 1996, there is no
regulatory fee for receive-only earth stations.
b. Space Stations (Geosynchronous)
35. Geosynchronous Space Stations are domestic and international
satellites positioned in orbit to remain approximately fixed
relative to the earth. Most are authorized under Part 25 of the
Commission's Rules to provide communications between satellites and
earth stations on a common carrier and/or private carrier basis. In
addition, this category includes Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS)
Service which includes space stations authorized under Part 100 of
the Commission's rules to transmit or re-transmit signals for direct
reception by the general public encompassing both individual and
community reception. For FY 1996, entities authorized to operate
geosynchronous space stations (including DBS satellites) will be
assessed an annual regulatory fee of $70,575 per operational station
in orbit. Payment is required for any geosynchronous satellite that
has been launched and tested and is authorized to provide service.
c. Low Earth Orbit Satellites (LEOs)
36. Low Earth Orbit Satellite Systems are space stations that
orbit the earth in non-geosynchronous orbit. They are authorized
under Part 25 of the Commission's rules to provide communications
between satellites and earth stations on a common carrier and/or
private carrier basis. For FY 1996, entities authorized to operate
Low Earth Orbit Satellite Systems will be assessed an annual
regulatory fee of $97,725 per operational system in orbit. Payment
is required for any LEO System that has one or more operational
satellites.
d. Signatories
37. A Signatory to INMARSAT is an Administration or government,
or the telecommunications entity designated as sole operating entity
by an Administration or government, which participates in the
International Mobile Satellite Organization (INMARSAT) in order to
develop and operate a global maritime satellite telecommunication
system which serves maritime commercial and safety needs of the
United States and foreign countries. A Signatory to INTELSAT is an
Administration or government, or the telecommunications entity
designated as sole operating entity by an Administration or
government, which participates in the International
Telecommunications Satellite Organization (INTELSAT) in order to
develop, construct, operate and maintain the space segment of the
global commercial telecommunications satellite system established
under the Interim Agreement and Special Agreement signed by
Governments on August 20, 1964. For FY 1996, Signatories to INMARSAT
and INTELSAT will be assessed an annual regulatory fee of $233,425
in order to recover the cost of the Commission's regulatory
activities associated with such entities.
e. International Bearer Circuits
38. Regulatory fees for International Bearer Circuits are to be
paid by the facilities-based common carriers activating the circuit
in any transmission facility for the provision of service to an end
user or resale carrier. Payment of the fee for bearer circuits by
private submarine cable operators is required for circuits sold on
an indefeasible right of use (IRU) basis or leased to any customer
other than an international common carrier authorized by the
Commission to provide U.S. international common carrier services.
Compare FY 1994 Report and Order at 5367. The fee is based upon
active 64 Kbps circuits, or equivalent circuits. Under this
formulation, 64 Kbps circuits or their equivalent will be assessed a
fee. Equivalent circuits include the 64 Kbps circuit equivalent of
larger bit stream circuits. For example, the 64 Kbps circuit
equivalent of a 2.048 Mbps circuit is 30 64 Kbps circuits. Analog
circuits such as 3 and 4 KHz circuits used for international service
are also included as 64 Kbps circuits. However, circuits derived
from 64 Kbps circuits by the use of digital circuit multiplication
systems are not equivalent 64 Kbps circuits. Such circuits are not
subject to fees. Only the 64 Kbps circuit from which they have been
derived will be subject to payment of a fee. For FY 1996, the
regulatory fee is $4.00 for each active 64 Kbps circuit or
equivalent. For analog television channels we will assess fees as
follows:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
No. of
equivalent
Analog television channel size in MHz 64 Kbps
circuits
------------------------------------------------------------------------
36.......................................................... 630
24.......................................................... 288
18.......................................................... 240
------------------------------------------------------------------------
f. International Public Fixed
39. This fee category includes common carriers authorized under
Part 23 of the Commission's Rules to provide radio communications
between the United States and a foreign point via microwave or HF
troposcatter systems, other than satellites and satellite earth
stations, but not including service between the United States and
Mexico and the United States and Canada using frequencies above 72
MHz. For FY 1996, International Public Fixed Radio Service licensees
will pay a $225 annual regulatory fee per call sign.
g. International (HF) Broadcast
40. This category covers International Broadcast Stations
licensed under Part 73 of the Commission's Rules to operate on
frequencies in the 5,950 khz to 26,100 Khz range to provide service
to the general public in foreign countries. For FY 1996,
International HF Broadcast Stations will pay an annual regulatory
fee of $280 per station license.
Appendix G--Description of FCC Activities
[This Appendix G will not be published in the Code of Federal
Regulations]
Authorization of Service: The authorization or licensing of
radio stations, telecommunications equipment and radio operators, as
well as the authorization of common carrier and other services and
facilities. Includes policy direction, program development, legal
services, and executive direction, as well as support services
associated with authorization activities.
Policy and Rule Making: Formal inquiries, rule making
proceedings to establish or amend the Commission's rules and
regulations, action on petitions for rule making and requests for
rule interpretations or waivers; economic studies and analyses;
spectrum planning, modeling, propagation-interference analyses and
allocation; and development of equipment standards. Includes policy
direction, program development, legal services, and executive
direction, as well as support services associated with policy and
rule making activities.
Enforcement: Enforcement of the Commission's rules, regulations
and authorizations, including investigations, inspections,
compliance monitoring and sanctions of all types. Also includes the
receipt and disposition of formal and informal complaints regarding
common carrier rates and services, the review and acceptance/
rejection of carrier tariffs, and the review, prescription and audit
of carrier accounting practices. Includes policy direction, program
development, legal services, and executive direction, as well as
support services associated with enforcement activities.
Public Information Services: The publication and dissemination
of Commission decisions and actions, and related activities; public
reference and library services; the duplication and dissemination of
Commission records and databases; the receipt and disposition of
public inquiries; consumer, small business and public assistance;
and public affairs and media relations. Includes policy direction,
program development, legal services, and executive direction, as
well as support services associated with public information
activities.
Appendix H--Parties Filing Comments and Reply Comments
[This Appendix H will not be published in the Code of Federal
Regulations]
Parties Filing Comments
Bernstein and McVeigh
Motorola Satellite Communications, Inc.
Destineer Corp.
GE American Communications, Inc.
Montana Broadcasters Association
American Mobile Telecommunications Association, Inc.
COMSAT Corporation
Southern Broadcast Corporation of Sarasota
National Cable Television Association, Inc.
[[Page 36653]]
Society of Broadcast Engineers, Inc.
National Exchange Carrier Association, Inc.
NEXTEL Communications, Inc.
Parties Filing Reply Comments
GE American Communications, Inc.
[FR Doc. 96-17640 Filed 7-11-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P