[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

________________                                                        
\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\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \16\ This fee is further adjusted in Paragraph 47.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \7\ MDS and MMDS are regulated by the Mass Media Bureau.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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