11148 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 35 / Wednesday, February 24, 2021 / Rules and Regulations 

1A P.O. Box used for the collection of fees is 

referred to as a ‘‘lockbox’’ in our rules and other 

Commission documents. The FCC collects 

application processing fees using a series of P.O. 

Boxes located at U.S. Bank in St. Louis, Missouri. 

See 47 CFR 1.1101–1.1109 (setting forth the fee 

schedule for each type of application remittable to 

the Commission along with the correct lockbox). 

requirements in paragraphs (a)(1) 

through (5) of this section. 

■ 11. Revise § 2540.207 to read as 

follows: 

§ 2540.207 Waiver. 

CNCS may waive provisions of 

§§ 2540.200 through.2540.206 for good 

cause, or for any other lawful basis. To 

request a waiver, submit a written 

request to NSCHC Waiver Requests, 250 

E Street SW, Washington DC 20525, or 

send your request to 

NSCHCWaiverRequest@cns.gov. 

Dated: February 12, 2021. 

Lisa Guccione, 

Deputy Chief of Staff. 

[FR Doc. 2021–03247 Filed 2–23–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6050–28–P 

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS 

COMMISSION 

47 CFR Part 1 

[MD Docket No. 20–64; FCC 20–172; FRS 

17357] 

Closure of FCC Lockbox 979089 Used 

To File Fees for Services Provided by 

the Media Bureau 

AGENCY: Federal Communications 

Commission. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: In this document, the Federal 

Communications Commission (FCC or 

Commission) adopts an Order that 

closes Lockbox 979089 and modifies the 

relevant rule provisions to require 

electronic filing and fee payments. 

DATES: Effective March 26, 2021. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Warren Firschein, Office of Managing 

Director at (202) 418–2653 or Roland 

Helvajian, Office of Managing Director 

at (202) 418–0444. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a 

summary of the Commission’s Order, 

FCC 20–172, MD Docket No. 20–64, 

adopted on December 7, 2020 and 

released on December 10, 2020, which 

is the subject of this rulemaking. The 

full text of this document is available for 

public inspection and copying by 

downloading the text from the 

Commission’s website at https://

www.fcc.gov/document/closurelockbox-used-collect-fee-paymentsmedia-bureau. 

I. Procedural Matters 

A. Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis 

1. Section 603 of the Regulatory 

Flexibility Act, as amended, requires a 

regulatory flexibility analysis in notice 

and comment rulemaking proceedings. 

See 5 U.S.C. 603(a). As we are adopting 

these rules without notice and 

comment, no regulatory flexibility 

analysis is required. 

B. Final Paperwork Reduction Act of 

1995 Analysis 

2. This document does not contain 

new or modified information collection 

requirements subject to the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), Public 

Law 104–13. In addition, therefore, it 

does not contain any new or modified 

information collection burden for small 

business concerns with fewer than 25 

employees, pursuant to the Small 

Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2002, 

Public Law 107–198, see 44 U.S.C. 

3506(c)(4). 

C. Congressional Review Act 

3. The Commission will not send a 

copy of the Order pursuant to the 

Congressional Review Act, see 5 U.S.C. 

801(a)(1)(A), because the adopted rules 

are rules of agency organization, 

procedure, or practice that do not 

‘‘substantially affect the rights or 

obligations of non-agency parties. See 5 

U.S.C. 804(3)(C). 

II. Introduction 

4. In the Order, we reduce 

expenditures by the Commission and 

modernize procedures by amending 

§ 1.1104 of our rules, 47 CFR 1.1104, 

which sets forth the application fees for 

services administered by the FCC’s 

Media Bureau (MB). The rule 

amendment reflects the closure of the 

lockbox (P.O. Box) 1 used for such 

manual payment of filing fees for nine 

types of IB services: (1) Commercial TV 

Services; (2) Commercial AM Radio 

Stations; (3) Commercial FM Radio 

Stations; (4) FM Translators; (5) TV 

Translators and LPTV Stations; (6) FM 

Booster Stations; (7) TV Booster 

Stations; (8) Class A TV Services; and 

(9) Cable Television Services. We 

discontinue the option of manual fee 

payments and instead require the use of 

an electronic payment for each service 

listed above. 

5. Section 1.1104 of the Commission’s 

rules, 47 CFR 1.1104, provides a 

schedule of application fees for 

proceedings handled by MB. The rule 

had also directed filers that do not 

utilize the Commission’s on-line filing 

and fee payment systems to send 

manual payments to P.O. Box 979089 at 

U.S. Bank in St. Louis, Missouri. In 

recent years, there have been a 

decreasing number of lockbox filers, and 

it now is rare that the Commission 

receives a lockbox payment. 

6. The Commission has begun to 

reduce its reliance on P.O. Boxes for the 

collection of fees, instead encouraging 

the use of electronic payment systems 

for all application and regulatory fees 

and closing certain lockboxes. We find 

that electronic payment of fees for the 

services processed by MB reduces the 

agency’s expenditures (including 

eliminating the annual fee for the bank’s 

services) and the cost of manually 

processing each transaction, with little 

or no inconvenience to the 

Commission’s regulatees, applicants, 

and the public. 

7. As part of this effort, we are now 

closing P.O. Box 979089 and modifying 

the relevant rule provision that requires 

payment of fees via the closed P.O. Box. 

The rules changes are contained in the 

Appendix of the Order and the Final 

Rules of this document. We make these 

changes without notice and comment 

because they are rules of agency 

organization, procedure, or practice 

exempt from the general notice-andcomment requirements of the 

Administrative Procedure Act, see 5 

U.S.C. 553(b)(A). 

8. Implementation. As a temporary 

transition measure, for 90 days after 

publication of this document in the 

Federal Register, U.S. Bank will 

continue to process payments to P.O. 

Box 979089. After that date, payments 

for these MB services must be made in 

accordance with the procedures set 

forth on the Commission’s website, 

https://www.fcc.gov/licensingdatabases/fees/application-processingfees (Media Bureau Fee Filing Guide). 

For now, such payments will be made 

through the Fee Filer Online System 

(Fee Filer), accessible at https://

www.fcc.gov/licensing-databases/fees/ 

fee-filer. As we assess and implement 

U.S. Treasury initiatives toward an allelectronic payment system, we may 

transition to other secure payment 

systems with appropriate public notice 

and guidance. 

III. Ordering Clauses 

9. Accordingly, it is ordered, that 

pursuant to sections 4(i), 4(j), 158, 208, 

and 224 of the Communications Act of 

1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 154(i), 

154(j), 158, 208, and 224, the Order is 

hereby adopted and the rules set forth 

in the Appendix of the Order are hereby 

amended effective March 26, 2021. 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with RULES
Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 35 / Wednesday, February 24, 2021 / Rules and Regulations 11149 

List of Subjects in 47 CFR Part 1 

Administrative practice and 

procedure. 

Marlene Dortch, 

Secretary. 

Editorial note: This document was 

received for publication by the Office of the 

Federal Register on January 4, 2021. 

Final Rules 

For the reasons discussed in the 

preamble, the Federal Communications 

Commission amends 47 CFR part 1 as 

follows: 

PART 1—PRACTICE AND 

PROCEDURE 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 1 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 47 U.S.C. chs. 2, 5, 9, 13; 28 

U.S.C. 2461, unless otherwise noted. 

■ 2. Amend § 1.1104 by revising the 

introductory text to read as follows: 

§ 1.1104 Schedule of charges for 

applications and other filings for media 

services. 

Remit payment for these services 

electronically using the Commission’s 

electronic payment system in 

accordance with the procedures set 

forth on the Commission’s website, 

www.fcc.gov/licensing-databases/fees. 

The asterisk (*) indicates that multiple 

stations and multiple fee submissions 

are acceptable within the same 

payment. 

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. 2021–00050 Filed 2–23–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6712–01–P 

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS 

COMMISSION 

47 CFR Parts 1 and 54 

[GN Docket No. 20–32; DA 20–1361; FRS 

17443] 

Office of Economics and Analytics and 

Wireline Competition Bureau Adopt 

Adjustment Factor Values for the 5G 

Fund 

AGENCY: Federal Communications 

Commission. 

ACTION: Final action. 

SUMMARY: In this document, the Office 

of Economics and Analytics (Office) and 

the Wireline Competition Bureau 

(Bureau) adopt adjustment factor values 

for an adjustment factor that will be 

used in bidding in the 5G Fund auctions 

and applied to the methodology for 

disaggregating legacy high-cost support. 

DATES: Effective February 24, 2021. 

ADDRESSES: Federal Communications 

Commission, 45 L Street NE, 

Washington, DC 20554. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kate 

Matraves, Office of Economics and 

Analytics, Economic Analysis Division, 

(202) 391–6272 or Catherine.Matraves@

fcc.gov, or Nicholas Copeland, Office of 

Economics and Analytics, Economic 

Analysis Division, (202) 418–1025 or 

Nicholas.Copeland@fcc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a 

summary of the Commission’s 5G Fund 

Adjustment Values Public Notice in GN 

Docket No. 20–32, DA 20–1361, released 

on November 16, 2020. The full text of 

this document is available on the 

Commission’s website at https://

www.fcc.gov/document/oea-and-wcbadopt-adjustment-factor-values-5g-fund. 

To request materials in accessible 

formats for people with disabilities, 

send an email to FCC504@fcc.gov or call 

the Consumer & Governmental Affairs 

Bureau at 202–418–0530 (voice), 202– 

418–0432 (TTY). 

Synopsis 

1. The Office of Economics and 

Analytics (Office) and the Wireline 

Competition Bureau (Bureau) adopt 5G 

Fund adjustment factor values to help 

direct more 5G Fund support to harder 

to serve areas. Specifically, the values 

we adopt will increase support levels 

for bids to serve areas where the terrain 

elevation variation raises the expected 

costs of deploying 5G networks, and/or 

where the business case for 5G 

otherwise is likely to be weaker, relative 

to the support for bids for easier to serve 

areas. Likewise, the adjustment factor 

values will also be used in the process 

of disaggregating legacy high-cost 

support to account for differences 

between recipients’ subsidized service 

areas. These adjustment factor values 

will help ensure that additional 5G 

Fund support goes to the areas that need 

it the most. 

2. In the 5G Fund NPRM and Order, 

85 FR 31636, May 26, 2020, 85 FR 

34525, Jun. 5, 2020, the Federal 

Communications Commission 

(Commission) proposed to distribute up 

to $9 billion in two phases using multiround, descending clock auctions to 

assign support for the deployment of 5G 

service in rural areas. To account for 

differences in the cost of providing 

service and business case considerations 

across eligible areas, the Commission 

proposed incorporating an adjustment 

factor into the 5G Fund auctions that 

would assign a weight to each 

geographic area, which would be 

applied to bidding for support amounts 

to make the areas most difficult to serve 

more attractive to bidders and increase 

the support to such areas. In addition to 

incorporating an adjustment factor into 

the 5G Fund auctions, the Commission 

proposed to apply this adjustment factor 

to the methodology for disaggregating 

legacy high-cost support in the 

transition to 5G Fund support. 

3. Legacy high-cost support is 

currently provided to a competitive 

eligible telecommunications carrier’s 

entire study area, with no attribution to 

particular sub-areas within that study 

area. To illustrate the role of the 

adjustment factor in the disaggregation 

of legacy support, consider a 

hypothetical carrier serving one 

mountainous census tract and one flat 

census tract of equal size in its 

subsidized service area. Such a carrier 

might require 75% of its support to 

serve the mountainous tract and 25% to 

serve the flat tract. Were an 

unsubsidized carrier to enter the flat 

tract, which may be more likely given 

the relatively lower costs in the flat 

tract, if we did not apply the adjustment 

factor in calculating disaggregated 

support, the carrier would lose 50% of 

its funding and would be unable to 

continue serving the mountainous tract. 

However, applying an adjustment factor 

of three to the mountainous area would 

result in the carrier retaining 75% of its 

original support amount and allow it to 

continue serving the mountainous tract. 

4. On June 5, 2020, the Office and 

Bureau released the Adjustment Factor 

Public Notice, 85 FR 36522, Jun. 17, 

2020, which sought comment on the 

proposed adjustment factor values, the 

three analyses that inform the values, 

and the application of the adjustment 

factor to the disaggregation of legacy 

support. 

5. In the 5G Fund Report and Order, 

85 FR 75770, Nov. 25, 2020, the 

Commission adopted its proposal to 

incorporate an adjustment factor into 

the 5G Fund auctions that will assign a 

weight to each geographic area and 

apply that adjustment factor to bidding 

for support amounts; this adjustment 

factor also will be applied to the 

methodology for disaggregating legacy 

high-cost support. For a 5G Fund 

auction, the Commission deferred the 

final determination of the precise 

manner in which the adjustment factor 

will be incorporated into the auction 

mechanism to the pre-auction process. 

We provide herein the adjustment factor 

values, and we discuss the studies 

underlying our decision to adopt these 

values for use in a 5G Fund auction and 

in the methodology for the 

disaggregation of legacy high-cost 

support. 


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