Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 8 / Thursday, January 11, 2024 / Proposed Rules 1859 

www.regulations.gov (IRS REG–130080– 

22, IRS REG–113064–23, or IRS REG– 

118492–23). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Concerning the proposed regulations, 

the Office of Associate Chief Counsel 

(Passthroughs and Special Industries), 

(202) 317–6835 (not a toll-free number); 

concerning submissions of comments, 

the hearing and/or to be placed on the 

building access list to attend the public 

hearing, call Vivian Hayes (202–317– 

6901) (not a toll-free number) or by 

email to publichearings@irs.gov 

(preferred). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

subject of the public hearing is the 

notices of proposed rulemakings (REG– 

130080–22, REG–113064–23, REG– 

118492–23) that were published in the 

Federal Register on Monday, April 17, 

2023, (FR 88 23370), Tuesday, October 

10, 2023 (FR 88 70310), and Monday, 

December 4, 2023, (FR 88 84098) 

respectively. 

The rules of 26 CFR 601.601(a)(3) 

apply to the hearing. Persons who wish 

to present oral comments at the hearing 

must submit an outline of the topics to 

be discussed and the time to be devoted 

to each topic by January 18, 2024. 

A period of 10 minutes will be 

allotted to each person for making 

comments. An agenda showing the 

scheduling of the speakers will be 

prepared after the deadline for receiving 

outlines has passed. Copies of the 

agenda will be available free of charge 

at the hearing, and via the Federal 

eRulemaking Portal 

(www.Regulations.gov) under the title of 

Supporting & Related Material. If no 

outline of the topics to be discussed at 

the hearing is received by January 18, 

2024, the public hearing will be 

cancelled. If the public hearing is 

cancelled, a notice of cancellation of the 

public hearing will be published in the 

Federal Register. 

Individuals who want to testify in 

person at the public hearing must send 

an email to publichearings@irs.gov to 

have your name added to the building 

access list. The subject line of the email 

must contain the regulation number 

REG–130080–22, REG–113064–23, and 

REG–118492–23 and the language 

TESTIFY In Person. For example, the 

subject line may say: Request to 

TESTIFY In Person at Hearing for REG– 

130080–22, REG–113064–23, and REG– 

118492–23. 

Individuals who want to testify by 

telephone at the public hearing must 

send an email to publichearings@irs.gov 

to receive the telephone number and 

access code for the hearing. The subject 

line of the email must contain the 

regulation number REG–130080–22, 

REG–113064–23, and REG–118492–23 

and the language TESTIFY 

Telephonically. For example, the 

subject line may say: Request to 

TESTIFY Telephonically at Hearing for 

REG–130080–22, REG–113064–23, and 

REG–118492–23, whichever applies. 

Individuals who want to attend the 

public hearing in person without 

testifying must also send an email to 

publichearings@irs.gov to have your 

name added to the building access list. 

The subject line of the email must 

contain the regulation number REG– 

130080–22, REG–113064–23, and REG– 

118492–23 and the language ATTEND 

In Person. For example, the subject line 

may say: Request to ATTEND Hearing In 

Person for REG–130080–22, REG– 

113064–23, and REG–118492–23, 

whichever applies. Requests to attend 

the public hearing must be received by 

5 p.m. ET by Monday, January 29, 2024. 

Individuals who want to attend the 

public hearing by telephone without 

testifying must also send an email to 

publichearings@irs.gov to receive the 

telephone number and access code for 

the hearing. The subject line of the 

email must contain the regulation 

number REG–130080–22, REG–113064– 

23, and REG–118492–23 and the 

language ATTEND Hearing 

Telephonically. For example, the 

subject line may say: Request to 

ATTEND Hearing Telephonically for 

REG–130080–22, REG–113064–23, and 

REG–118492–23, whichever applies. 

Requests to attend the public hearing 

must be received by 5:00 p.m. ET by 

Monday, January 29, 2024. 

Hearings will be made accessible to 

people with disabilities. To request 

special assistance during a hearing 

please contact the Publications and 

Regulations Section of the Office of 

Associate Chief Counsel (Procedure and 

Administration) by sending an email to 

publichearings@irs.gov (preferred) or by 

telephone at (202) 317–6901 (not a tollfree number) by 5:00 p.m. ET on Friday, 

January 26, 2024. 

Any questions regarding speaking at 

or attending a public hearing may also 

be emailed to publichearings@irs.gov. 

Oluwafunmilayo A. Taylor, 

Section Chief, Publications and Regulations 

Section, Associate Chief Counsel (Procedure 

and Administration). 

[FR Doc. 2024–00375 Filed 1–10–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4830–01–P 

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS 

COMMISSION 

47 CFR Part 1 

[WC Docket No. 17–84; FCC 23–109; FR 

ID 193610] 

Accelerating Wireline Broadband 

Deployment by Removing Barriers to 

Infrastructure Investment 

AGENCY: Federal Communications 

Commission. 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: In this document, the 

Commission adopted a Third Further 

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking 

(FNPRM) that tentatively concludes that 

the Commission should take further 

action to facilitate the processing of pole 

attachment applications that are 

submitted in large numbers. It also seeks 

comment on whether the Commission 

should modify its self-help rules to 

enable prospective attachers to access 

poles more quickly. Finally, it seeks 

comment on the impact of contractor 

availability when attachers seek to use 

their own contractors when conducting 

self-help or one-touch make-ready for 

surveys and make-ready work. 

DATES: Comments are due on or before 

February 13, 2024, and reply comments 

are due on or before February 28, 2024. 

Written comments on the Paperwork 

Reduction Act proposed information 

collection requirements must be 

submitted by the public, Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB), and 

other interested parties on or before 

March 11, 2024. 

ADDRESSES: Pursuant to sections 1.415 

and 1.419 of the Commission’s rules, 47 

CFR 1.415, 1.419, interested parties may 

file comments and reply comments on 

or before the dates indicated in this 

document. Comments and reply 

comments may be filed using the 

Commission’s Electronic Comment 

Filing System (ECFS). See Electronic 

Filing of Documents in Rulemaking 

Proceedings, 63 FR 24121 (1998). 

Interested parties may file comments or 

reply comments, identified by CG 

Docket No. 17–59 and WC Docket No. 

17–97 by any of the following methods: 

• Electronic Filers: Comments may be 

filed electronically by accessing ECFS at 

https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/. 

• Paper Filers: Parties who choose to 

file by paper must file an original and 

one copy of each filing. Paper filings can 

be sent by commercial overnight 

courier, or by first-class or overnight 

U.S. Postal Service mail. 

• Effective March 19, 2020, and until 

further notice, the Commission no 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with PROPOSALS1
1860 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 8 / Thursday, January 11, 2024 / Proposed Rules 

longer accepts any hand or messenger 

delivered filings. 

• Commercial overnight mail (other 

than U.S. Postal Service Express Mail 

and Priority Mail) must be sent to 9050 

Junction Drive, Annapolis Junction, MD 

20701. 

• U.S. Postal Service first-class, 

Express, and Priority mail must be 

addressed to 45 L Street NE, 

Washington, DC 20554. 

In addition to filing comments with 

the Secretary, a copy of any comments 

on the Paperwork Reduction Act 

proposed information collection 

requirements contained herein should 

be submitted to the Federal 

Communications Commission via email 

to PRA@fcc.gov and to Nicole Ongele, 

FCC, via email to Nicole.Ongele@

fcc.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

further information, please contact 

either Michele Berlove, Assistant 

Division Chief, Competition Policy 

Division, Wireline Competition Bureau, 

at michele.berlove@fcc.gov or at (202) 

418–1477, or Michael Ray, Attorney 

Advisor, Competition Policy Division, 

Wireline Competition Bureau, at 

michael.ray@fcc.gov or at (202) 418– 

0357. For additional information 

concerning the Paperwork Reduction 

Act proposed information collection 

requirements contained in this 

document, send an email to PRA@

fcc.gov or contact Nicole Ongele at (202) 

418–2991. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a 

summary of the Commission’s Third 

Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking 

(FNPRM) in WC Docket No. 17–84, FCC 

23–109, adopted on December 13, 2023, 

and released on December 15, 2023. The 

full text of this document is available for 

public inspection at the following 

internet address: https://www.fcc.gov/ 

document/fcc-seeks-make-poleattachment-process-faster-moretransparent-and-more-cost-effective. 

The Providing Accountability Through 

Transparency Act, Public Law 118–9, 

requires each agency, in providing 

notice of a rulemaking, to post online a 

brief plain-language summary of the 

proposed rule. The required summary of 

this FNPRM is available at https://

www.fcc.gov/proposed-rulemakings. To 

request materials in accessible formats 

for people with disabilities (e.g., Braille, 

large print, electronic files, audio 

format), send an email to fcc504@fcc.gov 

or call the Consumer & Governmental 

Affairs Bureau at (202) 418–0530. 

Initial Paperwork Reduction Act of 

1995 Analysis 

This document may contain proposed 

information collection requirements. 

The Commission, as part of its 

continuing effort to reduce paperwork 

burdens, invites the general public to 

comment on the information collection 

requirements contained in this 

document, as required by the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104– 

13. 

Comments should address: (a) 

whether the proposed collection of 

information is necessary for the proper 

performance of the functions of the 

Commission, including whether the 

information shall have practical utility; 

(b) the accuracy of the Commission’s 

burden estimates; (c) ways to enhance 

the quality, utility, and clarity of the 

information collected; (d) ways to 

minimize the burden of the collection of 

information on the respondents, 

including the use of automated 

collection techniques or other forms of 

information technology; and (e) way to 

further reduce the information 

collection burden on small business 

concerns with fewer than 25 employees. 

In addition, pursuant to the Small 

Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2002, 

Public Law 107–198, see 44 U.S.C. 

3506(c)(4), we seek specific comment on 

how we might further reduce the 

information collection burden for small 

business concerns with fewer than 25 

employees. 

Comment Period and Filing Procedures 

Pursuant to sections 1.415 and 1.419 

of the Commission’s rules, 47 CFR 

1.415, 1.419, interested parties may file 

comments and reply comments on or 

before the dates indicated on the first 

page of this document. Comments may 

be filed using the Commission’s 

Electronic Comment Filing System 

(ECFS) or by paper. Commenters should 

refer to WC Docket No. 21–341 when 

filing in response to this FNPRM. 

• Electronic Filers: Comments may be 

filed electronically by accessing ECFS at 

https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs. 

• Paper Filers: Parties who choose to 

file by paper must file an original and 

one copy of each filing. Paper filings can 

be sent by commercial overnight 

courier, or by first-class or overnight 

U.S. Postal Service mail. 

• Effective March 19, 2020, and until 

further notice, the Commission no 

longer accepts any hand or messenger 

delivered filings. 

• Commercial overnight mail (other 

than U.S. Postal Service Express Mail 

and Priority Mail) must be sent to 9050 

Junction Drive, Annapolis Junction, MD 

20701. 

U.S. Postal Service first-class, 

Express, and Priority Mail must be 

addressed to 45 L Street NE, 

Washington, DC 20554. 

People with Disabilities: To request 

materials in accessible formats for 

people with disabilities (braille, large 

print, electronic files, audio format), 

send an email to fcc504@fcc.gov or call 

the Consumer & Governmental Affairs 

Bureau at 202–418–0530 (voice), 202– 

418–0432 (TTY). 

Synopsis 

I. Introduction 

1. Access to a broadband connection 

is a necessity of modern life. With 

consumers more dependent than ever 

on fixed and mobile broadband 

networks for work, healthcare services, 

education, and social activities, the 

Commission remains committed to 

ensuring consumers across the nation 

have meaningful access to broadband. 

With the support of the Commission’s 

universal service fund, the 

Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, 

which included the largest ever federal 

investment in broadband, as well as 

other federal and state broadband 

deployment programs, more funding 

than ever is available to build the 

necessary infrastructure to bring muchneeded broadband services to unserved 

and underserved areas in the United 

States. Key to these broadband projects 

are the utility poles that support the 

wires and the wireless equipment that 

carry broadband to American homes 

and businesses. 

2. Over the last several years, the 

Commission has taken significant steps 

in setting the ‘‘rules for the road’’ for the 

discussions between utilities and 

telecommunications companies about 

the timing and cost of attaching 

broadband equipment to utility poles, 

with the backstop of a robust complaint 

process when parties cannot agree on 

the rates, terms, and conditions for pole 

attachments. (Note that section 224(c) of 

the Communications Act of 1934, as 

amended (the Act), exempts from 

Commission jurisdiction those pole 

attachments in states that have elected 

to regulate pole attachments themselves. 

To date, 23 states and the District of 

Columbia have opted out of 

Commission regulation of pole 

attachments in their jurisdictions. The 

Commission’s pole attachment rules 

currently only apply to cable operators 

and providers of telecommunications 

services and therefore do not apply to 

broadband-only internet service 

providers. We recently proposed to 

reclassify broadband internet access 

service as a telecommunications service, 


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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 8 / Thursday, January 11, 2024 / Proposed Rules 1861 

which would, if completed, apply 

section 224 and the Commission’s pole 

attachment rules to broadband-only 

internet service providers.) In this item, 

we take additional steps to speed 

broadband deployment by making the 

pole attachment process faster, more 

transparent, and more cost effective. 

Specifically, we adopt rules (1) 

establishing a new process for the 

Commission’s review and assessment of 

pole attachment disputes that impede or 

delay broadband deployment in order to 

expedite resolution of such disputes, 

and (2) providing communications 

providers with information about the 

status of the utility poles they plan to 

use as they map out their broadband 

builds. Additionally, as a follow-on to 

the pole replacement clarification 

issued in the 2021 Pole Replacement 

Declaratory Ruling, in the Declaratory 

Ruling below we provide further 

clarification regarding cost causation 

when a pole must be replaced for any 

reason other than lacking capacity to 

support a new attachment. Specifically, 

we clarify that a ‘‘red tagged’’ pole is 

one that the utility has identified as 

needing replacement for any reason 

other than the pole’s lack of capacity, 

and we provide additional examples of 

when a pole replacement is not 

‘‘necessitated solely’’ as a result of a 

third party’s attachment or modification 

request—i.e., when a pole already 

requires replacement at the time the 

new attacher makes a request. We also 

clarify the obligation to share easement 

information and the applicable 

timelines for the processing of 

attachment requests for 3,000 or more 

poles. Finally, we seek comment in the 

FNPRM on ways to further facilitate the 

processing of pole attachment 

applications and make-ready to enable 

faster broadband deployment. 

II. Background 

3. In 1996, as part of its 

implementation of the pole attachment 

requirements located in sections 224(h) 

and 224(i) of the Act, the Commission 

determined that when a modification, 

such as a pole replacement, is 

undertaken for the benefit of a particular 

party, then under cost causation 

principles, the benefiting party must 

assume the cost of the modification. 

(Section 224(h) states that ‘‘[w]henever 

the owner of a pole, duct, conduit, or 

right-of-way intends to modify or alter 

such pole, duct, conduit, or right-ofway, the owner shall provide written 

notification of such action to any entity 

that has obtained an attachment to such 

conduit or right-of-way so that such 

entity may have a reasonable 

opportunity to add to or modify its 

existing attachment. Any entity that 

adds to or modifies its existing 

attachment after receiving such 

notification shall bear a proportionate 

share of the costs incurred by the owner 

in making such pole, duct, conduit, or 

right-of-way accessible.’’ Section 224(i) 

states that ‘‘[a]n entity that obtains an 

attachment to a pole, conduit, or rightof-way shall not be required to bear any 

of the costs of rearranging or replacing 

its attachment, if such rearrangement or 

replacement is required as a result of an 

additional attachment or the 

modification of an existing attachment 

sought by any other entity (including 

the owner of such pole, duct, conduit, 

or right-of-way).’’) The Commission also 

found that when a utility decides to 

modify a pole for its own benefit, and 

no other attachers derive a benefit from 

the modification, the utility must bear 

the full cost of the new pole. The 

Commission further adopted a cost 

sharing principle for when an existing 

attacher uses a modification by another 

party as an opportunity to add to or 

modify its own attachments and applied 

this principle to utilities and other 

attachers seeking to use modifications as 

an opportunity to bring their own 

facilities into compliance with safety or 

other requirements. In the 2018 Wireline 

Infrastructure Order, the Commission 

reiterated that application of the cost 

sharing principle. 

4. On July 16, 2020, NCTA—the 

Internet & Television Association 

(NCTA) filed a Petition asking the 

Commission to clarify its rules in the 

context of pole replacements. 

Specifically, NCTA asked the 

Commission to declare that: (1) utilities 

must share in the cost of pole 

replacements in unserved areas 

pursuant to section 224 of the Act, 

section 1.1408(b) of the Commission’s 

rules, and Commission precedent; (2) 

pole attachment complaints arising in 

unserved areas should be prioritized 

through placement on the Accelerated 

Docket under § 1.736 of the 

Commission’s rules; and (3) § 1.1407(b) 

of the Commission’s rules authorizes the 

Commission to order a utility to 

complete a pole replacement within a 

specified time frame or designate an 

authorized contractor to do so. NCTA 

argued that without Commission action, 

the costs and operational challenges 

associated with pole replacements will 

inhibit attachers from deploying 

broadband services to Americans in 

unserved areas. 

5. In the 2021 Pole Replacement 

Declaratory Ruling, although the 

Wireline Competition Bureau declined 

to act on NCTA’s Petition, finding that 

‘‘it is more appropriate to address 

questions concerning the allocation of 

pole replacement costs within the 

context of a rulemaking, which provides 

the Commission with greater flexibility 

to tailor regulatory solutions,’’ it 

observed that the record developed in 

response to the NCTA Petition revealed 

inconsistent practices by utilities with 

regard to cost responsibility for pole 

replacements. Accordingly, the Bureau 

clarified that, pursuant to § 1.1408(b) of 

the Commission’s rules and prior 

precedent, ‘‘utilities may not require 

requesting attachers to pay the entire 

cost of pole replacements that are not 

solely caused by the new attacher and, 

thus, may not avoid responsibility for 

pole replacement costs by postponing 

replacements until new attachment 

requests are submitted.’’ The 

Commission subsequently affirmed the 

Bureau’s clarifications. 

6. Last year, the Commission issued a 

Second Further Notice (87 FR 25181; 

Apr. 28, 2022) in this proceeding 

seeking comment on the universe of 

situations where the requesting attacher 

should not be required to pay for the 

full cost of a pole replacement and the 

proper allocation of costs among 

utilities and attachers in those 

situations. (To the extent that this 

Report and Order does not expressly 

address a topic that was subject to 

comment in the Second Further Notice, 

that issue remains pending.) 

Specifically, the Commission sought 

comment on the applicability of cost 

causation and cost allocation principles 

in the context of pole replacements— 

e.g., when is a pole replacement not 

caused (necessitated solely) by a new 

attachment request, and when and how 

parties must share in the costs of a pole 

replacement. The Commission also 

sought comment on the extent to which 

utilities directly benefit from pole 

replacements, including a utility’s 

responsibility for the costs of pole 

upgrades and modifications unrelated to 

new attachments and the effect of early 

pole retirements on pole replacement 

cost causation and cost allocation 

calculations. The Second Further Notice 

also sought comment on whether the 

Commission should require utilities to 

share information with potential 

attachers concerning the condition and 

replacement status of their poles and 

other measures that may help avoid or 

expedite the resolution of disputes 

between the parties, including whether 

to expand use of the Commission’s 

Accelerated Docket for pole attachment 

complaints and the specific criteria that 

Commission staff should use in 

deciding whether to place a pole 

complaint on the Accelerated Docket. 


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1862 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 8 / Thursday, January 11, 2024 / Proposed Rules 

III. Further Notice of Proposed 

Rulemaking 

7. We recognize that Congress has 

undertaken a number of initiatives 

allocating funding to further the 

deployment of broadband to unserved 

and underserved areas of the United 

States. In connection with this funding, 

broadband providers will have to 

deploy extensive facilities. This, in turn 

will require that they file significant 

numbers of applications seeking to 

attach these facilities to large numbers 

of poles. To that end, we seek comment 

on ways to further facilitate the 

approval process for pole attachment 

applications and make-ready to enable 

speedier broadband deployment. In 

seeking comment on these areas, we 

emphasize that even when there is not 

a specific Commission rule or policy 

that governs a particular situation, it is 

our expectation that parties negotiate in 

good faith to resolve issues that may 

arise. 

8. Large Orders. We tentatively 

conclude that we should adopt a 

defined make-ready timeline for orders 

that exceed 3,000 poles or 5 percent of 

the utility’s poles in a state in order to 

facilitate the processing of pole 

attachment applications that are 

submitted in large numbers. We seek 

comment on this tentative conclusion. 

Our current make-ready rule requires 

make-ready in the communications 

space to be completed within 30 days 

after the utility sends a notification to 

all existing attachers on a pole. (The 

rule provides 90 days from attachments 

above the communications space.) The 

30-day timeframe applies for 

communications space make-ready 

requests up to the lesser of 300 poles or 

0.5 percent of the utility’s poles in a 

state. This make-ready timeframe is 

extended 45 extra days for requests up 

to the lesser of 3,000 poles or 5 percent 

of the utility’s poles in a state. For 

requests exceeding 3,000 poles or 5 

percent of the utility’s poles in the state, 

the Commission’s rules require that a 

utility shall negotiate the timing of the 

make-ready in good faith. (As we clarify 

in the Declaratory Ruling accompanying 

this FNPRM, the first 3,000 poles of 

these large orders are subject to the 

timeline set forth in § 1.1411(g)(3).) We 

tentatively conclude that utilities 

should have an additional 90 days for 

make-ready for requests exceeding 3,000 

poles or 5 percent of the utility’s poles 

in a state and seek comment on this 

tentative conclusion. 

9. NCTA asserts that our rules do not 

at present sufficiently address the needs 

of attachers with these larger requests in 

the latter category. For example, NCTA 

asserts that its members have faced 

situations where the utilities have 

imposed limits on (1) the number of 

poles that may be included in any one 

application, and (2) the number of 

applications an attacher may submit at 

a time. NCTA states that these 

limitations ‘‘create problematic delays 

and jeopardize operators’ ability to meet 

broadband build-out commitments.’’ At 

the same time, USTelecom notes the 

difficulties presented by these very large 

orders, noting that ‘‘make-ready requests 

involving more than 3,000 poles require 

flexibility that make-ready timelines 

cannot provide, given the many outside 

factors that impact the time required for 

make-ready for such large orders, 

including permitting delays, workforce 

shortages and staffing issues, and the 

coordination required among all the 

attachers to the poles.’’ Given these 

factors, would 90 additional days over 

the timeline set forth in § 1.411(e) be 

sufficient for processing these larger 

orders? Would some other amount of 

time be reasonable in all circumstances, 

or should the Commission create 

additional make-ready timeline tiers in 

its rules to differentiate between 

attachment applications that could 

range from requesting access to 

thousands of poles to tens or even 

hundreds of thousands of poles? If the 

Commission were to adopt additional 

make-ready timeline tiers, what would 

be an appropriate cut off number of 

poles for each tier? For instance, should 

the Commission add an additional 

number of days for application 

processing per 3,000 poles? Does the 

ability to deviate from the timelines 

specified in § 1.1411 provide utilities 

with enough flexibility such that 

imposing a 90 additional day limit 

would be reasonable? 

10. We also seek comment on NCTA’s 

proposal that the Commission revise its 

rules to prohibit utilities from limiting 

‘‘the size of an application or the 

number of poles included in an 

application so as to avoid the 

timelines.’’ How prevalent are situations 

of the type described by NCTA? Are the 

reasons underlying utilities’ imposition 

of such limitations as laid out by 

USTelecom valid, and do other reasons 

exist for these limitations? Would 

prohibiting utilities from imposing such 

limitations in fact speed up the 

attachment process, or would the same 

delays still exist for other reasons (e.g., 

lack of qualified workers, shortages in 

materials, etc.) or even, as USTelecom 

alleges, ‘‘ultimately slow—rather than— 

accelerate deployment’’? Specifically, 

NCTA proposes adding additional time 

to the existing timelines for these 

‘‘larger’’ orders, for which our rules 

require that utilities negotiate the timing 

in good faith. Would NCTA’s proposed 

new timing requirements for larger 

orders facilitate the pole attachment 

process for such orders? Utilities have 

raised multiple concerns with such 

requirements. For example, they assert 

that compliance with expanded 

timelines may not be possible ‘‘if many 

permit applications by multiple 

attachers are submitted at 

approximately the same time, or if the 

contractor’s workload is already heavy.’’ 

They also assert that given constraints 

on workforce availability, utilities 

would be forced to ‘‘choose between 

providing safe, reliable and affordable 

power to electric customers (which is 

mandated by the states), and performing 

requested pole replacements in an 

unreasonable and likely unattainable 

amount of time.’’ Are these concerns 

valid? Are there any other reasons why 

NCTA’s proposed new timing 

requirements for larger orders would not 

work? What are the respective costs and 

benefits of such potential requirements? 

What other steps could we take to 

facilitate the pole attachment process for 

larger orders? 

11. Self-Help and Use of Contractors. 

Should the Commission consider 

modifying its self-help rules to enable 

prospective attachers to access poles 

more quickly? NCTA also asserts that it 

has faced issues with utilities failing to 

process attachment applications in a 

timely manner. NCTA therefore 

proposes that utilities notify attachers in 

advance of survey and make-ready 

deadlines if the utility will be unable to 

complete a portion of the process. For 

instance, NCTA proposes that the utility 

notify an attacher 15 days after receiving 

a complete application that it cannot 

conduct the survey within the required 

45-day period so that the attacher can 

elect self-help for the survey sooner. 

NCTA also proposes making self-help 

available for the estimate process, which 

is not contemplated under current 

Commission rules. We seek comment on 

NCTA’s proposal. (We decline NCTA’s 

request to adopt rules in the Fourth 

Report and Order regarding self-help 

and the use of contractors. We find that 

these issues would be better addressed 

after a more comprehensive record is 

developed.) How prevalent is the issue 

cited by NCTA? Can utilities feasibly be 

required to inform attachers within 15 

business days of receiving a completed 

application that they will be unable to 

conduct a survey, estimate, or makeready within the required time period? 

Do sufficient contractors exist that meet 

the minimum qualification 


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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 8 / Thursday, January 11, 2024 / Proposed Rules 1863 

requirements set forth in our rules such 

that adoption of NCTA’s proposal 

would have the desired effect of 

speeding broadband deployment? What 

are the respective costs and benefits of 

adopting NCTA’s proposal? Are there 

other ways to assist utilities in 

processing the larger number of 

applications they will likely receive in 

the coming months and years based on 

the funding initiatives in place for 

accelerating broadband deployment to 

unserved and underserved areas? 

12. We also seek comment on the 

impact of contractor availability when 

attachers seek to use their own 

contractors when conducting self-help 

or one-touch make-ready for surveys 

and make-ready work. Specifically, do 

we need to amend the Commission’s 

rules to make it easier for attachers to 

use their own contractors to do self-help 

and one-touch make-ready surveys and 

make-ready work when there are no 

contractors available from a utility list? 

Utility commenters point out the labor 

constraints in the contractor workforce; 

given such constraints, do our current 

rules provide adequate relief to 

attachers to timely identify and use 

qualified contractors to do self-help and 

one-touch make-ready work? If not, 

what can the Commission do to change 

this dynamic? 

13. Pursuant to our rules, an attacher 

can do its own work when (1) 

completing surveys and make-ready 

work when the utility misses the 

deadlines for these activities, or (2) 

electing to use the one-touch makeready process. (Note that there are no 

attacher self-help remedies for pole 

replacements.) When conducting selfhelp or one-touch make-ready work, the 

attacher must use a utility-approved 

contractor. For self-help surveys and 

make-ready work that is complex or is 

above the communications space on a 

pole, our rules require that a utility 

make available and keep up to date a 

reasonably sufficient list of contractors 

that it authorizes to perform such work. 

(The term ‘‘complex make-ready’’ means 

transfers and work within the 

communications space on a pole that 

would be reasonably likely to cause a 

service outage(s) or facility damage, 

including work such as splicing of any 

communication attachment or 

relocation of existing wireless 

attachments. Any and all wireless 

activities, including those involving 

mobile, fixed, and point-to-point 

wireless communications and wireless 

internet service providers, are to be 

considered complex.) Attachers can 

request to add contactors to the utility’s 

list—provided the contractor meets the 

minimum qualifications in the 

Commission’s rules—and the utility 

cannot unreasonably withhold its 

consent. Further, a utility may, but is 

not required to, keep up-to-date a 

reasonably sufficient list of contractors 

it authorizes to perform surveys and 

simple make-ready. If a utility provides 

such a list, then the new attacher must 

choose a contractor from the list to 

perform the work. Again, attachers may 

request the addition to the list of any 

contractor that meets the minimum 

qualifications in the Commission’s 

rules, and the utility cannot 

unreasonably withhold its consent. 

However, if the utility does not provide 

a list of approved contractors for 

surveys or simple make-ready work or 

no utility-approved contractor is 

available within a reasonable time 

period, then the new attacher may 

choose its own qualified contractor who 

meets the Commission’s minimum 

requirements. Utilities retain the right to 

disqualify such contractor, but 

disqualification must be based on 

reasonable safety or reliability concerns 

related to the contractor’s failure to meet 

any of the Commission’s minimum 

qualifications or to meet the utility’s 

publicly available and commercially 

reasonable safety or reliability 

standards. The utility must provide 

notice of this objection to the attacher 

and must identify at least one available 

qualified contractor that the attacher can 

use instead to perform simple surveys 

and make-ready work. 

14. Given that our current rules allow 

for attachers to choose their own 

contractors for one-touch make-ready 

and for self-help when the utility fails 

to meet the Commission’s deadlines 

(provided such contractors meet the 

minimum qualifications set forth in our 

rules), we seek comment on whether 

attachers are availing themselves of this 

option. Have attachers faced any 

obstacles from utilities when seeking to 

invoke this option? While a utility 

cannot be blamed for a lack of available 

contractors in an area due to workforce 

constraints, are utilities seeking to use 

their discretion set forth in the rules to 

disqualify otherwise-qualified 

contractors whom attachers may seek to 

bring in from outside of an area? We 

note that, at least for surveys and simple 

make-ready work, our current rules 

already require the utility to designate 

an available contractor if it properly 

exercises its discretion to disqualify one 

chosen by an attacher—is this not being 

done? If not, is it due to labor 

constraints for which the utility should 

not be held responsible? In the instance 

where no qualified contractors are 

available for a project, how could the 

Commission help to solve that problem? 

IV. Initial Regulatory Flexibility 

Analysis 

15. As required by the Regulatory 

Flexibility Act of 1980, as amended 

(RFA), the Commission has prepared 

this Initial Regulatory Flexibility 

Analysis (IRFA) of the possible 

significant economic impact on small 

entities by the policies and rules 

proposed in this FNPRM. The 

Commission requests written public 

comments on this IRFA. Comments 

must be identified as responses to the 

IRFA and must be filed by the deadlines 

for comments provided on the first page 

of the FNPRM. The Commission will 

send a copy of the FNPRM, including 

this IRFA, to the Chief Counsel for 

Advocacy of the Small Business 

Administration (SBA). In addition, the 

FNPRM and IRFA (or summaries 

thereof) will be published in the Federal 

Register. 

A. Need for, and Objectives of, the 

Proposed Rules 

16. In order to continue the 

Commission’s work combating illegal 

calls, this FNPRM proposes to impose 

several obligations on gateway 

providers. Specifically, the FNPRM 

proposes to require gateway providers to 

authenticate and employ robocall 

mitigation techniques on all SIP calls 

that they allow into the United States 

from abroad that display a U.S. number 

in the caller ID field. The FNPRM also 

proposes that gateway providers should 

engage in robocall mitigation by (1) 

responding to all traceback requests 

from the Commission, law enforcement, 

and the industry traceback consortium 

within 24 hours; (2) complying with 

mandatory call blocking requirements; 

(3) complying with enhanced knowyour-customer obligations; (4) 

complying with a general duty to 

mitigate illegal robocalls; and (5) filing 

a certification in the Robocall Mitigation 

Database. The Commission also 

proposes one blocking requirement for 

intermediate and terminating providers 

immediately downstream from the 

gateway provider, which would require 

those providers to block all traffic from 

a gateway provider that fails to block or 

effectively mitigate illegal traffic when 

notified of such traffic by the 

Commission. 

B. Legal Basis 

17. The FNPRM proposes to find 

authority largely under those provisions 

through which it has previously 

adopted rules to stem the tide of 

robocalls in its Call Blocking and Call 


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Authentication Orders. Specifically, the 

FNPRM proposes to find authority 

under sections 201(a) and (b), 202(a), 

251(e), the Truth in Caller ID Act, the 

TRACED Act and, where appropriate, 

ancillary authority. The FNPRM also 

proposes to conclude that, to the extent 

any of the rules we seek to adopt have 

an effect on foreign service providers, 

that effect is only indirect and therefore 

consistent with the Commission’s 

authority. The FNPRM solicits comment 

on these proposals. 

C. Description and Estimate of the 

Number of Small Entities to Which the 

Proposed Rules Will Apply 

18. The RFA directs agencies to 

provide a description of, and where 

feasible, an estimate of the number of 

small entities that may be affected by 

the proposed rules, if adopted. The RFA 

generally defines the term ‘‘small 

entity’’ as having the same meaning as 

the terms ‘‘small business,’’ ‘‘small 

organization,’’ and ‘‘small governmental 

jurisdiction.’’ In addition, the term 

‘‘small business’’ has the same meaning 

as the term ‘‘small business concern’’ 

under the Small Business Act. (Pursuant 

to 5 U.S.C. 601(3), the statutory 

definition of a small business applies 

‘‘unless an agency, after consultation 

with the Office of Advocacy of the 

Small Business Administration and after 

opportunity for public comment, 

establishes one or more definitions of 

such term which are appropriate to the 

activities of the agency and publishes 

such definition(s) in the Federal 

Register.’’) A ‘‘small business concern’’ 

is one which: (1) is independently 

owned and operated; (2) is not 

dominant in its field of operation; and 

(3) satisfies any additional criteria 

established by the SBA. 

19. Small Businesses, Small 

Organizations, Small Governmental 

Jurisdictions. Our actions, over time, 

may affect small entities that are not 

easily categorized at present. We 

therefore describe, at the outset, three 

broad groups of small entities that could 

be directly affected herein. First, while 

there are industry specific size 

standards for small businesses that are 

used in the regulatory flexibility 

analysis, according to data from the 

Small Business Administration’s (SBA) 

Office of Advocacy, in general a small 

business is an independent business 

having fewer than 500 employees. These 

types of small businesses represent 

99.9% of all businesses in the United 

States, which translates to 33.2 million 

businesses. 

20. Next, the type of small entity 

described as a ‘‘small organization’’ is 

generally ‘‘any not-for-profit enterprise 

which is independently owned and 

operated and is not dominant in its 

field.’’ The Internal Revenue Service 

(IRS) uses a revenue benchmark of 

$50,000 or less to delineate its annual 

electronic filing requirements for small 

exempt organizations. (The IRS 

benchmark is similar to the population 

of less than 50,000 benchmark in 5 

U.S.C. 601(5) that is used to define a 

small governmental jurisdiction. 

Therefore, the IRS benchmark has been 

used to estimate the number of small 

organizations in this small entity 

description. We note that the IRS data 

does not provide information on 

whether a small exempt organization is 

independently owned and operated or 

dominant in its field.) Nationwide, for 

tax year 2020, there were approximately 

447,689 small exempt organizations in 

the U.S. reporting revenues of $50,000 

or less according to the registration and 

tax data for exempt organizations 

available from the IRS. (The IRS Exempt 

Organization Business Master File (E.O. 

BMF) Extract provides information on 

all registered tax-exempt/non-profit 

organizations. The data utilized for 

purposes of this description was 

extracted from the IRS E.O. BMF data 

for businesses for the tax year 2020 with 

revenue less than or equal to $50,000 for 

Region 1—Northeast Area (58,577), 

Region 2—Mid-Atlantic and Great Lakes 

Areas (175,272), and Region 3—Gulf 

Coast and Pacific Coast Areas (213,840) 

that includes the continental U.S., 

Alaska, and Hawaii. This data does not 

include information for Puerto Rico.) 

21. Finally, the small entity described 

as a ‘‘small governmental jurisdiction’’ 

is defined generally as ‘‘governments of 

cities, counties, towns, townships, 

villages, school districts, or special 

districts, with a population of less than 

fifty thousand.’’ U.S. Census Bureau 

data from the 2017 Census of 

Governments indicate there were 90,075 

local governmental jurisdictions 

consisting of general purpose 

governments and special purpose 

governments in the United States. (The 

Census of Governments survey is 

conducted every five (5) years 

compiling data for years ending with 

‘‘2’’ and ‘‘7’’.) (Local governmental 

jurisdictions are made up of general 

purpose governments (county, 

municipal and town or township) and 

special purpose governments (special 

districts and independent school 

districts).) Of this number, there were 

36,931 general purpose governments 

(county, (there were 2,105 county 

governments with populations less than 

50,000. This category does not include 

subcounty (municipal and township) 

governments) municipal, and town or 

township (there were 18,729 municipal 

and 16,097 town and township 

governments with populations less than 

50,000)) with populations of less than 

50,000 and 12,040 special purpose 

governments—independent school 

districts (there were 12,040 independent 

school districts with enrollment 

populations less than 50,000) with 

enrollment populations of less than 

50,000. (While the special purpose 

governments category also includes 

local special district governments, the 

2017 Census of Governments data does 

not provide data aggregated based on 

population size for the special purpose 

governments category. Therefore, only 

data from independent school districts 

is included in the special purpose 

governments category.) Accordingly, 

based on the 2017 U.S. Census of 

Governments data, we estimate that at 

least 48,971 entities fall into the 

category of ‘‘small governmental 

jurisdictions.’’ (This total is derived 

from the sum of the number of general 

purpose governments (county, 

municipal and town or township) with 

populations of less than 50,000 (36,931) 

and the number of special purpose 

governments—independent school 

districts with enrollment populations of 

less than 50,000 (12,040), from the 2017 

Census of Governments—Organizations 

tbls. 5, 6 & 10.) 

1. Internet Access Service Providers 

22. Wired Broadband Internet Access 

Service Providers (Wired ISPs). 

(Formerly included in the scope of the 

Internet Service Providers (Broadband), 

Wired Telecommunications Carriers and 

All Other Telecommunications small 

entity industry descriptions.) Providers 

of wired broadband internet access 

service include various types of 

providers except dial-up internet access 

providers. Wireline service that 

terminates at an end user location or 

mobile device and enables the end user 

to receive information from and/or send 

information to the internet at 

information transfer rates exceeding 200 

kilobits per second (kbps) in at least one 

direction is classified as a broadband 

connection under the Commission’s 

rules. Wired broadband internet services 

fall in the Wired Telecommunications 

Carriers industry. The SBA small 

business size standard for this industry 

classifies firms having 1,500 or fewer 

employees as small. U.S. Census Bureau 

data for 2017 show that there were 3,054 

firms that operated in this industry for 

the entire year. Of this number, 2,964 

firms operated with fewer than 250 

employees. (The available U.S. Census 

Bureau data does not provide a more 


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precise estimate of the number of firms 

that meet the SBA size standard.) 

23. Additionally, according to 

Commission data on internet access 

services as of June 30, 2019, nationwide 

there were approximately 2,747 

providers of connections over 200 kbps 

in at least one direction using various 

wireline technologies. (The technologies 

used by providers include aDSL, sDSL, 

Other Wireline, Cable Modem and 

FTTP). Other wireline includes: all 

copper-wire based technologies other 

than xDSL (such as Ethernet over 

copper, T–1/DS–1 and T3/DS–1) as well 

as power line technologies which are 

included in this category to maintain 

the confidentiality of the providers.) 

The Commission does not collect data 

on the number of employees for 

providers of these services, therefore, at 

this time we are not able to estimate the 

number of providers that would qualify 

as small under the SBA’s small business 

size standard. However, in light of the 

general data on fixed technology service 

providers in the Commission’s 2022 

Communications Marketplace Report, 

we believe that the majority of wireline 

internet access service providers can be 

considered small entities. 

24. Internet Service Providers (NonBroadband). Internet access service 

providers using client-supplied 

telecommunications connections (e.g., 

dial-up ISPs) as well as VoIP service 

providers using client-supplied 

telecommunications connections fall in 

the industry classification of All Other 

Telecommunications. The SBA small 

business size standard for this industry 

classifies firms with annual receipts of 

$35 million or less as small. For this 

industry, U.S. Census Bureau data for 

2017 show that there were 1,079 firms 

in this industry that operated for the 

entire year. Of those firms, 1,039 had 

revenue of less than $25 million. (The 

available U.S. Census Bureau data does 

not provide a more precise estimate of 

the number of firms that meet the SBA 

size standard. We also note that 

according to the U.S. Census Bureau 

glossary, the terms receipts and 

revenues are used interchangeably.) 

Consequently, under the SBA size 

standard a majority of firms in this 

industry can be considered small. 

2. Wireline Providers 

25. Wired Telecommunications 

Carriers. The U.S. Census Bureau 

defines this industry as establishments 

primarily engaged in operating and/or 

providing access to transmission 

facilities and infrastructure that they 

own and/or lease for the transmission of 

voice, data, text, sound, and video using 

wired communications networks. 

Transmission facilities may be based on 

a single technology or a combination of 

technologies. Establishments in this 

industry use the wired 

telecommunications network facilities 

that they operate to provide a variety of 

services, such as wired telephony 

services, including VoIP services, wired 

(cable) audio and video programming 

distribution, and wired broadband 

internet services. By exception, 

establishments providing satellite 

television distribution services using 

facilities and infrastructure that they 

operate are included in this industry. 

Wired Telecommunications Carriers are 

also referred to as wireline carriers or 

fixed local service providers. (Fixed 

Local Service Providers include the 

following types of providers: Incumbent 

Local Exchange Carriers (ILECs), 

Competitive Access Providers (CAPs) 

and Competitive Local Exchange 

Carriers (CLECs), Cable/Coax CLECs, 

Interconnected VOIP Providers, NonInterconnected VOIP Providers, SharedTenant Service Providers, Audio Bridge 

Service Providers, and Other Local 

Service Providers. Local Resellers fall 

into another U.S. Census Bureau 

industry group and therefore data for 

these providers is not included in this 

industry.) 

26. The SBA small business size 

standard for Wired Telecommunications 

Carriers classifies firms having 1,500 or 

fewer employees as small. U.S. Census 

Bureau data for 2017 show that there 

were 3,054 firms that operated in this 

industry for the entire year. Of this 

number, 2,964 firms operated with 

fewer than 250 employees. (The 

available U.S. Census Bureau data does 

not provide a more precise estimate of 

the number of firms that meet the SBA 

size standard.) Additionally, based on 

Commission data in the 2022 Universal 

Service Monitoring Report, as of 

December 31, 2021, there were 4,590 

providers that reported they were 

engaged in the provision of fixed local 

services. Of these providers, the 

Commission estimates that 4,146 

providers have 1,500 or fewer 

employees. Consequently, using the 

SBA’s small business size standard, 

most of these providers can be 

considered small entities. 

27. Local Exchange Carriers (LECs). 

Neither the Commission nor the SBA 

has developed a size standard for small 

businesses specifically applicable to 

local exchange services. Providers of 

these services include both incumbent 

and competitive local exchange service 

providers. Wired Telecommunications 

Carriers is the closest industry with an 

SBA small business size standard. 

Wired Telecommunications Carriers are 

also referred to as wireline carriers or 

fixed local service providers. (Fixed 

Local Exchange Service Providers 

include the following types of 

providers: Incumbent Local Exchange 

Carriers (ILECs), Competitive Access 

Providers (CAPs) and Competitive Local 

Exchange Carriers (CLECs), Cable/Coax 

CLECs, Interconnected VOIP Providers, 

Non-Interconnected VOIP Providers, 

Shared Tenant Service Providers, Audio 

Bridge Service Providers, Local 

Resellers, and Other Local Service 

Providers.) The SBA small business size 

standard for Wired Telecommunications 

Carriers classifies firms having 1,500 or 

fewer employees as small. U.S. Census 

Bureau data for 2017 show that there 

were 3,054 firms that operated in this 

industry for the entire year. Of this 

number, 2,964 firms operated with 

fewer than 250 employees. (The 

available U.S. Census Bureau data does 

not provide a more precise estimate of 

the number of firms that meet the SBA 

size standard.) Additionally, based on 

Commission data in the 2022 Universal 

Service Monitoring Report, as of 

December 31, 2021, there were 4,590 

providers that reported they were fixed 

local exchange service providers. Of 

these providers, the Commission 

estimates that 4,146 providers have 

1,500 or fewer employees. 

Consequently, using the SBA’s small 

business size standard, most of these 

providers can be considered small 

entities. 

28. Incumbent Local Exchange 

Carriers (Incumbent LECs). Neither the 

Commission nor the SBA have 

developed a small business size 

standard specifically for incumbent 

local exchange carriers. Wired 

Telecommunications Carriers is the 

closest industry with an SBA small 

business size standard. The SBA small 

business size standard for Wired 

Telecommunications Carriers classifies 

firms having 1,500 or fewer employees 

as small. U.S. Census Bureau data for 

2017 show that there were 3,054 firms 

in this industry that operated for the 

entire year. Of this number, 2,964 firms 

operated with fewer than 250 

employees. (The available U.S. Census 

Bureau data does not provide a more 

precise estimate of the number of firms 

that meet the SBA size standard.) 

Additionally, based on Commission 

data in the 2022 Universal Service 

Monitoring Report, as of December 31, 

2021, there were 1,212 providers that 

reported they were incumbent local 

exchange service providers. Of these 

providers, the Commission estimates 

that 916 providers have 1,500 or fewer 

employees. Consequently, using the 


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SBA’s small business size standard, the 

Commission estimates that the majority 

of incumbent local exchange carriers 

can be considered small entities. 

29. Competitive Local Exchange 

Carriers (LECs). Neither the Commission 

nor the SBA has developed a size 

standard for small businesses 

specifically applicable to local exchange 

services. Providers of these services 

include several types of competitive 

local exchange service providers. 

(Competitive Local Exchange Service 

Providers include the following types of 

providers: Competitive Access Providers 

(CAPs) and Competitive Local Exchange 

Carriers (CLECs), Cable/Coax CLECs, 

Interconnected VOIP Providers, NonInterconnected VOIP Providers, Shared 

Tenant Service Providers, Audio Bridge 

Service Providers, Local Resellers, and 

Other Local Service Providers.) Wired 

Telecommunications Carriers is the 

closest industry with an SBA small 

business size standard. The SBA small 

business size standard for Wired 

Telecommunications Carriers classifies 

firms having 1,500 or fewer employees 

as small. U.S. Census Bureau data for 

2017 show that there were 3,054 firms 

that operated in this industry for the 

entire year. Of this number, 2,964 firms 

operated with fewer than 250 

employees. (The available U.S. Census 

Bureau data does not provide a more 

precise estimate of the number of firms 

that meet the SBA size standard.) 

Additionally, based on Commission 

data in the 2022 Universal Service 

Monitoring Report, as of December 31, 

2021, there were 3,378 providers that 

reported they were competitive local 

exchange service providers. Of these 

providers, the Commission estimates 

that 3,230 providers have 1,500 or fewer 

employees. Consequently, using the 

SBA’s small business size standard, 

most of these providers can be 

considered small entities. 

30. Interexchange Carriers (IXCs). 

Neither the Commission nor the SBA 

has developed a small business size 

standard specifically for Interexchange 

Carriers. Wired Telecommunications 

Carriers is the closest industry with an 

SBA small business size standard. The 

SBA small business size standard for 

Wired Telecommunications Carriers 

classifies firms having 1,500 or fewer 

employees as small. U.S. Census Bureau 

data for 2017 show that there were 3,054 

firms that operated in this industry for 

the entire year. Of this number, 2,964 

firms operated with fewer than 250 

employees. (The available U.S. Census 

Bureau data does not provide a more 

precise estimate of the number of firms 

that meet the SBA size standard.) 

Additionally, based on Commission 

data in the 2022 Universal Service 

Monitoring Report, as of December 31, 

2021, there were 127 providers that 

reported they were engaged in the 

provision of interexchange services. Of 

these providers, the Commission 

estimates that 109 providers have 1,500 

or fewer employees. Consequently, 

using the SBA’s small business size 

standard, the Commission estimates that 

the majority of providers in this 

industry can be considered small 

entities. 

31. Operator Service Providers (OSPs). 

Neither the Commission nor the SBA 

has developed a small business size 

standard specifically for operator 

service providers. The closest applicable 

industry with an SBA small business 

size standard is Wired 

Telecommunications Carriers. The SBA 

small business size standard classifies a 

business as small if it has 1,500 or fewer 

employees. U.S. Census Bureau data for 

2017 show that there were 3,054 firms 

in this industry that operated for the 

entire year. Of this number, 2,964 firms 

operated with fewer than 250 

employees. (The available U.S. Census 

Bureau data does not provide a more 

precise estimate of the number of firms 

that meet the SBA size standard.) 

Additionally, based on Commission 

data in the 2022 Universal Service 

Monitoring Report, as of December 31, 

2021, there were 20 providers that 

reported they were engaged in the 

provision of operator services. Of these 

providers, the Commission estimates 

that all 20 providers have 1,500 or fewer 

employees. Consequently, using the 

SBA’s small business size standard, all 

of these providers can be considered 

small entities. 

32. Other Toll Carriers. Neither the 

Commission nor the SBA has developed 

a definition for small businesses 

specifically applicable to Other Toll 

Carriers. This category includes toll 

carriers that do not fall within the 

categories of interexchange carriers, 

operator service providers, prepaid 

calling card providers, satellite service 

carriers, or toll resellers. Wired 

Telecommunications Carriers is the 

closest industry with an SBA small 

business size standard. The SBA small 

business size standard for Wired 

Telecommunications Carriers classifies 

firms having 1,500 or fewer employees 

as small. U.S. Census Bureau data for 

2017 show that there were 3,054 firms 

in this industry that operated for the 

entire year. Of this number, 2,964 firms 

operated with fewer than 250 

employees. (The available U.S. Census 

Bureau data does not provide a more 

precise estimate of the number of firms 

that meet the SBA size standard.) 

Additionally, based on Commission 

data in the 2022 Universal Service 

Monitoring Report, as of December 31, 

2021, there were 90 providers that 

reported they were engaged in the 

provision of other toll services. Of these 

providers, the Commission estimates 

that 87 providers have 1,500 or fewer 

employees. Consequently, using the 

SBA’s small business size standard, 

most of these providers can be 

considered small entities. 

3. Wireless Providers—Fixed and 

Mobile 

33. The broadband internet access 

service provider category covered by 

these new rules may cover multiple 

wireless firms and categories of 

regulated wireless services. (This 

includes, among others, the 

approximately 800 members of WISPA, 

including those entities who provide 

fixed wireless broadband service using 

unlicensed spectrum. We also consider 

the impact to these entities for the 

purposes of this FRFA, by including 

them under the ‘‘Wireless Providers— 

Fixed and Mobile’’ category.) Thus, to 

the extent the wireless services listed 

below are used by wireless firms for 

broadband internet access service, the 

actions may have an impact on those 

small businesses as set forth above and 

further below. In addition, for those 

services subject to auctions, we note 

that, as a general matter, the number of 

winning bidders that claim to qualify as 

small businesses at the close of an 

auction does not necessarily represent 

the number of small businesses 

currently in service. Also, the 

Commission does not generally track 

subsequent business size unless, in the 

context of assignments and transfers or 

reportable eligibility events, unjust 

enrichment issues are implicated. 

34. Wireless Telecommunications 

Carriers (except Satellite). This industry 

comprises establishments engaged in 

operating and maintaining switching 

and transmission facilities to provide 

communications via the airwaves. 

Establishments in this industry have 

spectrum licenses and provide services 

using that spectrum, such as cellular 

services, paging services, wireless 

internet access, and wireless video 

services. The SBA size standard for this 

industry classifies a business as small if 

it has 1,500 or fewer employees. U.S. 

Census Bureau data for 2017 show that 

there were 2,893 firms in this industry 

that operated for the entire year. Of that 

number, 2,837 firms employed fewer 

than 250 employees. (The available U.S. 

Census Bureau data does not provide a 

more precise estimate of the number of 

firms that meet the SBA size standard.) 


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Additionally, based on Commission 

data in the 2022 Universal Service 

Monitoring Report, as of December 31, 

2021, there were 594 providers that 

reported they were engaged in the 

provision of wireless services. Of these 

providers, the Commission estimates 

that 511 providers have 1,500 or fewer 

employees. Consequently, using the 

SBA’s small business size standard, 

most of these providers can be 

considered small entities. 

35. Wireless Communications 

Services. Wireless Communications 

Services (WCS) can be used for a variety 

of fixed, mobile, radiolocation, and 

digital audio broadcasting satellite 

services. Wireless spectrum is made 

available and licensed for the provision 

of wireless communications services in 

several frequency bands subject to Part 

27 of the Commission’s rules. Wireless 

Telecommunications Carriers (except 

Satellite) is the closest industry with an 

SBA small business size standard 

applicable to these services. The SBA 

small business size standard for this 

industry classifies a business as small if 

it has 1,500 or fewer employees. U.S. 

Census Bureau data for 2017 show that 

there were 2,893 firms that operated in 

this industry for the entire year. Of this 

number, 2,837 firms employed fewer 

than 250 employees. (The available U.S. 

Census Bureau data does not provide a 

more precise estimate of the number of 

firms that meet the SBA size standard.) 

Thus under the SBA size standard, the 

Commission estimates that a majority of 

licensees in this industry can be 

considered small. 

36. The Commission’s small business 

size standards with respect to WCS 

involve eligibility for bidding credits 

and installment payments in the auction 

of licenses for the various frequency 

bands included in WCS. When bidding 

credits are adopted for the auction of 

licenses in WCS frequency bands, such 

credits may be available to several types 

of small businesses based average gross 

revenues (small, very small and 

entrepreneur) pursuant to the 

competitive bidding rules adopted in 

conjunction with the requirements for 

the auction and/or as identified in the 

designated entities section in Part 27 of 

the Commission’s rules for the specific 

WCS frequency bands. (The ‘‘Designated 

entities’’ sections in subparts D–Q each 

contain the small business size 

standards adopted for the auction of the 

frequency band covered by that 

subpart.) 

37. In frequency bands where licenses 

were subject to auction, the Commission 

notes that as a general matter, the 

number of winning bidders that qualify 

as small businesses at the close of an 

auction does not necessarily represent 

the number of small businesses 

currently in service. Further, the 

Commission does not generally track 

subsequent business size unless, in the 

context of assignments or transfers, 

unjust enrichment issues are implicated. 

Additionally, since the Commission 

does not collect data on the number of 

employees for licensees providing these 

services, at this time we are not able to 

estimate the number of licensees with 

active licenses that would qualify as 

small under the SBA’s small business 

size standard. 

38. 1670–1675 MHz Services. These 

wireless communications services can 

be used for fixed and mobile uses, 

except aeronautical mobile. Wireless 

Telecommunications Carriers (except 

Satellite) is the closest industry with an 

SBA small business size standard 

applicable to these services. The SBA 

size standard for this industry classifies 

a business as small if it has 1,500 or 

fewer employees. U.S. Census Bureau 

data for 2017 show that there were 2,893 

firms that operated in this industry for 

the entire year. Of this number, 2,837 

firms employed fewer than 250 

employees. (The available U.S. Census 

Bureau data does not provide a more 

precise estimate of the number of firms 

that meet the SBA size standard.) Thus 

under the SBA size standard, the 

Commission estimates that a majority of 

licensees in this industry can be 

considered small. 

39. According to Commission data as 

of November 2021, there were three 

active licenses in this service. (Based on 

an FCC Universal Licensing System 

search on November 8, 2021, search 

parameters: Service Group = All, 

‘‘Match only the following radio 

service(s)’’, Radio Service = BC; 

Authorization Type = All; Status = 

Active. We note that the number of 

active licenses does not equate to the 

number of licensees. A licensee can 

have one or more licenses.) The 

Commission’s small business size 

standards with respect to 1670–1675 

MHz Services involve eligibility for 

bidding credits and installment 

payments in the auction of licenses for 

these services. For licenses in the 1670– 

1675 MHz service band, a ‘‘small 

business’’ is defined as an entity that, 

together with its affiliates and 

controlling interests, has average gross 

revenues not exceeding $40 million for 

the preceding three years, and a ‘‘very 

small business’’ is defined as an entity 

that, together with its affiliates and 

controlling interests, has had average 

annual gross revenues not exceeding 

$15 million for the preceding three 

years. The 1670–1675 MHz service band 

auction’s winning bidder did not claim 

small business status. 

40. In frequency bands where licenses 

were subject to auction, the Commission 

notes that as a general matter, the 

number of winning bidders that qualify 

as small businesses at the close of an 

auction does not necessarily represent 

the number of small businesses 

currently in service. Further, the 

Commission does not generally track 

subsequent business size unless, in the 

context of assignments or transfers, 

unjust enrichment issues are implicated. 

Additionally, since the Commission 

does not collect data on the number of 

employees for licensees providing these 

services, at this time we are not able to 

estimate the number of licensees with 

active licenses that would qualify as 

small under the SBA’s small business 

size standard. 

41. Wireless Telephony. Wireless 

telephony includes cellular, personal 

communications services, and 

specialized mobile radio telephony 

carriers. The closest applicable industry 

with an SBA small business size 

standard is Wireless 

Telecommunications Carriers (except 

Satellite). The size standard for this 

industry under SBA rules is that a 

business is small if it has 1,500 or fewer 

employees. For this industry, U.S. 

Census Bureau data for 2017 show that 

there were 2,893 firms that operated for 

the entire year. Of this number, 2,837 

firms employed fewer than 250 

employees. (The available U.S. Census 

Bureau data does not provide a more 

precise estimate of the number of firms 

that meet the SBA size standard.) 

Additionally, based on Commission 

data in the 2022 Universal Service 

Monitoring Report, as of December 31, 

2021, there were 331 providers that 

reported they were engaged in the 

provision of cellular, personal 

communications services, and 

specialized mobile radio services. Of 

these providers, the Commission 

estimates that 255 providers have 1,500 

or fewer employees. Consequently, 

using the SBA’s small business size 

standard, most of these providers can be 

considered small entities. 

42. Broadband Personal 

Communications Service. The 

broadband personal communications 

services (PCS) spectrum encompasses 

services in the 1850–1910 and 1930– 

1990 MHz bands. The closest industry 

with a SBA small business size standard 

applicable to these services is Wireless 

Telecommunications Carriers (except 

Satellite). The SBA small business size 

standard for this industry classifies a 

business as small if it has 1,500 or fewer 

employees. U.S. Census Bureau data for 


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2017 show that there were 2,893 firms 

that operated in this industry for the 

entire year. Of this number, 2,837 firms 

employed fewer than 250 employees. 

(The available U.S. Census Bureau data 

does not provide a more precise 

estimate of the number of firms that 

meet the SBA size standard.) Thus 

under the SBA size standard, the 

Commission estimates that a majority of 

licensees in this industry can be 

considered small. 

43. Based on Commission data as of 

November 2021, there were 

approximately 5,060 active licenses in 

the Broadband PCS service. (Based on a 

FCC Universal Licensing System search 

on November 16, 2021, search 

parameters: Service Group = All, 

‘‘Match only the following radio 

service(s)’’, Radio Service = CW; 

Authorization Type = All; Status = 

Active. We note that the number of 

active licenses does not equate to the 

number of licensees. A licensee can 

have one or more licenses.) The 

Commission’s small business size 

standards with respect to Broadband 

PCS involve eligibility for bidding 

credits and installment payments in the 

auction of licenses for these services. In 

auctions for these licenses, the 

Commission defined ‘‘small business’’ 

as an entity that, together with its 

affiliates and controlling interests, has 

average gross revenues not exceeding 

$40 million for the preceding three 

years, and a ‘‘very small business’’ as an 

entity that, together with its affiliates 

and controlling interests, has had 

average annual gross revenues not 

exceeding $15 million for the preceding 

three years. Winning bidders claiming 

small business credits won Broadband 

PCS licenses in C, D, E, and F Blocks. 

44. In frequency bands where licenses 

were subject to auction, the Commission 

notes that as a general matter, the 

number of winning bidders that qualify 

as small businesses at the close of an 

auction does not necessarily represent 

the number of small businesses 

currently in service. Further, the 

Commission does not generally track 

subsequent business size unless, in the 

context of assignments or transfers, 

unjust enrichment issues are implicated. 

Additionally, since the Commission 

does not collect data on the number of 

employees for licensees providing these, 

at this time we are not able to estimate 

the number of licensees with active 

licenses that would qualify as small 

under the SBA’s small business size 

standard. 

45. Specialized Mobile Radio 

Licenses. Special Mobile Radio (SMR) 

licenses allow licensees to provide land 

mobile communications services (other 

than radiolocation services) in the 800 

MHz and 900 MHz spectrum bands on 

a commercial basis including but not 

limited to services used for voice and 

data communications, paging, and 

facsimile services, to individuals, 

Federal Government entities, and other 

entities licensed under Part 90 of the 

Commission’s rules. Wireless 

Telecommunications Carriers (except 

Satellite) is the closest industry with a 

SBA small business size standard 

applicable to these services. The SBA 

size standard for this industry classifies 

a business as small if it has 1,500 or 

fewer employees. For this industry, U.S. 

Census Bureau data for 2017 show that 

there were 2,893 firms in this industry 

that operated for the entire year. Of this 

number, 2,837 firms employed fewer 

than 250 employees. (The available U.S. 

Census Bureau data does not provide a 

more precise estimate of the number of 

firms that meet the SBA size standard.) 

Additionally, based on Commission 

data in the 2022 Universal Service 

Monitoring Report, as of December 31, 

2021, there were 95 providers that 

reported they were of SMR (dispatch) 

providers. Of this number, the 

Commission estimates that all 95 

providers have 1,500 or fewer 

employees. Consequently, using the 

SBA’s small business size standard, 

these 119 SMR licensees can be 

considered small entities. (We note that 

there were also SMR providers reporting 

in the ‘‘Cellular/PCS/SMR’’ 

classification, therefore there are maybe 

additional SMR providers that have not 

been accounted for in the SMR 

(dispatch) classification.) 

46. Based on Commission data as of 

December 2021, there were 3,924 active 

SMR licenses. (Based on a FCC 

Universal Licensing System search on 

December 15, 2021, search parameters: 

Service Group = All, ‘‘Match radio 

services within this group’’, Radio 

Service = SMR; Authorization Type = 

All; Status = Active. We note that the 

number of active licenses does not 

equate to the number of licensees. A 

licensee can have one or more licenses.) 

However, since the Commission does 

not collect data on the number of 

employees for licensees providing SMR 

services, at this time we are not able to 

estimate the number of licensees with 

active licenses that would qualify as 

small under the SBA’s small business 

size standard. Nevertheless, for 

purposes of this analysis the 

Commission estimates that the majority 

of SMR licensees can be considered 

small entities using the SBA’s small 

business size standard. 

47. Lower 700 MHz Band Licenses. 

The lower 700 MHz band encompasses 

spectrum in the 698–746 MHz 

frequency bands. Permissible operations 

in these bands include flexible fixed, 

mobile, and broadcast uses, including 

mobile and other digital new broadcast 

operation; fixed and mobile wireless 

commercial services (including FDDand TDD-based services); as well as 

fixed and mobile wireless uses for 

private, internal radio needs, two-way 

interactive, cellular, and mobile 

television broadcasting services. 

Wireless Telecommunications Carriers 

(except Satellite) is the closest industry 

with a SBA small business size standard 

applicable to licenses providing services 

in these bands. The SBA small business 

size standard for this industry classifies 

a business as small if it has 1,500 or 

fewer employees. U.S. Census Bureau 

data for 2017 show that there were 2,893 

firms that operated in this industry for 

the entire year. Of this number, 2,837 

firms employed fewer than 250 

employees. (The available U.S. Census 

Bureau data does not provide a more 

precise estimate of the number of firms 

that meet the SBA size standard.) Thus 

under the SBA size standard, the 

Commission estimates that a majority of 

licensees in this industry can be 

considered small. 

48. According to Commission data as 

of December 2021, there were 

approximately 2,824 active Lower 700 

MHz Band licenses. (Based on a FCC 

Universal Licensing System search on 

December 14, 2021, search parameters: 

Service Group = All, ‘‘Match only the 

following radio service(s)’’, Radio 

Service = WY, WZ; Authorization Type 

= All; Status = Active. We note that the 

number of active licenses does not 

equate to the number of licensees. A 

licensee can have one or more licenses.) 

The Commission’s small business size 

standards with respect to Lower 700 

MHz Band licensees involve eligibility 

for bidding credits and installment 

payments in the auction of licenses. For 

auctions of Lower 700 MHz Band 

licenses the Commission adopted 

criteria for three groups of small 

businesses. A very small business was 

defined as an entity that, together with 

its affiliates and controlling interests, 

has average annual gross revenues not 

exceeding $15 million for the preceding 

three years, a small business was 

defined as an entity that, together with 

its affiliates and controlling interests, 

has average gross revenues not 

exceeding $40 million for the preceding 

three years, and an entrepreneur was 

defined as an entity that, together with 

its affiliates and controlling interests, 

has average gross revenues not 

exceeding $3 million for the preceding 


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three years. In auctions for Lower 700 

MHz Band licenses seventy-two 

winning bidders claiming a small 

business classification won 329 

licenses, twenty-six winning bidders 

claiming a small business classification 

won 214 licenses, and three winning 

bidders claiming a small business 

classification won all five auctioned 

licenses. 

49. In frequency bands where licenses 

were subject to auction, the Commission 

notes that as a general matter, the 

number of winning bidders that qualify 

as small businesses at the close of an 

auction does not necessarily represent 

the number of small businesses 

currently in service. Further, the 

Commission does not generally track 

subsequent business size unless, in the 

context of assignments or transfers, 

unjust enrichment issues are implicated. 

Additionally, since the Commission 

does not collect data on the number of 

employees for licensees providing these 

services, at this time we are not able to 

estimate the number of licensees with 

active licenses that would qualify as 

small under the SBA’s small business 

size standard. 

50. Upper 700 MHz Band Licenses. 

The upper 700 MHz band encompasses 

spectrum in the 746–806 MHz bands. 

Upper 700 MHz D Block licenses are 

nationwide licenses associated with the 

758–763 MHz and 788–793 MHz bands. 

Permissible operations in these bands 

include flexible fixed, mobile, and 

broadcast uses, including mobile and 

other digital new broadcast operation; 

fixed and mobile wireless commercial 

services (including FDD- and TDDbased services); as well as fixed and 

mobile wireless uses for private, 

internal radio needs, two-way 

interactive, cellular, and mobile 

television broadcasting services. (We 

note that in Auction 73, Upper 700 MHz 

Band C and D Blocks as well as Lower 

700 MHz Band A, B, and E Blocks were 

auctioned.) Wireless 

Telecommunications Carriers (except 

Satellite) is the closest industry with a 

SBA small business size standard 

applicable to licenses providing services 

in these bands. The SBA small business 

size standard for this industry classifies 

a business as small if it has 1,500 or 

fewer employees. U.S. Census Bureau 

data for 2017 show that there were 2,893 

firms that operated in this industry for 

the entire year. Of that number, 2,837 

firms employed fewer than 250 

employees. (The available U.S. Census 

Bureau data does not provide a more 

precise estimate of the number of firms 

that meet the SBA size standard.) Thus, 

under the SBA size standard, the 

Commission estimates that a majority of 

licensees in this industry can be 

considered small. 

51. According to Commission data as 

of December 2021, there were 

approximately 152 active Upper 700 

MHz Band licenses. (Based on a FCC 

Universal Licensing System search on 

December 14, 2021, search parameters: 

Service Group = All, ‘‘Match only the 

following radio service(s)’’, Radio 

Service = WP, WU; Authorization Type 

= All; Status = Active. We note that the 

number of active licenses does not 

equate to the number of licensees. A 

licensee can have one or more licenses.) 

The Commission’s small business size 

standards with respect to Upper 700 

MHz Band licensees involve eligibility 

for bidding credits and installment 

payments in the auction of licenses. For 

the auction of these licenses, the 

Commission defined a ‘‘small business’’ 

as an entity that, together with its 

affiliates and controlling principals, has 

average gross revenues not exceeding 

$40 million for the preceding three 

years, and a ‘‘very small business’’ an 

entity that, together with its affiliates 

and controlling principals, has average 

gross revenues that are not more than 

$15 million for the preceding three 

years. Pursuant to these definitions, 

three winning bidders claiming very 

small business status won five of the 

twelve available licenses. 

52. Air-Ground Radiotelephone 

Service. Air-Ground Radiotelephone 

Service is a wireless service in which 

licensees are authorized to offer and 

provide radio telecommunications 

service for hire to subscribers in aircraft. 

A licensee may provide any type of airground service (i.e., voice telephony, 

broadband internet, data, etc.) to aircraft 

of any type, and serve any or all aviation 

markets (commercial, government, and 

general). A licensee must provide 

service to aircraft and may not provide 

ancillary land mobile or fixed services 

in the 800 MHz air-ground spectrum. 

53. The closest industry with an SBA 

small business size standard applicable 

to these services is Wireless 

Telecommunications Carriers (except 

Satellite). The SBA small business size 

standard for this industry classifies a 

business as small if it has 1,500 or fewer 

employees. U.S. Census Bureau data for 

2017 show that there were 2,893 firms 

that operated in this industry for the 

entire year. Of this number, 2,837 firms 

employed fewer than 250 employees. 

(The available U.S. Census Bureau data 

does not provide a more precise 

estimate of the number of firms that 

meet the SBA size standard.) Thus 

under the SBA size standard, the 

Commission estimates that a majority of 

licensees in this industry can be 

considered small. 

54. Based on Commission data as of 

December 2021, there were 

approximately four licensees with 110 

active licenses in the Air-Ground 

Radiotelephone Service. (Based on a 

FCC Universal Licensing System search 

on December 20, 2021, search 

parameters: Service Group = All, 

‘‘Match only the following radio 

service(s)’’, Radio Service = CG, CJ; 

Authorization Type = All; Status = 

Active. We note that the number of 

active licenses does not equate to the 

number of licensees. A licensee can 

have one or more licenses.) The 

Commission’s small business size 

standards with respect to Air-Ground 

Radiotelephone Service involve 

eligibility for bidding credits and 

installment payments in the auction of 

licenses. For purposes of auctions, the 

Commission defined ‘‘small business’’ 

as an entity that, together with its 

affiliates and controlling interests, has 

average gross revenues not exceeding 

$40 million for the preceding three 

years, and a ‘‘very small business’’ as an 

entity that, together with its affiliates 

and controlling interests, has had 

average annual gross revenues not 

exceeding $15 million for the preceding 

three years. In the auction of AirGround Radiotelephone Service licenses 

in the 800 MHz band, neither of the two 

winning bidders claimed small business 

status. 

55. In frequency bands where licenses 

were subject to auction, the Commission 

notes that as a general matter, the 

number of winning bidders that qualify 

as small businesses at the close of an 

auction does not necessarily represent 

the number of small businesses 

currently in service. Further, the 

Commission does not generally track 

subsequent business size unless, in the 

context of assignments or transfers, 

unjust enrichment issues are implicated. 

Additionally, the Commission does not 

collect data on the number of employees 

for licensees providing these services 

therefore, at this time we are not able to 

estimate the number of licensees with 

active licenses that would qualify as 

small under the SBA’s small business 

size standard. 

56. 3650–3700 MHz Band. Wireless 

broadband service licensing in the 

3650–3700 MHz band provides for 

nationwide, non-exclusive licensing of 

terrestrial operations, utilizing 

contention-based technologies, in the 

3650 MHz band (i.e., 3650–3700 MHz). 

Licensees are permitted to provide 

services on a non-common carrier and/ 

or on a common carrier basis. Wireless 

broadband services in the 3650–3700 


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MHz band fall in the Wireless 

Telecommunications Carriers (except 

Satellite) industry with an SBA small 

business size standard that classifies a 

business as small if it has 1,500 or fewer 

employees. U.S. Census Bureau data for 

2017 show that there were 2,893 firms 

that operated in this industry for the 

entire year. Of this number, 2,837 firms 

employed fewer than 250 employees. 

(The available U.S. Census Bureau data 

does not provide a more precise 

estimate of the number of firms that 

meet the SBA size standard.) Thus 

under the SBA size standard, the 

Commission estimates that a majority of 

licensees in this industry can be 

considered small. 

57. The Commission has not 

developed a small business size 

standard applicable to 3650–3700 MHz 

band licensees. Based on the licenses 

that have been granted, however, we 

estimate that the majority of licensees in 

this service are small internet Access 

Service Providers (ISPs). As of 

November 2021, Commission data 

shows that there were 902 active 

licenses in the 3650–3700 MHz band. 

(Based on an FCC Universal Licensing 

System search on November 19, 2021, 

search parameters: Service Group = All, 

‘‘Match only the following radio 

service(s)’’, Radio Service = NN; 

Authorization Type =All; Status = 

Active. We note that the number of 

active licenses does not equate to the 

number of licensees. A licensee can 

have one or more licenses.) However, 

since the Commission does not collect 

data on the number of employees for 

licensees providing these services, at 

this time we are not able to estimate the 

number of licensees with active licenses 

that would qualify as small under the 

SBA’s small business size standard. 

58. Fixed Microwave Services. Fixed 

microwave services include common 

carrier, private-operational fixed, and 

broadcast auxiliary radio services. 

(Auxiliary Microwave Service is 

governed by part 74 of Title 47 of the 

Commission’s Rules. Available to 

licensees of broadcast stations and to 

broadcast and cable network entities, 

broadcast auxiliary microwave stations 

are used for relaying broadcast 

television signals from the studio to the 

transmitter, or between two points such 

as a main studio and an auxiliary 

studio. The service also includes mobile 

TV pickups, which relay signals from a 

remote location back to the studio.) 

They also include the Upper Microwave 

Flexible Use Service (UMFUS), 

Millimeter Wave Service (70/80/90 

GHz), Local Multipoint Distribution 

Service (LMDS), the Digital Electronic 

Message Service (DEMS), 24 GHz 

Service, Multiple Address Systems 

(MAS), and Multichannel Video 

Distribution and Data Service (MVDDS), 

where in some bands licensees can 

choose between common carrier and 

non-common carrier status. Wireless 

Telecommunications Carriers (except 

Satellite) is the closest industry with a 

SBA small business size standard 

applicable to these services. The SBA 

small size standard for this industry 

classifies a business as small if it has 

1,500 or fewer employees. U.S. Census 

Bureau data for 2017 show that there 

were 2,893 firms that operated in this 

industry for the entire year. Of this 

number, 2,837 firms employed fewer 

than 250 employees. (The available U.S. 

Census Bureau data does not provide a 

more precise estimate of the number of 

firms that meet the SBA size standard.) 

Thus under the SBA size standard, the 

Commission estimates that a majority of 

fixed microwave service licensees can 

be considered small. 

59. The Commission’s small business 

size standards with respect to fixed 

microwave services involve eligibility 

for bidding credits and installment 

payments in the auction of licenses for 

the various frequency bands included in 

fixed microwave services. When 

bidding credits are adopted for the 

auction of licenses in fixed microwave 

services frequency bands, such credits 

may be available to several types of 

small businesses based average gross 

revenues (small, very small and 

entrepreneur) pursuant to the 

competitive bidding rules adopted in 

conjunction with the requirements for 

the auction and/or as identified in part 

101 of the Commission’s rules for the 

specific fixed microwave services 

frequency bands. 

60. In frequency bands where licenses 

were subject to auction, the Commission 

notes that as a general matter, the 

number of winning bidders that qualify 

as small businesses at the close of an 

auction does not necessarily represent 

the number of small businesses 

currently in service. Further, the 

Commission does not generally track 

subsequent business size unless, in the 

context of assignments or transfers, 

unjust enrichment issues are implicated. 

Additionally, since the Commission 

does not collect data on the number of 

employees for licensees providing these 

services, at this time we are not able to 

estimate the number of licensees with 

active licenses that would qualify as 

small under the SBA’s small business 

size standard. 

61. Broadband Radio Service and 

Educational Broadband Service. 

Broadband Radio Service systems, 

previously referred to as Multipoint 

Distribution Service (MDS) and 

Multichannel Multipoint Distribution 

Service (MMDS) systems, and ‘‘wireless 

cable,’’ transmit video programming to 

subscribers and provide two-way high 

speed data operations using the 

microwave frequencies of the 

Broadband Radio Service (BRS) and 

Educational Broadband Service (EBS) 

(previously referred to as the 

Instructional Television Fixed Service 

(ITFS)). (The use of the term ‘‘wireless 

cable’’ does not imply that it constitutes 

cable television for statutory or 

regulatory purposes.) Wireless cable 

operators that use spectrum in the BRS 

often supplemented with leased 

channels from the EBS, provide a 

competitive alternative to wired cable 

and other multichannel video 

programming distributors. Wireless 

cable programming to subscribers 

resembles cable television, but instead 

of coaxial cable, wireless cable uses 

microwave channels. (Generally, a 

wireless cable system may be described 

as a microwave station transmitting on 

a combination of BRS and EBS channels 

to numerous receivers with antennas, 

such as single-family residences, 

apartment complexes, hotels, 

educational institutions, business 

entities and governmental offices. The 

range of the transmission depends upon 

the transmitter power, the type of 

receiving antenna and the existence of 

a line-of-sight path between the 

transmitter or signal booster and the 

receiving antenna.) 

62. In light of the use of wireless 

frequencies by BRS and EBS services, 

the closest industry with a SBA small 

business size standard applicable to 

these services is Wireless 

Telecommunications Carriers (except 

Satellite). The SBA small business size 

standard for this industry classifies a 

business as small if it has 1,500 or fewer 

employees. U.S. Census Bureau data for 

2017 show that there were 2,893 firms 

that operated in this industry for the 

entire year. Of this number, 2,837 firms 

employed fewer than 250 employees. 

(The available U.S. Census Bureau data 

does not provide a more precise 

estimate of the number of firms that 

meet the SBA size standard.) Thus 

under the SBA size standard, the 

Commission estimates that a majority of 

licensees in this industry can be 

considered small. 

63. According to Commission data as 

December 2021, there were 

approximately 5,869 active BRS and 

EBS licenses. (Based on an FCC 

Universal Licensing System search on 

December 10, 2021, search parameters: 

Service Group = All, ‘‘Match only the 

following radio service(s)’’, Radio 


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Service = BR, ED; Authorization Type = 

All; Status = Active. We note that the 

number of active licenses does not 

equate to the number of licensees. A 

licensee can have one or more licenses.) 

The Commission’s small business size 

standards with respect to BRS involves 

eligibility for bidding credits and 

installment payments in the auction of 

licenses for these services. For the 

auction of BRS licenses, the 

Commission adopted criteria for three 

groups of small businesses. A very small 

business is an entity that, together with 

its affiliates and controlling interests, 

has average annual gross revenues 

exceed $3 million and did not exceed 

$15 million for the preceding three 

years, a small business is an entity that, 

together with its affiliates and 

controlling interests, has average gross 

revenues exceed $15 million and did 

not exceed $40 million for the preceding 

three years, and an entrepreneur is an 

entity that, together with its affiliates 

and controlling interests, has average 

gross revenues not exceeding $3 million 

for the preceding three years. Of the ten 

winning bidders for BRS licenses, two 

bidders claiming the small business 

status won 4 licenses, one bidder 

claiming the very small business status 

won three licenses and two bidders 

claiming entrepreneur status won six 

licenses. One of the winning bidders 

claiming a small business status 

classification in the BRS license auction 

has an active license as of December 

2021. (We note that the number of active 

licenses does not equate to the number 

of licensees. A licensee can have one or 

more licenses.) We note that the number 

of active licenses does not equate to the 

number of licensees. A licensee can 

have one or more licenses. 

64. The Commission’s small business 

size standards for EBS define a small 

business as an entity that, together with 

its affiliates, its controlling interests and 

the affiliates of its controlling interests, 

has average gross revenues that are not 

more than $55 million for the preceding 

five (5) years, and a very small business 

is an entity that, together with its 

affiliates, its controlling interests and 

the affiliates of its controlling interests, 

has average gross revenues that are not 

more than $20 million for the preceding 

five (5) years. In frequency bands where 

licenses were subject to auction, the 

Commission notes that as a general 

matter, the number of winning bidders 

that qualify as small businesses at the 

close of an auction does not necessarily 

represent the number of small 

businesses currently in service. Further, 

the Commission does not generally track 

subsequent business size unless, in the 

context of assignments or transfers, 

unjust enrichment issues are implicated. 

Additionally, since the Commission 

does not collect data on the number of 

employees for licensees providing these 

services, at this time we are not able to 

estimate the number of licensees with 

active licenses that would qualify as 

small under the SBA’s small business 

size standard. 

4. Satellite Service Providers 

65. Satellite Telecommunications. 

This industry comprises firms 

‘‘primarily engaged in providing 

telecommunications services to other 

establishments in the 

telecommunications and broadcasting 

industries by forwarding and receiving 

communications signals via a system of 

satellites or reselling satellite 

telecommunications.’’ Satellite 

telecommunications service providers 

include satellite and earth station 

operators. The SBA small business size 

standard for this industry classifies a 

business with $35 million or less in 

annual receipts as small. U.S. Census 

Bureau data for 2017 show that 275 

firms in this industry operated for the 

entire year. Of this number, 242 firms 

had revenue of less than $25 million. 

(The available U.S. Census Bureau data 

does not provide a more precise 

estimate of the number of firms that 

meet the SBA size standard. We also 

note that according to the U.S. Census 

Bureau glossary, the terms receipts and 

revenues are used interchangeably.) 

Additionally, based on Commission 

data in the 2022 Universal Service 

Monitoring Report, as of December 31, 

2021, there were 65 providers that 

reported they were engaged in the 

provision of satellite 

telecommunications services. Of these 

providers, the Commission estimates 

that approximately 42 providers have 

1,500 or fewer employees. 

Consequently, using the SBA’s small 

business size standard, a little more 

than half of these providers can be 

considered small entities. 

66. All Other Telecommunications. 

This industry is comprised of 

establishments primarily engaged in 

providing specialized 

telecommunications services, such as 

satellite tracking, communications 

telemetry, and radar station operation. 

This industry also includes 

establishments primarily engaged in 

providing satellite terminal stations and 

associated facilities connected with one 

or more terrestrial systems and capable 

of transmitting telecommunications to, 

and receiving telecommunications from, 

satellite systems. Providers of internet 

services (e.g. dial-up ISPs) or voice over 

internet protocol (VoIP) services, via 

client-supplied telecommunications 

connections are also included in this 

industry. The SBA small business size 

standard for this industry classifies 

firms with annual receipts of $35 

million or less as small. U.S. Census 

Bureau data for 2017 show that there 

were 1,079 firms in this industry that 

operated for the entire year. Of those 

firms, 1,039 had revenue of less than 

$25 million. (The available U.S. Census 

Bureau data does not provide a more 

precise estimate of the number of firms 

that meet the SBA size standard. We 

also note that according to the U.S. 

Census Bureau glossary, the terms 

receipts and revenues are used 

interchangeably.) Based on this data, the 

Commission estimates that the majority 

of ‘‘All Other Telecommunications’’ 

firms can be considered small. 

5. Cable Service Providers 

67. Because section 706 of the Act 

requires us to monitor the deployment 

of broadband using any technology, we 

anticipate that some broadband service 

providers may not provide telephone 

service. Accordingly, we describe below 

other types of firms that may provide 

broadband services, including cable 

companies, MDS providers, and 

utilities, among others. 

68. Cable and Other Subscription 

Programming. The U.S. Census Bureau 

defines this industry as establishments 

primarily engaged in operating studios 

and facilities for the broadcasting of 

programs on a subscription or fee basis. 

The broadcast programming is typically 

narrowcast in nature (e.g., limited 

format, such as news, sports, education, 

or youth-oriented). These 

establishments produce programming in 

their own facilities or acquire 

programming from external sources. The 

programming material is usually 

delivered to a third party, such as cable 

systems or direct-to-home satellite 

systems, for transmission to viewers. 

The SBA small business size standard 

for this industry classifies firms with 

annual receipts less than $41.5 million 

as small. Based on U.S. Census Bureau 

data for 2017, 378 firms operated in this 

industry during that year. (The U.S. 

Census Bureau withheld publication of 

the number of firms that operated for 

the entire year to avoid disclosing data 

for individual companies (see Cell Notes 

for this category).) Of that number, 149 

firms operated with revenue of less than 

$25 million a year and 44 firms operated 

with revenue of $25 million or more. 

(The available U.S. Census Bureau data 

does not provide a more precise 

estimate of the number of firms that 

meet the SBA size standard. We note 


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that the U.S. Census Bureau withheld 

publication of the number of firms that 

operated with sales/value of shipments/ 

revenue in all categories of revenue less 

than $500,000 to avoid disclosing data 

for individual companies (see Cell Notes 

for the sales/value of shipments/revenue 

in these categories). Therefore, the 

number of firms with revenue that meet 

the SBA size standard would be higher 

than noted herein. We also note that 

according to the U.S. Census Bureau 

glossary, the terms receipts and 

revenues are used interchangeably.) 

Based on this data, the Commission 

estimates that a majority of firms in this 

industry are small. 

69. Cable Companies and Systems 

(Rate Regulation). The Commission has 

developed its own small business size 

standard for the purpose of cable rate 

regulation. Under the Commission’s 

rules, a ‘‘small cable company’’ is one 

serving 400,000 or fewer subscribers 

nationwide. Based on industry data, 

there are about 420 cable companies in 

the U.S. Of these, only seven have more 

than 400,000 subscribers. In addition, 

under the Commission’s rules, a ‘‘small 

system’’ is a cable system serving 15,000 

or fewer subscribers. Based on industry 

data, there are about 4,139 cable systems 

(headends) in the U.S. Of these, about 

639 have more than 15,000 subscribers. 

Accordingly, the Commission estimates 

that the majority of cable companies and 

cable systems are small. 

70. Cable System Operators (Telecom 

Act Standard). The Communications 

Act of 1934, as amended, contains a size 

standard for a ‘‘small cable operator,’’ 

which is ‘‘a cable operator that, directly 

or through an affiliate, serves in the 

aggregate fewer than one percent of all 

subscribers in the United States and is 

not affiliated with any entity or entities 

whose gross annual revenues in the 

aggregate exceed $250,000,000.’’ For 

purposes of the Telecom Act Standard, 

the Commission determined that a cable 

system operator that serves fewer than 

498,000 subscribers, either directly or 

through affiliates, will meet the 

definition of a small cable operator. (In 

the 2023 Subscriber Threshold Public 

Notice, the Commission determined that 

there were approximately 49.8 million 

cable subscribers in the United States at 

that time using the most reliable source 

publicly available. This threshold will 

remain in effect until the Commission 

issues a superseding Public Notice.) 

Based on industry data, only six cable 

system operators have more than 

498,000 subscribers. Accordingly, the 

Commission estimates that the majority 

of cable system operators are small 

under this size standard. We note 

however, that the Commission neither 

requests nor collects information on 

whether cable system operators are 

affiliated with entities whose gross 

annual revenues exceed $250 million. 

(The Commission does receive such 

information on a case-by-case basis if a 

cable operator appeals a local franchise 

authority’s finding that the operator 

does not qualify as a small cable 

operator pursuant to § 76.901(e) of the 

Commission’s rules.) Therefore, we are 

unable at this time to estimate with 

greater precision the number of cable 

system operators that would qualify as 

small cable operators under the 

definition in the Communications Act. 

6. All Other Telecommunications 

71. Electric Power Generators, 

Transmitters, and Distributors. The U.S. 

Census Bureau defines the utilities 

sector industry as comprised of 

‘‘establishments, primarily engaged in 

generating, transmitting, and/or 

distributing electric power. 

Establishments in this industry group 

may perform one or more of the 

following activities: (1) operate 

generation facilities that produce 

electric energy; (2) operate transmission 

systems that convey the electricity from 

the generation facility to the distribution 

system; and (3) operate distribution 

systems that convey electric power 

received from the generation facility or 

the transmission system to the final 

consumer.’’ This industry group is 

categorized based on fuel source and 

includes Hydroelectric Power 

Generation, Fossil Fuel Electric Power 

Generation, Nuclear Electric Power 

Generation, Solar Electric Power 

Generation, Wind Electric Power 

Generation, Geothermal Electric Power 

Generation, Biomass Electric Power 

Generation, Other Electric Power 

Generation, Electric Bulk Power 

Transmission and Control and Electric 

Power Distribution. 

72. The SBA has established a small 

business size standard for each of these 

groups based on the number of 

employees which ranges from having 

fewer than 250 employees to having 

fewer than 1,000 employees. U.S. 

Census Bureau data for 2017 indicate 

that for the Electric Power Generation, 

Transmission and Distribution industry 

there were 1,693 firms that operated in 

this industry for the entire year. Of this 

number, 1,552 firms had less than 250 

employees. (The available U.S. Census 

Bureau data does not provide a more 

precise estimate of the number of firms 

that meet the SBA size standard.) Based 

on this data and the associated SBA size 

standards, the majority of firms in this 

industry can be considered small 

entities. 

D. Description of Projected Reporting, 

Recordkeeping, and Other Compliance 

Requirements for Small Entities 

73. In the FNPRM, we seek comment 

on ways to further facilitate the 

approval process for pole attachment 

applications and make-ready to enable 

quicker broadband deployment. Some of 

these proposals may impose new or 

additional reporting or recordkeeping 

and/or other compliance obligations on 

small entities. Specifically, we seek 

comment on a proposal that utilities 

should have an additional 90 days for 

make-ready for requests exceeding 3,000 

poles or 5 percent of the utility’s poles 

in a state. We also seek comment on 

whether NCTA’s proposal to add 

additional time to the existing 

application timelines for larger orders 

and prohibit utilities from limiting the 

size of an application or the number of 

poles included in an application, to 

avoid these timelines, will facilitate the 

pole attachment process for such orders. 

Additionally, we seek comment on 

whether the Commission should create 

additional make-ready timeline tiers in 

its rules to differentiate between 

attachment applications that could 

range from requesting access to 

thousands of poles to tens or even 

hundreds of thousands of poles. We also 

consider whether to require that a utility 

notify an attacher 15 days after receiving 

a complete application that it cannot 

conduct the survey within the required 

45-day period, making self-help 

available for the estimate process, which 

is not contemplated under current 

Commission rules. We also seek 

comment on whether attachers face any 

obstacles from utilities when seeking to 

invoke self-help options, which allows 

attachers to choose their own 

contractors for one-touch make-ready 

and for self-help when the utility fails 

to meet the Commission’s deadlines. 

This information will help to inform 

whether potential rule changes are 

necessary. At this time, the Commission 

cannot quantify the cost of compliance 

for small entities with the approaches 

discussed in the FNPRM, or whether 

any compliance requirements will 

require small entities to hire 

professionals; however, the Commission 

requests information on the costs and 

benefits of the approaches discussed, 

such as the availability of qualified 

contractors and other workforce 

constraints that may impact the speed 

and cost of deployment for utilities and 

attachers. 


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E. Steps Taken To Minimize the 

Significant Economic Impact on Small 

Entities, and Significant Alternatives 

Considered 

74. The RFA requires an agency to 

describe any significant, specifically 

small business, alternatives that it has 

considered in reaching its proposed 

approach, which may include the 

following four alternatives (among 

others): ‘‘(1) the establishment of 

differing compliance or reporting 

requirements or timetables that take into 

account the resources available to small 

entities; (2) the clarification, 

consolidation, or simplification of 

compliance and reporting requirements 

under the rule for such small entities; 

(3) the use of performance rather than 

design standards; and (4) an exemption 

from coverage of the rule, or any part 

thereof, for such small entities.’’ 

75. The FNPRM seeks comment on 

whether the Commission should revise 

its rules to further facilitate the approval 

process for pole attachment applications 

and make-ready to enable quicker 

broadband deployment, including a 

tentative conclusion that utilities should 

have an additional 90 days for makeready for requests exceeding 3,000 poles 

or 5 percent of the utility’s poles in a 

state. The Commission’s objective in 

requesting this information is to 

determine whether it can and should 

establish clear standards for when and 

how attachers and utilities must share 

the costs of a pole replacement 

precipitated by a new attachment 

request. Among the alternatives 

considered in the FNPRM is whether the 

Commission should allow additional 

time for the existing larger order 

timelines where our current rules 

require that utilities negotiate timing in 

good faith. We seek comment on 

whether requiring that the utility notify 

an attacher 15 days after receiving a 

complete application that it cannot 

conduct the survey within the required 

45-day period would allow the attacher 

to elect self-help for the survey sooner. 

In the alternative, we inquire whether 

such expansion of time is reasonable for 

utilities if numerous permits are 

submitted around the same time or 

contractor workload is heavy. We also 

consider whether attachers are choosing 

to find their own contractors for onetouch make-ready and for self-help 

when utilities fail to meet the 

Commission’s deadlines. Similarly, we 

request information on whether or not 

utilities designate an available 

contractor if it properly exercises its 

discretion to disqualify one chosen by 

an attacher. We also seek comment on 

how the Commission can help resolve 

situations where labor shortages may 

hinder utilities from meeting deadlines 

to respond to attachers. The 

Commission also seeks comment on and 

will consider the relative costs and 

benefits of any such revisions to its 

rules. Information submitted in 

response to these requests for comment 

will enable the Commission to evaluate 

the impact that revising its pole 

attachment rules would have on smaller 

entities. 

F. Federal Rules That May Duplicate, 

Overlap, or Conflict With the Proposed 

Rules 

76. None. 

V. Procedural Matters 

77. Initial Regulatory Flexibility 

Analysis. As required by the Regulatory 

Flexibility Act, the Commission has 

prepared an Initial Regulatory 

Flexibility Analysis (IRFA) of the 

possible significant economic impact on 

small entities of the policies and rules 

addressed in this FNPRM. Written 

public comments are requested on the 

IRFA. Comments must be filed by the 

deadlines for comments on the FNPRM 

indicated on the first page of this 

document and must have a separate and 

distinct heading designating them as 

responses to the IRFA. The 

Commission’s Consumer and 

Governmental Affairs Bureau, Reference 

Information Center, will send a copy of 

this FNPRM, including the IRFA, to the 

Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the SBA. 

78. Paperwork Reduction Act. The 

FNPRM contains proposed new 

information collection requirements. 

The Commission, as part of its 

continuing effort to reduce paperwork 

burdens, invites the general public and 

OMB to comment on the information 

collection requirements contained in 

this document, as required by the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 

Public Law 104–13. In addition, 

pursuant to the Small Business 

Paperwork Relief Act of 2002, Public 

Law 107–198, see 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(4), 

we seek specific comment on how we 

might further reduce the information 

collection burden for small business 

concerns with fewer than 25 employees. 

79. Ex Parte Presentations—PermitBut-Disclose. The proceeding this 

FNPRM initiates shall be treated as a 

‘‘permit-but-disclose’’ proceeding in 

accordance with the Commission’s ex 

parte rules. Persons making ex parte 

presentations must file a copy of any 

written presentation or a memorandum 

summarizing any oral presentation 

within two business days after the 

presentation (unless a different deadline 

applicable to the Sunshine period 

applies). Persons making oral ex parte 

presentations are reminded that 

memoranda summarizing the 

presentation must (1) list all persons 

attending or otherwise participating in 

the meeting at which the ex parte 

presentation was made, and (2) 

summarize all data presented and 

arguments made during the 

presentation. If the presentation 

consisted in whole or in part of the 

presentation of data or arguments 

already reflected in the presenter’s 

written comments, memoranda or other 

filings in the proceeding, the presenter 

may provide citations to such data or 

arguments in his or her prior comments, 

memoranda, or other filings (specifying 

the relevant page and/or paragraph 

numbers where such data or arguments 

can be found) in lieu of summarizing 

them in the memorandum. Documents 

shown or given to Commission staff 

during ex parte meetings are deemed to 

be written ex parte presentations and 

must be filed consistent with § 1.1206(b) 

of the Commission’s rules. In 

proceedings governed by § 1.49(f) of the 

Commission’s rules or for which the 

Commission has made available a 

method of electronic filing, written ex 

parte presentations and memoranda 

summarizing oral ex parte 

presentations, and all attachments 

thereto, must be filed through the 

electronic comment filing system 

available for that proceeding, and must 

be filed in their native format (e.g., .doc, 

.xml, .ppt, searchable .pdf). Participants 

in this proceeding should familiarize 

themselves with the Commission’s ex 

parte rules. 

VI. Ordering Clauses 

80. Accordingly, it is ordered, 

pursuant to sections 4(i), 4(j), 201, 202, 

217, 227, 227b, 251(e), 303(r), and 403 

of the Communications Act of 1934, as 

amended, 47 U.S.C. 154(i), 154(j), 201, 

202, 217, 227, 227b, 251(e), 303(r), 403, 

that this Third Further Notice of 

Proposed Rulemaking is adopted. 

81. It is further ordered that the 

Commission’s Consumer and 

Governmental Affairs Bureau, Reference 

information Center, shall send a copy of 

this Third Further Notice of Proposed 

Rulemaking, including the Initial 

Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (IRFA), 

to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the 

Small Business Administration. 

List of Subjects in 47 CFR Part 1 

Administrative practice and 

procedure. 


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1874 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 8 / Thursday, January 11, 2024 / Proposed Rules 

Federal Communications Commission. 

Katura Jackson, 

Federal Register Liaison Officer. 

Proposed Rules 

The Federal Communications 

Commission proposes to amend part 1 

of Title 47 of the Code of Federal 

Regulations 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. 

■ 2. Amend § 1.1411 by revising 

paragraph (g)(4) to read as follows: 

§ 1.1411 Timeline for access to utility 

poles. 

* * * * * 

(g) * * * 

(4) A utility may add 90 days to the 

make-ready periods described in 

paragraph (e) of this section to all 

requests for attachment larger than the 

lesser of 3000 poles or 5 percent of the 

utility’s poles in a state. 

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. 2023–28763 Filed 1–10–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6712–01–P 


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