Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 12 / Thursday, January 19, 1995 / Proposed Rules 3807

providing additional legal assistance or

representation in the matter.

§ 1611.10 Change in circumstances.

If an eligible client becomes ineligible

through a change in circumstances, a

recipient shall discontinue

representation if the change in

circumstances is sufficient, and is likely

to continue, to enable the client to

afford private legal assistance, and

discontinuation is not inconsistent with

applicable rules of professional

responsibilities.

Dated: January 10, 1995.

Victor M. Fortuno,

General Counsel.

[FR Doc. 95–1071 Filed 1–18–95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 7050–01–P

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS

COMMISSION

47 CFR Chapter I

[MD Docket No. 95–3; FCC 95–14]

Assessment and Collection of

Regulatory Fees For Fiscal Year 1995

AGENCY: Federal Communications

Commission.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rule making.

SUMMARY: The Commission is proposing

to revise its Schedule of Regulatory Fees

in order to recover the amount of

regulatory fees that Congress has

required it to collect for fiscal year 1995.

Section 9 of the Communications Act of

1934, as amended, provides for the

annual assessment and collection of

regulatory fees. For fiscal year 1995

sections 9(b) (2) and (3) provide for

annual ‘‘Mandatory Adjustments’’ and

‘‘Permitted Amendments’’ to the

Schedule of Regulatory Fees. The

proposed revisions will further the

National Performance Review goals of

reinventing Government by requiring

beneficiaries of Commission services to

pay for such services.

DATES: Comments must be filed on or

before February 13, 1995 and reply

comments must be filed on or before

February 28, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Peter W. Herrick, Office of Managing

Director at (202) 418–0443, or Terry D.

Johnson, Office of Managing Director at

(202) 418–0445.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

In the Matter of Assessment and

Collection of Regulatory Fees for Fiscal

Year 1995; Notice of Proposed

Rulemaking

[MD Docket No. 95–3]

Adopted: January 10, 1995; Released:

January 12, 1995

Comment Date: February 13, 1995

Reply Date: February 28, 1995

By the Commission:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Topic Paragraph

numbers

I. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 1–3

II. Background ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 4–7

III. Discussion ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 8–54

A. Proposed FY 1995 Regulatory Fees ......................................................................................................................................... 8–62

1. Private Radio Services ........................................................................................................................................................ 15–26

a. Exclusive Use Services ............................................................................................................................................... 17–19

b. Shared Use Services ................................................................................................................................................... 20–26

c. Amateur Radio Vanity Call-Signs ................................................................................................................................ 27

2. Mass Media Services .......................................................................................................................................................... 28–40

a. Commercial AM and FM Radio Stations ..................................................................................................................... 29

b. Construction Permits—Commercial AM Radio ............................................................................................................ 30

c. Construction Permits—Commercial FM Radio ............................................................................................................ 31

d. Commercial Television Stations .................................................................................................................................. 32

e. Commercial Television Satellite Stations .................................................................................................................... 33

f. Construction Permits—Commercial VHF Television Stations ...................................................................................... 34

g. Construction Permits—Commercial UHF Television Stations ..................................................................................... 35

h. Construction Permits—Commercial Television Satellite Stations ............................................................................... 36

i. Low Power Television, Translator and Booster Stations .............................................................................................. 37

j. Broadcast Auxiliary Stations ......................................................................................................................................... 38

k. International HF Broadcast (Short Wave) .................................................................................................................... 39

3. Cable Services .................................................................................................................................................................... 40–43

a. Cable Television Systems ........................................................................................................................................... 40–41

b. Cable Antenna Relay Service ...................................................................................................................................... 42

4. Common Carrier Services ................................................................................................................................................... 43–61

a. Mobile Services ............................................................................................................................................................ 43–44

b. Fixed Radio Stations .................................................................................................................................................... 45–46

c. VSATs and Equivalent C-Band Antennas/Mobile Satellite Earth Stations .................................................................. 47–48

d. Fixed Satellite Earth Station Antennas ........................................................................................................................ 49–52

e. Space Stations (Geosynchronous) .............................................................................................................................. 53

f. International Bearer Circuits ......................................................................................................................................... 54

g. Inter-exchange and Local Exchange, Competitive Access Providers and Resellers ................................................. 55–61

B. Procedures for Payment of Regulatory Fees ............................................................................................................................ 62–68

1. Annual Payments of Standard Fees ................................................................................................................................... 63

2. Installment Payments for Large Fees ................................................................................................................................. 64–65

3. Advance Payments of Small Fees ...................................................................................................................................... 66

4. Timing of Standard Fee Calculations and Payments ......................................................................................................... 67–68

IV. Procedural Matters ........................................................................................................................................................................... 69–73

A. Comment Period ........................................................................................................................................................................ 69

B. Ex Parte Rules ........................................................................................................................................................................... 70

C. Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis ......................................................................................................................................... 71

D. Authority and Further Information .............................................................................................................................................. 71–72
3808 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 12 / Thursday, January 19, 1995 / Proposed Rules

1See Public Law 103–317, 108 Stat. 1724 at

1737–38 (Approved August 26, 1994).

2Specifically, we propose to add to the Schedule

a Wireless Radio Services fee category and an

International Services fee category. Concurrently,

we propose to delete the Private Radio Service fee

category since we have abolished the Private Radio

Bureau. Also, we proposed to amend the Common

Carrier Service fee category and the Mass Media

Service fee category because certain services

formerly subject to regulation by the Common

Carrier Bureau and the Mass Media Bureau are now

regulated by the Wireless Radio Bureau and the

International Bureau and are, thus, properly within

the scope of the Wireless Radio and International

Service fee categories. Finally, we propose to add

the Multipoint Distribution Service (MDS) and

Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service

(MMDS) to the Mass Media Service fee category,

and delete them from the Common Carrier Service

fee category, since these services are now regulated

by the Mass Media Bureau.

3Payment units represent the number by which

a payor must multiply the fee amount for a

particular service in order to calculate its total fee

due for the service. For example, ‘‘subscribers’’ is

the payment unit applicable to cable television fees.

The number of subscribers is multiplied by the

cable system fee amount to determine the system’s

total fee liability.

4See 47 CFR §§ 1.1151 through 1.1166.

5 In the FY 1994 Order, we adopted rules to

implement the collection of regulatory fees,

including payment procedures, specific exemptions

from the payment of regulatory fees, procedures for

requesting waivers, reductions and deferments of

fee payments, and penalties for late payment or

non-payment of the fees. We shall in the near future

address petitions for reconsideration of the FY 1994

Order and consider whether to make amendments

to our implementing rules.

6Full Time Equivalent (FTE) employment is the

total number of regular straight-time hours (i.e., not

including overtime or holiday hours) worked by

employees divided by the number of compensable

hours applicable to each fiscal year. See Office of

Management and Budget Circular A–11, section

13.1, Definitions relating to employment.

Appendix A—Initial Regulatory Flexibility

Analysis

Appendix B—Schedule of Regulatory Fees

Appendix C—Allocation of FTEs to the

Bureaus

Appendix D—Development of Private Radio

Services Regulatory Fees

Appendix E—Development of Mass Media

Services Regulatory Fees

Appendix F—Development of Cable Services

Regulatory Fees

Appendix G—Development of Common

Carrier Services Regulatory Fees

I. Introduction

1. By this Notice of Proposed

Rulemaking, the Commission begins a

proceeding to revise its Schedule of

Regulatory Fees in order to recover the

amount of regulatory fees that Congress,

pursuant to section 9 of the

Communications Act, has required it to

collect for Fiscal Year 1995 (FY 1995).

See 47 U.S.C. 159(b)(2). The current

Schedule is set forth in §§ 1.1152

through 1.1155 of the Commission’s

rules. 47 CFR §§ 1.1152–1.1155.

2. We are proposing adjustments to

the Schedule in order to recover

$116,400,000 in costs, consistent with

the amount that Congress has

appropriated for our enforcement,

policy and rulemaking and international

activities and user information services

for FY 1995.1 47 U.S.C. 159(a). In

addition, we propose to amend the

Schedule to assess regulatory fees from

licensees of services not now included

in the Schedule and to revise our

method of assessing fees for certain

services currently in the Schedule. 47

U.S.C. 159(b)(1)(A), (b)(3). Further, we

propose to amend the format of the

Schedule so that its fee categories reflect

changes in the Commission’s new

organizational structure.2 47 U.S.C.

159(b)(3). Finally, we propose to adjust

the threshold amounts for eligibility for

installment payments and to amend our

procedures governing installment

payments. 47 U.S.C. 159(f)(1).

3. In many instances, the regulatory

fees that we are proposing for FY 1995

are significantly higher than the fees

that we assessed under the statutory fee

schedule to recover our regulatory costs

for FY 1994. See 47 U.S.C. 159(g); see

also Implementation of Section 9 of the

Communications Act (FY 1994 Order), 9

FCC Rcd 5333 (1994). These revisions

result, in large part, from increases in

the amounts that Congress has

appropriated for Commission activities

whose costs must be recovered through

regulatory fees. As noted, the amount

appropriated and to be recovered

through regulatory fees is $116,400,000,

which is 93 percent more than the

$60,400,000 that the Commission was

required to recover through regulatory

fees in FY 1994. The impact of this

increase is, however, offset to some

extent by revenues from services that we

propose to add to the Schedule and by

increases in the number of payment

units, e.g., subscribers, in certain other

services.3 Appendix B sets forth our

proposed Schedule of Regulatory Fees

for FY 1995.

II. Background

4. Section 9(a) of the Act authorizes

the Commission to assess and collect

annual regulatory fees to recover the

costs, as determined annually by

Congress, that it incurs in carrying out

enforcement, policy and rulemaking,

international activities, and user

information services. 47 U.S.C. 159(a).

In our FY 1994 Order, we set forth the

regulatory fee schedule for FY 1994 and

prescribed rules to govern payment of

the fees, as required by Congress.4 47

U.S.C. 159(f)(1).

5. For FY 1994, we adopted the

Schedule of Regulatory Fees that

Congress enacted in section 9(g) of the

Act, and required regulatory fee

payments from licensees and other

regulatees operating in the Private

Radio, Mass Media, Common Carrier

and Cable Television services. We

concluded that Congress did not intend

for us to modify section 9(g)’s Schedule

of Regulatory Fees for FY 1994, and,

thus, declined to amend the statutory

fee schedule in any way.5 See FY 1994

Order at para. 12.

6. For fiscal years after FY 1994,

however, sections 9(b) (2) and (3)

provide for annual ‘‘Mandatory

Adjustments’’ and ‘‘Permitted

Amendments’’ to the Schedule of

Regulatory Fees. In making section

9(b)(2)’s mandatory adjustments, we are

first to consider the amount we are to

collect as set forth in our

Appropriations Act. 47 U.S.C.

§§ 159(b)(2), (b)(1)(B). Second, we are to

identify the number of Full Time

Equivalent (FTE) employees allocated to

our enforcement, policy and

rulemaking, user information and

international activities.6 47 U.S.C.

§ 159(b)(1)(A). 159(b)(1)(A). Third, we

are to determine the amount to be

recovered from each fee category, e.g.,

Common Carrier, by proportionately

increasing or decreasing the revenue

requirement of each fee category relative

to the ratio of FTEs in each category to

the total number of FTEs allocated to

our regulatory activities. 47 U.S.C.

§ 159(b)(2) The resulting fee category

share of the total amount to be

recovered is then prorated among each

service within the fee category to

determine the cost allocation applicable

to each service. Finally, the prorated

cost allocation is divided by the number

of estimated payment units, e.g.,

subscribers, for each service within the

category in order to determine service

fees. 47 U.S.C. § (b)(2)(A).

7. In addition, section 9(b)(3), relating

to ‘‘Permitted Amendments’’ to the

Schedule, provides that, if we find it

necessary, we shall amend the Schedule

of Regulatory Fees, as provided in

section 9(b)(1)(A) to, inter alia, reflect

the benefits of our regulation to the

payors of the fees by considering their

service areas, the nature of their service,

and other factors that we determine are

necessary in the public interest. 47

U.S.C. §§ 159(b)(3), (b)(1)(A). In making

these amendments, we ‘‘shall add,

delete, or reclassify services in the

Schedule to reflect additions, deletions

or changes in the nature of its services.’’

47 U.S.C. § 159(B)(3). Finally, we are

required to notify Congress of any

permitted amendments 90 days before
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 12 / Thursday, January 19, 1995 / Proposed Rules 3809

7The FTEs attributed to Private Radio, Mass

Media, Common Carrier, and Cable services

activities are primarily performed within those

Bureaus. In addition, the Compliance and

Information Bureau (CIB), formerly the Field

Operations Bureau, the Office of Engineering and

Technology (OET) and the Office of Managing

Director (OMD) perform activities supporting the

Bureaus. FTEs assigned to CIB, OET and some

sections of OMD supporting the regulatory activities

of the Bureaus were attributed to the Bureaus’

activities in developing the total FTEs allocated to

the activities whose costs are to be recovered

through regulatory fees.

8We have rounded all percentages to the nearest

one-tenth of a percent.

9We have not proposed regulatory fees for the

Personal Communications Service (PCS),

Commercial Mobile Radio Service (CMRS), Low

Earth Orbital (LEO) Satellite Service and the Direct

Broadcasting Satellite (DBS) Service because no

facilities were authorized on our proposed date for

calculating fees, October 1, 1994, to operate in these

services or such authorizations are so recent that

negligible portion of FTEs are assigned to these

services other than for application processing.

those amendments go into effect. 47

U.S.C. § 159(b)(4)(B).

III. Discussion

A. Proposed FY 1995 Regulatory Fees

8. As noted above, Congress has

required the recovery of $116,400,000

for FY 1995 through the collection of

regulatory fees representing the costs

applicable to our enforcement, policy

and rulemaking, international activities,

and our user information services. 47

U.S.C. § 159(a).

9. In adjusting our regulatory fees

pursuant to section 9(b)(2)’s provisions

for ‘‘Mandatory Adjustments’’, we first

distributed our directly assigned FY

1995 FTE’s among our various

regulatory activities. We then allocated

additional FTEs supporting the

regulatory fee activities to the Private

Radio, Mass Media, Common Carrier,

and Cable Services Bureaus.7 Appendix

C contains a more detailed description

of our allocation of FTEs by activity.

The resulting allocation of FTEs is as

follows:

FTEs

Percentage

ratio

Private Radio .................... 103 7.3

Mass Media ...................... 253 18.0

Common Carrier ............... 689 49.0

Cable Services .................. 361 25.7

Total ....................... 1,406 100.00

10. Next, we allocated our

$116,400,000 revenue requirement to

the Private Radio, Mass Media, Common

Carrier, and Cable Services activities,

based on the FTE percentage ratios

shown above. For example, to derive the

amounts to be recovered from cable

services, we calculated that the 25.7

percent of total FTEs representing the

361 FTEs assigned to the cable services

activity resulted in $29,824,911 to be

recovered through the collection of

cable services fees.8 The resulting

allocation of costs by regulatory fee

category was as follows:

Private Radio .................... $8.5 million.

Mass Media ....................... 20.9 million.

Common Carrier ............... 57.0 million.

Cable Services .................. 29.9 million.

11. After determining the cost

allocation, we estimated FY 1995 payee

units for the individual services within

each fee category. For example, we

estimated that there are approximately

57,000,000 payment units for cable

systems, i.e., cable subscribers. These

estimates are based upon information

provided by Commission program

managers and supplemented by

information contained in actual licensee

data bases maintained by the

Commission, information provided by

industry groups or contained in trade

publications, and actual data from FY

1994 regulatory fee collections. See

Appendices D through G.

12. Next, in order to make the

proportionate changes in the statutory

schedule of fees required by section

9(b)(2), we compared our FY 1995

revenue requirement in each fee

category, e.g., Cable Services, with the

total amount that would be collected

from all of the services within each

category under the FY 1994 fee

schedule. For example, we estimated

that approximately $21.5 million or $8.4

million less than its FY 1995 revenue

requirement, would be collected from

cable system payors based upon our FY

1994 fees. We pro-rated the difference in

these amounts to the individual

services, e.g., cable systems were

allocated $29.9 million to be recovered,

and then divided the revenue

requirement for each individual service

by its estimated number of payee units

to derive our ‘‘Mandatory Adjustments’’

to the fee schedule.

13. Following our calculation of the

‘‘Mandatory Adjustments’’ to the fee

schedule, we reviewed each service and

its associated fee payment to determine

if the nature of a service or the public

interest warranted a fee adjustment

pursuant to section 9(b)(3)’s

requirements for ‘‘Permitted

Amendments.’’ Pursuant to our

authority to make permitted

amendments to the fees, we are

proposing to revise our method for

calculating fees for AM and FM radio

stations, public mobile service,

including cellular service providers,

competitive access providers (CAPs),

and small earth station antennas.

Additionally, we are proposing a

separate fee for satellite television

stations to distinguish those stations

from full service television stations and

we are proposing to add a fee

requirement for licensees of FM

translator and booster stations. After

making these proposed permitted

amendments, we propose to revise the

remaining fees within the affected

service’s category in order to take into

account the impact of the fee

modification upon other services within

the category. Finally, we propose to

combine certain services within a fee

category having analogous fee amounts,

such as public mobile and cellular

licenses, in order to reduce the number

of separate service categories and to

simplify the overall schedule of fees.9

14. In the following paragraphs, we

describe our mandatory adjustments

and proposed permitted amendments to

the Schedule of Regulatory Fees on a

service-by-service basis. The

Commission proposes to retain, for fee

determination purposes, the fee

classifications (i.e., Private Radio,

Common Carrier, Cable Services and

Mass Media) contained in 47 U.S.C.

Section 159. Although we believe that

we have authority to change the

classifications to align them more

closely with our current organizational

structure, we want to minimize any

adverse impacts to the schedule brought

about solely by such a classification

change. Although we have developed

the fee amounts for FY 1995 based upon

the service categories in the statutory fee

schedule, in order to assist interested

parties in locating particular fees, we

have formatted the FY 1995 Schedule of

Fees to reflect our new organizational

structure. See Appendix B. With the

exception of annual fees in the amount

of $5.00 or less, individual fee amounts

have been rounded to the nearest $5 in

the case of fees under $1,000 or to the

nearest $25 in the case of fees of $1,000

or more in accordance with section

9(b)(2). Appendices C through G

describe the method in which FTEs

were assigned to the major service

categories and the development of the

fees within each major service category.

1. Private Radio Services

15. Regulatory fees for services in the

Private Radio category are located in the

Wireless Radio category of the proposed

fee schedule. We have developed our

FY 1995 regulatory fees for Private

Radio services by making mandatory

adjustments to their statutory fees that

take into account the quality of

frequency allocated to those services.
3810 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 12 / Thursday, January 19, 1995 / Proposed Rules

10 In the event that the subject application is not

granted, the entire regulatory fee submitted will be

returned upon request of the payor of the fee. See

47 C.F.R. § 1.1159(a)(2)(iii).

11Although this fee category includes licenses

with ten year terms, the estimated volume of ten

year license applications in FY 1995 is less than

one tenth of one percent and, therefore, is

statistically insignificant.

See Appendix D. As a result, we are

proposing to continue to assess two

levels of regulatory fees for these

services, exclusive use services and

shared use services, on the basis of the

quality of the communications channel

provided to the licensee. Our action

here is consistent with section 9’s

directive that fees take into account the

benefits provided to the payee of the

fees and with the policy reflected in the

statutory schedule, which provides for

higher fee payments for exclusive use

services within the Private Radio

category of services. See 47 U.S.C.

159(b)(1)(A), (g). Further, it is consistent

with the statutory fee schedule’s

formulation of fees for exclusive and

shared services.

16. We are proposing no change to the

rules for calculating fee payments and

submitting regulatory fee payments for

private radio services. See FY 1994

Order, Appendix B at paras. 2–12.

Rather, due to the relatively small

regulatory fees generally assessed for

these services, we propose to continue

to require applicants for new,

reinstatement and renewal licenses in

these services to submit the entire

regulatory fee for the full term of their

requested license at the time they file

their license applications.10 See 47

U.S.C. 159(f)(1). Applicants for

modification or assignment of an

existing authorization will not be

required to submit a regulatory fee.

However, the expiration date of these

authorizations will reflect only the

unexpired term of the underlying

license rather than a new license term.

a. Exclusive Use

17. Land Mobile Services, set forth in

the FY 1995 regulatory fee schedule

within the wireless radio service

category, include those authorized

under Part 90 of the Commission’s Rules

to provide limited access wireless radio

service that allows high quality voice or

digital communications between

vehicles or to fixed stations to further

the business activities of the licensee.

These Services, using the 220–222 MHz

band and frequencies at 470 MHz and

above, may be offered on a private

carrier basis in the Specialized Mobile

Radio Services (SMRS). Our FY 1995

cost allocation to the Land Mobile

Services fee category is $462,455,

resulting from the mandatory

adjustment of its FY 1994 revenue

requirement under the statutory fee

schedule. Payment units for Land

Mobile Services are estimated to be

13,213 licenses. Dividing the cost

allocation to the Land Mobile Service

fee category by its payment units and its

license term of five years results in an

annual fee of $7 per license.11 See

Appendix D. Thus, we are proposing

that Land Mobile licensees be subject to

a $7 annual regulatory fee per license,

payable for an entire five or ten year

license term at the time of application

for a new, renewal or reinstatement

license. The total regulatory fee due

would be either $35 for a license with

a five year term or $70 for a license with

a 10 year term. We are proposing no

change to the rules for calculating and

submitting regulatory fees by Land

Mobile licensees. See FY 1994 Order,

Appendix B at para. 4.

18. Microwave Services, set forth in

the FY 1995 fee schedule within the

wireless radio service category, include

private microwave systems and private

carrier systems authorized under Part 94

of the Commission’s Rules to provide

telecommunications services between

fixed points on a high quality channel

of communications. Microwave systems

are often used to relay data and to

control railroad, pipeline and utility

equipment. Our FY 1995 cost allocation

to Microwave Services is $225,400,

resulting from the mandatory

adjustment to its FY 1994 revenue

requirement under the statutory fee

schedule. Payment units for Microwave

Services are estimated to be 6,440

licenses. Dividing the revenue

requirement of Microwave Services by

its payment units and license term of

five years results in an annual fee of $7

per license. See Appendix D. Thus, we

are proposing that microwave licensees

be subject to a $7 annual regulatory fee

per license, payable for an entire five

year license term at the time of

application for a new, reinstatement or

renewal license. The total regulatory fee

due would be $35 for the five year

license term. We are proposing no

change to the rules for calculating and

submitting regulatory fee payments by

Microwave Services. See FY 1994

Order, Appendix B at para. 5.

19. Interactive Video Data Service

(IVDS), set forth in the FY 1995 fee

schedule within the wireless radio

service category, is a two-way point-tomulti-point radio service allocated high

quality channels of communications

and authorized under Part 95 of the

Commission’s Rules. IVDS provides

information, products and services, and

also the capability to obtain responses

from subscribers in a specific service

area. IVDS is offered on a private carrier

basis. Our FY 1995 revenue requirement

attributable to IVDS is $50,750, resulting

from the mandatory adjustment to its FY

1994 revenue requirement under the

statutory fee schedule. Payment units

for IVDS are estimated at 1,450 licenses.

Dividing the revenue requirement of

IVDS by its payment units and license

term of five years results in an annual

fee of $7 per license. See Appendix D.

We are proposing that IVDS licensees be

subject to a $7 annual regulatory fee per

license, payable for an entire five year

license term at the time of application

for a new, reinstatement or renewal

license. The total regulatory fee due

would be $35 for the five year term of

the license. We are proposing no change

to the rules for calculating and

submitting regulatory fee payments for

IVDS. See FY 1994 Order, Appendix B

at para. 6.

b. Shared Use Services

20. Licensees in the following

services, set forth in the FY 1995 fee

schedule within the wireless radio

service category, generally operate on

shared frequencies.

21. Marine (Ship) Service is a

shipboard radio service authorized

under Part 80 of the Commission’s Rules

to provide telecommunications between

watercraft or between watercraft and

short-based stations. Radio installations

are required by domestic and

international law for large passenger or

cargo vessels. Radio equipment may be

voluntarily installed on smaller vessels,

such as recreational boats. Our FY 1995

cost allocation to the Marine (Ship)

Service fee category is $5,070,420,

resulting from the mandatory

adjustment to its FY 1994 revenue

requirement under the statutory fee

schedule. Payment units for Marine

(Ship) Service are estimated to be

169,014 stations. Dividing the revenue

requirement of the Marine (Ship)

Service by its payment units and license

term of ten years results in an annual fee

of $3 per station. See Appendix D. Thus,

we are proposing that marine (ship)

station licensees be subject to a $3

annual regulatory fee per station,

payable for an entire ten year license

term at the time of application for a

new, reinstatement or renewal license.

The total regulatory fee due would be

$30 for the ten year license term. We are

proposing no change to the rules for

calculating and submitting regulatory

fee payments by the Marine (Ship)

Service licensees. See FY 1994 Order,

Appendix B at para. 9.
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 12 / Thursday, January 19, 1995 / Proposed Rules 3811

22. Marine (Coast) Service, set forth in

the FY 1995 fee schedule within the

wireless radio service category, includes

land-based stations in the maritime

services, authorized under Part 80 of our

rules, to provide communications

services to ships and other watercraft in

coastal and inland waterways. Our FY

1995 cost allocation to the Marine

(Coast) Services is $41,955, resulting

from the mandatory adjustment of its FY

1994 revenue requirement under the

statutory fee schedule. Payment units

for the Marine (Coast) Service are

estimated to be 2,797 licenses. Dividing

the revenue requirement of the marine

(Coast) Service by its payment units and

license term of five years results in an

annual fee of $3 per license. See

Appendix D. Thus, we are proposing

that these licensees by subject to a $3

annual regulatory fee per call sign,

payable for the entire five year license

term at the time of application for a

new, reinstatement or renewal license.

The total regulatory fee done would be

$15 per call sign for the five year license

term. We are proposing no change to the

rules for calculating and submitting

regulatory fee payments by the Marine

(Coast) Service See FY 1994 Order,

Appendix B at para. 9.

23. Private Land Mobile (Other)

Services, set forth in the FY 1995 fee

schedule within the wireless radio

service category, includes land mobile

radio services operating under Parts 90

and 95 of the Commission’s Rules.

Services in this category provide one or

two way communications between

vehicles, persons or to fixed stations on

a shared basis and include radio

location services, private carrier paging

services, industrial radio services and

land transportation radio services. Our

FY 1995 cost allocation for Private Land

Mobile (Other) Services is $1,396,275,

resulting from the mandatory

adjustment to its FY 1994 revenue

requirement under the statutory fee

schedule. Payment units for Private

Land Mobile (Other) Services are

estimated to be 93,085 licenses.

Dividing the revenue requirement of the

Services by their payment units and

license term of five years results in an

annual fee of $3 per license. See

Appendix D. Therefore, we are

proposing that licensees of services in

this category be subject to a $3 annual

regulatory fee per call sign, payable for

an entire five year license term at the

time of application for a new,

reinstatement or renewal license. The

total regulatory fee due would be $15 for

the five year license term. We are

proposing no change to the rules for

calculating and submitting regulatory

fee payments by Private Land Mobile

Service licensees. See FY 1994 Order,

Appendix B at para. 11.

24. Aviation (Aircraft) Service, set

forth in the FY 1995 fee schedule within

the wireless radio service category,

includes stations authorized to provide

communications between aircraft and

from aircraft to ground stations and

includes frequencies used to

communicate with air traffic control

facilities pursuant to part 87 of our

rules. Our FY 1995 revenue requirement

attributable to the Aviation (Aircraft)

Service is $1,130,430, resulting from the

mandatory adjustment to its FY 1994

revenue requirement under the statutory

fee schedule. Payment units for the

Aviation (Aircraft) Service are estimated

to be 37,681 stations. During the

revenue requirement of the Aviation

(Aircraft) Service by its payment units

and license term of ten years results in

an annual fee of $3 per station. See

Appendix D. Thus, we are proposing

that licensees of aircraft stations be

subject to a $3 annual regulatory fee per

station, payable for the entire ten year

license term at the time of application

for a new, reinstatement or renewal

license. The total regulatory fee due

would be $30 per station for the ten year

license term. We are proposing no

change to the rules for calculating and

submitting regulatory fee payments by

Aviation (Aircraft) Service licensees.

See FY 1994 Order, Appendix B at para.

8.

25. Aviation (Ground) Service, set

forth in the FY 1995 fee schedule within

the wireless radio service category,

includes stations authorized to provide

ground-based communications to

aircraft for weather or landing

information, or for logistical support

pursuant to Part 87 of the rules. Our FY

1995 revenue requirement attributable

to the Aviation (Ground) Service is

$39,900, resulting from the mandatory

fee adjustment to its revenue

requirement under the statutory fee

schedule. Payment units for the

Aviation (Ground) Service are estimated

to be 2,660 licenses. Dividing the

Service’s revenue requirement by its

payment units and licenses term five

years results in an annual fee of $3 per

license. See Appendix D. Thus, we are

proposing that these licensees of

aviation ground stations be subject to a

$3 annual regulatory fee per license,

payable for the entire five year license

term at the time of application for a

new, reinstatement or renewal license.

The total regulatory fee would be $15

per call sign for the five year license

term. We are proposing no change to the

rules for calculating and submitting

regulatory fee payments by Aviation

(Ground) Service licensees. See FY 1994

Order, Appendix B at para. 8.

26. General Mobile Radio Service

(GMRS), set forth in the FY 1995 fee

schedule within the wireless radio

service category, includes land mobile

radio licensees providing personal and

limited business communications

between vehicles or to fixed stations for

short-range, two-way communications

pursuant to Part 95 of our rules. Our FY

1995 cost allocation for GMRS is

$41,775, resulting from the mandatory

adjustment to its FY 1994 revenue

requirement. Payment units for GMRS

are estimated to be 2,785 licenses.

Dividing GMRS’ revenue requirement

by its payment units and license term of

five years results in an annual fee of $3

per license. See Appendix D. Thus, we

are proposing that (GMRS) licensees be

subject to a $3 annual regulatory fee per

license, payable for an entire five year

license term at the time of application

for a new, reinstatement or renewal

license. The total regulatory fee due

would be $15 per license for the five

year license term. We are proposing no

change to the rules for calculation and

submission of regulatory fee by GMRS

licensees. See FY 1994 Order, Appendix

B at para. 10.

c. Amateur Radio Vanity Call-Signs

27. Amateur Vanity Call-Signs, set

forth in the FY 1995 fee schedule within

the wireless radio service category,

covers voluntary requests for specific

call-signs in the Amateur Radio Service.

We have not yet concluded our

rulemaking proceeding concerning

authorizing vanity call-signs. See Notice

of Proposed Rulemaking, 9 FCC Rcd 105

(1993), 59 FR 558 (January 5, 1994).

Nevertheless, we are including a fee for

vanity call signs since we expect to

conclude this proceeding during FY

1995. Our FY 1995 cost allocation to

Amateur Vanity Call-Signs is $60,000,

resulting from the mandatory

adjustment to its FY 1994 revenue

requirement under the statutory fee

schedule. See Appendix D. Payment

units for Amateur Vanity Call-Signs are

estimated to be 2,000 licenses. Dividing

this service category’s cost allocation by

its estimated payment units and license

term of ten years results in a fee of $3

per year per license. Thus, we are

proposing that applicants for amateur

vanity call-signs be subject to a $3

annual regulatory fee per call-sign,

payable for an entire ten year license

term at the time of application for a

vanity call sign. The total regulatory fee

due would be $30 per license for the ten
3812 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 12 / Thursday, January 19, 1995 / Proposed Rules

12Section 9(h) exempts ‘‘amateur radio operator

licenses under part 97 of the Commission’s

regulations (47 C.F.R. Part 97)’’ from the

requirement. However, section 9(g)’s fee schedule

explicitly includes ‘‘Amateur vanity call signs’’ as

a category subject to the payment of a regulatory

fee.

13Arbitron has identified 261 Metro Survey Areas

(MSAs) that range in population from 14,033,500

(Market 1) to 47,100 persons (Market 261). Stations

operating outside Arbitron’s MSAs are considered

to be located in ‘‘non-arbitron markets’’ serving

more rural geographic areas. See Arbitron rankings,

Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook, compiled annually

by R. R. Bowker, a Reed Reference Publishing

Company. For the formulation of FY 1995 AM and

FM fees, we have used the 1994 edition of the

Yearbook since it provides the most recently

published market data.

14See Appendix for a more detailed explanation

of the development of our fees for AM and FM radio

stations.

year license term.12 We are proposing

no change to the rules for calculating

and submitting regulatory fees for

amateur vanity call-sign licensees. See

FY 1994 Order, Appendix B at para 12.

2. Mass Media

28. The regulatory fees for the Mass

Media fee category apply to broadcast

licensees and permittees.

a. Commercial AM and FM Radio

29. These categories include licensed

commercial AM (Classes A, B, C, and D)

and FM (Classes A, B, B1, C, C1, C2, and

C3) radio stations operating under Part

73 of the Commission’s rules. In

developing our FY 1995 individual fee

amounts for AM and FM stations, we

determined that the public interest

required that we retain the operational

class distinctions among AM and FM

stations that Congress established in its

statutory fee schedule. Also, as a

permissive amendment and consistent

with petitions for rulemaking filed by

Teddy Bear Communications, Inc. and

La Paz Broadcasting, Inc., we included

a further distinction in order to

recognize that the population density of

a station’s geographic location was also

a public interest factor warranting

recognition in the fee schedule. After

due consideration, we decided that

stations located in Arbitron radio

markets vis-a-vis those not located in

these markets provided a logical

distinction for allocating a fee ratio

burden.13 We quantified this distinction

by adopting a fee ratio between the

Arbitron and non-Arbitron markets

similar to the ratio of the fee

requirement the statutory fee scheduled

established for the larger television

station markets and the schedule’s

‘‘remaining markets.’’ 14 Thus, for AM

and FM stations we exercised our

authority to make permitted

amendments to the fee schedule in

order to lower the fees for stations with

relatively small coverage areas and

daytime only operations and for stations

operating in rural areas. The following

are our proposed regulatory fees for AM

and FM stations.

AM Radio:

Class A (Arbitron Market) ....... $1,525

Class A (Non-Arbitron Market) 565

Class B (Arbitron Market) ........ 850

Class B (Non-Arbitron Market) 315

Class C (Arbitron Market) ........ 340

Class C (Non-Arbitron Market) 125

Class D (Arbitron Market) ....... 425

Class D (Non-Arbitron Market) 155

FM Radio:

Classes C, C1, C2, B (Arbitron

Market) .................................. $1,525

Classes C, C1, C2, B (NonArbitron Market) ................... 565

Classes A, B1, C3 (Arbitron

Market) .................................. 1,025

Classes A, B1, C3 (NonArbitron Market) ................... 375

We are proposing no change to the

rules for calculating and submitting

regulatory fees by AM and FM radio

station licensees. See FY 1994 Report,

Appendix B at paras. 14–17 and 19.

b. Construction Permits—Commercial

AM Radio

30. This category includes holders of

permits to construct new AM stations.

The FY 1995 cost allocation for

commercial AM construction permit fee

category is $9,480, resulting from the

mandatory adjustment to its FY 1994

revenue requirement under the statutory

fee schedule. Payment units for the

category are estimated to be 79 AM

construction permits. Dividing the

revenue requirement for AM

construction permits by estimated

payment units results in a regulatory fee

of $120 per construction permit. See

Appendix E. Thus, for FY 1995, we are

proposing to assess permittees $120 for

each permit held. Upon issuance of an

operating license, this fee would no

longer be applicable and licensees

would be required to pay the applicable

fee for the designated class/market of

the station. We are proposing no change

in the rules for calculating and

submitting the regulatory fee by AM

construction permittees. See FY 1994

Order, Appendix B at para. 18.

c. Construction Permits—Commercial

FM Radio

31. This category includes holders of

permits to construct new commercial

FM stations. The FY 1995 cost

allocation for commerical FM radio

construction permits is $418,285,

resulting from the mandatory

adjustment to the category’s FY 1994

revenue requirement under the statutory

fee schedule. Payment units are

estimated to be 703 FM construction

permits. Dividing the revenue

requirements for FM construction

permits by estimated payments units

results in a regulatory fee $595 per

permit. See Appendix E. Thus, for FY

1995, we are proposing to assess

permittees $595 for each permit held.

Upon issuance of an operating license,

this fee would no longer be applicable.

Instead, licensees would pay a

regulatory fee based upon the

designated class/market of the station.

We are proposing no change in the rules

for calculating and submitting

regulatory fees by FM construction

permittees. See FY 1994 Order,

Appendix B at para. 20.

d. Commercial Television Stations

32. This category includes licensed

commercial VHF and UHF television

stations covered under Part 73 of the

Commissions rules, except commonly

owned television satellite stations,

addressed separately below. We are

proposing to assess commercial

television stations annual fees based on

the station’s market rankings as

published by Warren Publishing in the

1994 Edition of the Television and

Cable Factbook (No. 62). The FY 1995

revenue requirements for the different

categories of VHF and UHF commercial

television stations are shown in

Appendix E, including both an amount

resulting from the services mandatory

adjustment and an additional amount

required to offset the reduced fee for

satellite television stations, described

below, pursuant to our authority to

make permitted amendments to the fees.

Payment units for each service category

with the commercial television fee

category are shown in Appendix E.

Dividing the revenue requirements for

each commercial television station

category by the corresponding estimate

of payment units results in the

following proposed fees to be assessed

on stations in each ADI market

grouping:

VHF Markets 1–10 ....................... $21,450

VHF Markets 11–25 ..................... 19,075

VHF Markets 26–50 ..................... 14,300

VHF Markets 51–100 ................... 9,525

VHF Remaining Markets ............. 5,950

UHF Markets 1–10 ....................... 17,150

UHF Markets 11–25 ..................... 15,250

UHF Markets 26–50 ..................... 11,450

UHF Markets 51–100 ................... 7,625

UHF Remaining Markets ............. 4,775

See Appendix E. We are proposing no

change to the rules for calculating and

submitting regulatory fee payments by

television stations licensees. See FY

1994 Order, Appendix B at para. 21–24.
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 12 / Thursday, January 19, 1995 / Proposed Rules 3813

15We acknowledge that the Commission has

initiated an NPRM seeking comment on whether

satellite stations should continue to be exempt from

the Commission’s national television ownership

restrictions. Be advised that the Commission’s

decision to assess a regulatory fee for satellite

stations that is less than the amount for commercial

television stations should not be taken as a signal

that any determination has been made with regard

to this outstanding proceeding.

e. Commercial Television Satellite

Stations

33. Pursuant to our authority to make

permissive amendments to our

regulatory fees, we are also proposing

that commonly owned television

satellite stations in any market

(authorized pursuant to Note 5 of

Section 73.3555 of the Commission’s

Rules) that retransmit programming of

the primary station be assessed a fee of

$595 annually, based upon the $500 fee

for FY 1994 passed by the House of

Representatives for satellite stations.

While not legally binding, the $500 base

fee was determined to be appropriate for

licensees of television satellite stations

in our FY 1994 authorization bill passed

in the House of Representatives. See

H.R. 4522. In addition, we believe that

this fee amount takes into account the

public interest factors reflected in

comments filed in the proceeding to

adopt the FY 1994 Schedule of

Regulatory Fees. See 447 U.S.C.

§ 159(b)(3). In developing the FY 1995

fee for television satellite stations, we

used the $500 fee that the House

enacted for FY 1994 for television

satellite stations to derive a FY 1995 fee

requirement of $595 per television

satellite station resulting from a

‘‘simulated’’ FY 1994 revenue

requirement divided by the estimated

payments units of 101 satellite

television station licenses. Therefore,

we propose to exercise our authority to

make permitted amendments to the fees

to establish the satellite television fee at

$595 per license. We expect that this fee

will result in approximately $60,095 of

revenues. See Appendix E. We caution

that only those stations designated as

satellite television stations in the 1994

edition of the Television and Cable

Factbook (No. 62) are eligible to submit

the fee applicable to satellite television

stations. All other television licensees

are subject to the regulatory fee payment

required for their class of station and

market.15

f. Construction Permits—Commercial

VHF Television Stations

34. This category includes holders of

permits to construct new commercial

VHF television stations. For FY 1995,

the cost allocation for this service

category is $52,525, resulting from the

fee category’s FY 1994 revenue

requirement under the statutory fee

schedule. Payment units for VHF

construction permits are estimated to be

11 permits. Dividing the revenue

requirement for VHF construction

permits by its estimated payment units

results in a fee of $4,775. See Appendix

E. Therefore, for FY 1995, we are

proposing to assess permittees $4,775

for each VHF construction permit held.

Upon issuance of an operating license,

this fee would no longer be applicable.

Instead, licensees would pay a fee based

upon the designated market of the

station. We are proposing no change to

the rules for calculating and submitting

regulatory fees by VHF television station

construction permittees. See FY 1994

Order, Appendix B at para. 24.

g. Construction Permits—Commercial

UHF Television Stations

35. This category includes holders of

permits to construct new UHF television

stations. For FY 1995, the cost

allocation for this service category is

$554,625, resulting from the mandatory

increase to its statutory fee schedule.

Payment units for UHF construction

permits are estimated to be 145 permits.

Dividing the revenue requirement for

this service category by its estimated

payment units results in a fee of $3,825

for each UHF construction permit held.

Therefore, we are proposing a fee of

$3,825 per UHF television station

construction permit. See Appendix E.

Upon issuance of an operating license,

this fee would no longer be applicable.

Instead, licensees would pay a fee based

upon the designated market of the

station. We are proposing no change to

the rules for calculating and submitting

regulatory fees by UHF television

station permittees. See FY 1994 Order,

Appendix B at para. 25.

h. Construction Permits—Satellite

Television Stations

36. We are proposing to add a new

service category to the fee schedule in

recognition that the holders of

construction permits for UHF and VHF

television satellite stations should be

charged a separate, lower fee than the

fee for holders of construction permits

for fully operational television stations.

See above, where we propose to exercise

our authority to make permitted

amendments to the fee schedule relating

to the fee for television satellite stations.

We developed the fee for television

satellite construction permits by taking

the average fees for VHF and UHF

television stations ($12,655) and relating

it to the average fee for construction

permits for VHF and UHF television

stations ($4,300). Using this

relationship, (.339:1) for satellite

stations results in a computed fee of

$200 for construction permits for

television satellite stations ($595 times

.339). See Appendix E. An individual

regulatory fee payment is to be made for

each television satellite station

construction permit held.

i. Low Power Television, Translator and

Booster Stations

37. This category includes Low Power

UHF/VHF Television stations operating

under Part 74 of the Commissions rules

with a transmitter power output limited

to 0.01kw for a UHF facility and,

generally, 1kw for a VHF facility. Low

Power Television (LPTV) stations may

retransmit the programs and signals of

a TV broadcast station, originate

programming, and/or operate as a

subscription service. This category also

includes translators and boosters

operating under Part 74 which

rebroadcast the signals of full service

stations on a frequency different from

the parent station (translators) or on the

same frequency (boosters). We propose

to exercise our authority to make

permitted amendments to the fee

schedule to include FM translator and

booster stations in this fee service

because we believe these facilities were

inadvertently omitted from the statutory

fee schedule and we are unaware of any

reason not to establish a fee for these

services. The stations in this category

are secondary to full service stations in

terms of frequency priority. The FY

1995 cost allocation for this service

category is $1,368,640, resulting from

the mandatory adjustment to its FY

1994 revenue requirement under the

statutory fee schedule. Payment units

are estimated to be 8,554 licenses,

including licenses covering FM

translators. Dividing the revenue

requirement for this category by its

estimated payment units results in a fee

of $160 per license. See Appendix E.

Thus, for FY 1995, we are proposing to

assess licensees of low power television

stations and licensees of both FM and

TV translators and boosters an annual

regulatory fee of $160 for each license

held. We are proposing no change to the

rules for calculating and submitting

regulatory fee payments by licensees in

this service category. See FY 1994

Order, Appendix B at paras. 26–27.

j. Broadcast Auxiliary Stations

38. This category includes licensees of

remote pickup stations, aural broadcast

auxiliary stations, television broadcast

auxiliary stations, and low power

auxiliary stations, authorized under Part

74 of the Commission’s Rules. Auxiliary

stations are generally associated with a
3814 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 12 / Thursday, January 19, 1995 / Proposed Rules

16Consistent with our earlier interpretation of

Congressional intent, we propose to require

payment of the cable system regulatory fees on a per

subscriber basis rather than per 1,000 subscribers as

set forth in the statutory fee schedule. See FY 1994

Order at para. 100.

17As noted above, we are proposing no regulatory

fee for Personal Communications Services (PCS)

and Commercial Mobile Radio Services (CMRS) for

FY 1995 because no facilities were authorized for

PCS and CMRS by our proposed date for calculating

fees, October 1, 1994.

particular television or radio broadcast

station or cable television system. The

FY 1995 cost allocation for this category

is $1,500,000, resulting from the

mandatory adjustment to its FY 1994

revenue requirement under the statutory

fee schedule. Payment units are

estimated to be 50,000 licenses.

Dividing the category’s revenue

requirement by its estimated payment

units results in a fee of $30 per license.

See Appendix E. Thus, we are

proposing that licensees of commercial

auxiliary stations be assessed a $30

annual regulatory fee for FY 1995 on a

per call sign basis. We are proposing no

change to the rules for calculating or

submitting regulatory fee payments by

licensees of facilities in this service

category. See FY 1994 Report, Appendix

B at para. 28.

k. International HF Broadcast (Short

Wave)

39. This category covers international

broadcast stations licensed under Part

73 to operate on a frequency in the

5,950 Khz to 26,100 Khz range to

provide service to the general public in

foreign countries. The proposed fees for

International HF Broadcast are set forth

in the International Service category in

the FY 1995 fee schedule. For FY 1995,

the cost allocation for the category is

$4,560, resulting from the mandatory

adjustment to its FY 1994 revenue

requirement under the statutory fee

schedule. Payment units are estimated

to be 19 licenses. Dividing the category’s

revenue requirements by its estimated

payment units results in a fee of $240

per license. See Appendix E. Thus, for

FY 1995, we are proposing to assess an

annual regulatory fee of $240 per station

license. We are proposing no change to

the rules for calculating and submitting

fees by licensees of facilities in this

service category. See FY 1994 Order,

Appendix B at para. 29.

3. Cable Services

a. Cable Television Systems

40. This category includes operators

of cable television systems, as the term

is defined in Section 76.5 of our rules,

providing or distributing programming

or other services to subscribers under

Part 76 of our Rules. For FY 1995, the

cost allocation for cable television

systems is $29,070,000, resulting from

the mandatory adjustment to the

category’s FY 1994 revenue requirement

under the statutory fee schedule.

Estimated payment units are 57,000,000

subscribers. Dividing the categories cost

allocation by its estimated payment

units results in a fee of $.51 per

subscriber. See Appendix F. Therefore,

we are proposing a fee of $.51 per cable

television subscriber.16

41. Payments for cable systems are to

be made on a per subscriber by

community unit basis as of December

31, 1994 as reported on each cable

system’s 1994 Annual report of Cable

Systems (FCC Form 325). As in FY

1994, cable systems should determine

their subscriber numbers by calculating

the number of single family dwellings,

the number of individual households in

multiple dwelling units, e.g.,

apartments, condominiums mobile

home parks, etc., paying at the basic

subscirber rate, the number of bulk rate

customers and the number of courtesy

or fee customers. In order to determine

the number of bulk rate subscribers, a

system should divide its bulk rate

charge by the annual subscription rate

for individuals households. We are

proposing no change in the rules for

calculating or submitting regulatory fees

by cable system operators. See FY 1994

Order, Appendix B at para. 31.

b. Cable Antenna Relay Service

42. This category includes cable

television relay service (CARS) stations

used to transmit television and related

audio signals, signals of AM and FM

broadcast stations and cablecasting from

the point of reception to a terminal

point from where the signals are

distributed to the public by a cable

television system. For FY 1995, the cost

allocation for CARS is $635,010,

resulting from the mandatory

adjustment to its FY 1994 revenue

requirement based upon the statutory

fee schedule. Payment units are

estimated to be 2,082 licenses. Dividing

the revenue requirement for CARS by its

estimated payment units results in a fee

of $305 per license. See Appendix F.

Thus, for FY 1995, we are proposing to

assess a $305 regulatory fee per CARS

license. We are proposing no change to

the rules for calculating and submitting

regulatory fees by CARS licensees.

4. Common Carrier Services

a. Mobile Services

43. Public Mobile/Cellular Radio

Services, set forth in the FY 1995 fee

schedule within the wireless radio

service category, include common

carriers and others (e.g., cellular radio

licensees) offering, under Parts 22 and

24, a wide variety of land-based or airto-ground mobile telephone, paging or

data transmission services to the public.

Licensees include those using radio to

provide telephone services at fixed

locations, such as Basic Exchange

Telecommunications Radio Services,

Rural Radio and Offshore Radio. For FY

1994, we required a fee payment on a

subscriber basis pursuant to the

statutory requirement to charge a per

subscriber fee. See 47 U.S.C. § 159(g).

44. We recognize that the statutory

language permitted a licensee to submit

a single per subscriber fee for an entity

subscribing to its service no matter how

many actual units of communication

services that subscriber obtained from

the licensee. Nevertheless, we believe

that a more equitable payment

formulation would require each licensee

to submit a fee based upon the total

number of telephone numbers or call

signs that it provides to customers so

that its fee payment would better reflect

the benefit that the licensee receives

from its use of frequencies of

communications. Therefore, for FY

1995, we propose to exercise our

authority to make permitted

amendments to the fee schedule to

propose that each licensee in the Public

Mobile/Cellular Radio Services pay an

annual regulatory fee for each mobile or

cellular unit (mobile or cellular call sign

or telephone number), including paging

units, assigned to its customers,

including resellers of its services. For

FY 1995, the service category’s cost

allocation is $4,420,000, resulting from

the mandatory adjustment to its FY

1994 revenue requirement under the

statutory fee schedule. Payment units

under our proposed formulation are

estimated to be 34,000,000 subscribers.

Dividing the category’s cost allocation

by its estimated subscribers results in a

regulatory fee of $.13 per payment unit.

See Appendix G. Thus, we are

proposing a fee of $.13 per subscriber.

With the exception of extending the

regulatory fee to all units provided by

licensees in this service category, we are

proposing no change to the rules for

payment of fees by licensees in the

Public Mobile/Cellular Radio Services.

See FY 1994 Order, Appendix B at para.

31.17

b. Fixed Radio Services

45. Domestic Public Fixed Radio

Service includes stations authorized

under Part 21 of the Commission’s Rules

to use microwave frequencies for video

and data distribution within the United

States. This category includes licensees
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 12 / Thursday, January 19, 1995 / Proposed Rules 3815

18MDS and MMDS are now regulated by the Mass

Media Bureau and, therefore, the regulatory fees for

these services are shown within the Mass Media

category in the FY 1995 fee schedule. See Appendix

B.

in the Point-to-Point Microwave Radio

Service, Local Television Transmission

Radio Service, Digital Electronic

Message Service, Multipoint

Distribution Service (MDS), and

Multichannel Multipoint Distribution

Service (MMDS).18 For FY 1995, the cost

allocation for the Domestic Public Fixed

Radio Services is $158,000, resulting

from the mandatory adjustment to its FY

1994 revenue requirement under the

statutory fee schedule. Payment units

are estimated to be 1,320 licenses.

Dividing the Service’s cost allocation by

its estimated payment units results in a

fee of $120 per call sign. See Appendix

G. Therefore, we are proposing that

Domestic Public Fixed Radio Service

licensees be subject to a $120 annual

regulatory fee per call sign, payable on

a specified date to be announced by the

Commission. We are proposing no

change to the rules for calculation and

submission of the fee payment by

licensees in the Domestic Public Fixed

Radio Services. See FY 1994 Order,

Appendix B at para. 37.

46. International Public Fixed Radio

Service, set forth in the FY 1995 fee

schedule within the International fee

category, includes common carriers

authorized under Part 23 of the

Commission’s Rules to provide radio

communications between the United

States and a foreign point via

microwave or HF troposcatter systems,

other than satellites and satellite earth

stations, but not including service

between the United States and Mexico

and the United States and Canada using

frequencies above 72 MHz. The cost

allocation for the International Public

Fixed Radio Service is $4,800, resulting

from the mandatory adjustment to its

revenue requirement under the statutory

fee schedule. Payment units for the

Service are estimated to be 20 call signs.

Dividing the Service’s revenue

requirement by its estimated payment

units results in a fee of $240 per call

sign. See Appendix F. thus, we are

proposing that international public

fixed radio service licensees be subject

to a $240 annual regulatory fee per call

sign, payable on a specified date to be

announced by the Commission. We are

proposing no change to the rules for

calculating and submitting fees by

licensees in the International Public

Fixed Radio Services. See FY 1994

Order, Appendix B at para. 38.

c. VSATs and Equivalent C-Band

Antennas/Mobile Satellite Earth

Stations

47. VSATs and Equivalent C-Band

Antennas includes VSAT earth stations

and equivalent C-Band earth stations

and antennas and earth station systems

comprised of very small aperture

terminals operating in the 12 and 14

GHz bands and providing a variety of

communications services to other

stations in the network. VSAT systems

consist of a network of technicallyidentical small fixed-satellite earth

stations which often include a larger

hub station. VSAT earth stations and CBand equivalent earth stations are

authorized pursuant to Part 25 of the

Commission’s Rules. Mobile Satellite

Earth Stations, operating pursuant to

Part 25 of the rules under blanket

licenses for mobile antennas

(transceivers), are smaller than one

meter and provide voice or data

communications, including position

location information for mobile

platforms such as cars, buses or trucks.

The 1995 cost allocation for this

category is $56,810, resulting from the

category’s mandatory adjustment under

the FY 1994 statutory fee schedule.

Payment units are estimated to be

437,000 antennas. See Appendix G.

Dividing the revenue requirement by

estimated payments units results in a

regulatory fee for FY 1995 of $.13 per

authorized antenna. Therefore, we

propose to assess licensees of VSATs an

annual regulatory fee of $.13 per

authorized antenna for FY 1995. The

proposed fee for this service is set forth

in the International category in the FY

1995 fee schedule. See Appendix B. We

are not proposing to change the rules for

calculation and payment of the fee for

VSATs, VSAT equivalents and mobile

earth station antennas.

d. Fixed Satellite Earth Station

Antennas

48. Transmit/Receive and Transmit

Only Earth Stations. This category

includes fixed-satellite transmit/receive

and transmit only earth sation antennas,

authorized or registered under Part 25 of

the Commission’s rules, operated by

private and public carriers to provide

telephone, television, data, and other

forms of communications. The proposed

fees for this fee category are set forth in

the FY 1995 fee schedule in the

International Service category. Included

in this category are telemetry, tracking,

and control (TT&C) earth stations and

earth station uplinks.

49. In our FY 1994 Order, we adopted

this statutory fee schedule’s requirement

that assessed a higher fee for fixed

satellite earth stations antennas of 9

meters or more than for those less than

9 meters. This distinction resulted in

the anomaly that antennas performing

the same function were subjected to

different fees, one several thousand

percent higher than the other. To rectify

this disparity, we propose to exercise

our permitted authority to eliminate the

differing fee levels for these earth

stations. We are proposing that any

earth station in this service category be

charged a fee based upon size as

measured in meters. This modification

will eliminate the disparity in fees

under the former schedule, but assure

that smaller antennas will continue to

be subject to a smaller fee requirement

than larger antennas.

50. The FY 1995 cost allocation for

transmit and transmit/receive earth

stations is $3,533,500, resulting from the

mandatory adjustment under the FY

1994 revenue requirement for this fee

category. Payment units are estimated to

be 19,100 antenna meters. Dividing the

cost allocation for this category by its

estimate payment units results in a fee

of $185 per meter. See Appendix G.

Therefore, we are proposing a regulatory

fee of $185 per meter for transmit/

receive and transmit only earth stations.

In determining the number of meters of

an earth station, all measurements

should be made to the tenth of a meter.

51. Receive Only Earth Stations. For

the reasons discussed above, we

propose to eliminate the disparity in the

fee requirement for receive only

antennas above and below 9 meters.

Thus receive only earth stations will be

assessed a per meter fee, regardless of

whether they are above or below 9

meters in size. The FY 1995 cost

allocation for receive only earth stations

is $4,116,000, resulting from the

mandatory adjustment to the fee

category’s revenue requirement under

the statutory fee schedule. Payment

units are estimated to be 34,300 antenna

meters. Dividing the cost allocation for

the category by its estimated payment

units results in a fee of $120 per meter.

See Appendix G. Thus, we are

proposing a regulatory fee of $120 per

meter for receive only earth stations. All

measurements will be to the tenth of a

meter.

e. Space Stations (Geosynchronous)

52. Geosynchronous space stations,

set forth in the FY 1995 fee schedule

within the International Service

category, are domestic and international

satellites positioned in orbit to remain

approximately fixed relative to the

earth. They are authorized under Part 25

of the Commission’s rules to provide

communications between satellites and
3816 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 12 / Thursday, January 19, 1995 / Proposed Rules

19See Resale and Shared Use of Common Carrier

Services, 60 FCC 2d 588, 600 (1977) (In addition to

allowing resellers to obtain lines from facilities

based carriers, we declared that ‘‘’ [resale carriers],’

whether they be brokers or value added carriers

* * * , are equally subject to the requirements of

Title II of the Communications Act.’’); see also

American Tel & Tel. Co. v. F.C.C., 978 F.2d 727, 735

(D.C. 1992) (finding that resellers and other

nondominant carriers must file tariffs and offer

their services pursuant to just, reasonable and

nondiscriminatory rates and practices pursuant to

sections 201 and 202 of the Act.) Resellers currently

are subject to filing fees pursuant to section 8 of the

Act.

20A holding company may combine fee payments

of its operating companies and pay their combined

fees for a particular service in a single combined

payment or by installments, if the aggregate of their

fees in a single service qualifies the holding

company to make installment payments.

earth stations on a common carrier and/

or private carrier basis. The FY 1995

cost allocation for geosynchronous

space stations is $4,978,750, resulting

from the mandatory increase in the

category’s FY 1994 revenue requirement

under the statutory fee schedule.

Payment units estimated to be 35

operational space stations in orbit.

Dividing the revenue requirement for

this category by its estimated payment

units results in a fee of $142,250 per

operational space station in orbit. See

Appendix G. Thus, we are proposing

that entities authorized to operate

geosynchronous space stations in

accordance with section 25.120(d) will

be assessed an annual regulatory fee of

$142,250 per operational station in

orbit. Payment is required for any

geosynchronous satellite that has been

launched and tested and is authorized

to provide service. We are proposing no

change to the rules for calculating and

submitting regulatory fee payments by

licensees of geosynchronous space

stations. See FY 1994 Order, Appendix

B at para. 35.

f. International Bearer Circuits

53. Regulatory fees for international

bearer circuits are computed ‘‘per 100

active 64 Kbps circuits or equivalent.’’

International bearer circuits are set forth

in the International Service category in

the FY 1995 fee schedule. The proposed

fee is to be paid by the facilities-based

common carrier activating the circuit in

any transmission facility for the

provision of service to an end user or

resale carrier. However, we propose to

modify our requirements for payment of

the fee for bearer circuits by private

submarine cable operators to require

that they pay fees for circuits sold on an

indefeasible right of use (IRU) basis or

leased to any customer other than an

international common carrier

authorized by the Commission to

provide U.S. international common

carrier services. Compare FY 1994

Order at 5367. The fee is based upon

active 64 Kbps circuits, or equivalent

circuits. Under this formulation, 64

Kbps circuits or their equivalent will be

assessed a fee. Equivalent circuits

include the 64 Kbps circuit equivalent

of larger bit stream circuits. For

example, the 64 Kbps circuit equivalent

of a 2.048 Mbps circuit is 30 64 Kbps

circuits. Analog circuits such as 3 and

4 KHz circuits used for international

service are also included as 64 Kbps

circuits. However, circuits derived from

64 Kbps circuits by the use of digital

circuit multiplication systems are not

equivalent 64 Kbps circuits. Such

circuits are not subject to fees. Only the

64 Kbps circuit from which they have

been derived will be subject to payment

of a fee. The FY 1995 cost allocation is

$310,000 based on an estimated volume

of 62,000 active 64 Kbps circuits or

equivalent. For FY 1995, we are

proposing an annual regulatory fee of

$5.00 for each active 64 Kbps circuit or

equivalent. For analog television

channels we will assess fees as follows:

Analog television channel size in

MHz

No. of

equivalent 64

Kbps

circuits

36 ...................................................... 630

24 ...................................................... 288

18 ...................................................... 240

See Appendix G. for a description of

the development of the fees for

international bearer circuits. See FY

1994 Order, Appendix B at para. 45.

g. Inter-exchange and Local Exchange

Carriers, Competitive Access Providers,

Pay Telephone Providers, and Other

Non-mobile Providers of Interstate

Service

54. In the FY 1994 Order, we adopted

the fees and calculation methodology

for Inter-Exchange Carriers (IXC’s),

Local Exchange Carriers (LECs) and

Competitive Providers (CAPs) contained

in the section 9(g)’s fees schedule. We

rejected proposals to modify the fees

schedule because Congress intended us

to adopt that schedule in its entirety for

FY 1994. Under the statutory schedule,

CAPs are assessed fees based upon their

number of subscribers. As a

consequence, some CAPs filed very

small fee payments because they serve

only a few subscribers even though

these subscribers are large entities with

heavy communications requirements.

55. Several of the commenters in the

FY 1994 proceeding urged that we

extend the fee requirement to other

providers of interstate communications

services, including resellers, in addition

to those subject to a fee requirement

under the statutory fee schedule. We

declined to do so. However, we stated

that we would review the fee schedule

to determine if other carriers should be

subject to the regulatory fee requirement

for FY 1995.

56. We now believe that resellers and

other carriers providing interstate

services subject to our jurisdiction and

directly benefiting from our regulation

of the interstate network should be

subject to a regulatory fee payment. In

particular, we are cognizant that our

decisions requiring facilities based

carriers to eliminate any restrictions on

the resale and sharing of their interstate

private line communications services

and facilities and our continuing market

surveillance has fostered the growth of

a strong communications resale

industry. In opening up the interstate

network to resellers, we asserted our

jurisdiction over their activities

pursuant to Title II of the

Communications Act.19 We believe that

carriers subject to our regulation should

bear the costs of that regulation. For

these reasons, we are proposing, as

described below, to subject any carrier,

whether facilities based or reseller,

using the interstate network to a

regulatory fee payment.

57. We propose to expand the

schedule of fees for carriers to include

not only IXCs, LECs and CAPs, but also

domestic and international carriers that

provide operator services, WATS, 800,

900, telex, telegraph, video, other

switched, interstate access, special

access, and alternative access services

either by using their own facilities or by

reselling facilities and services of other

carriers or telephone carrier holding

companies, and companies other than

traditional local telephone companies

that provide interstate access services to

long distance carriers and other

customers.20

58. The FY 1995 cost allocation for

this category is $39,000,000, resulting

from the mandatory adjustment of the

Commission’s FY 1994 revenue

requirement under the statutory fee

schedule. See Appendix G. Because our

proposal and a proposed alternative

method of calculating fees for the carrier

category, represent a significant

modification of the method in which

regulatory fees are calculated, interested

parties are requested to file comments

concerning the most efficient and

equitable method for assessment of

regulatory fees.

59. We propose to calculate carrier

fees based on the number of customer

units, i.e., the number of users of a

service, provided by a carrier as of

December 31, 1994. For access service
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 12 / Thursday, January 19, 1995 / Proposed Rules 3817

21Local exchange carriers and toll carriers will

each report a total of 142 million presubscribed

lines. Allowing for 1⁄2 million privately owned pay

telephone lines, 4 million special access lines, and

approximately 5% resale and competitive access

provision, it appears that carriers would report

approximately 300 million customer units.

22There will be approximately 393 billion

common carrier line access minutes in 1994 based

on minutes reported for the first half of the year

times 2. Adding 5% for resale results in 413 billion

minutes. Based on 1992 published TRS Fund data,

carriers provided nine and one half billion dollars

of nonswitched interstate service, which adds 95

million minutes to the total.

23See FY 1994 Order at paragraphs 39 through

45.

24Applicants for new, renewal and reinstatement

licenses in the following services will be required

to pay their regulatory fees in advance: Land Mobile

Services, Microwave services, Interactive Video

Data Services (IVDS), Marine (Ship) Service, Marine

Continued

provided by local exchange carriers, the

number of customer units would equal

the number of presubscribed lines as

described in Section 69.116 of the

Commission’s Rules. For pay telephone

service, the number of customer units

would equal the number of pay

telephones used as the basis for pay

telephone compensation. For MTS

provided by pre-selected interexchange

carriers, the number of customer units

would equal the number of

presubscribed lines as described in

Section 69.116 of the Commission’s

Rules. For pay telephone service, the

number of customer units would equal

the number of pay telephones used as

the basis for pay telephone

compensation. For MTS provided by

pre-selected interexchange carriers, the

number of customer units would equal

the number of presubscribed lines as

described in Section 69.116 of the

Commissions Rules. For other switched

services, such as MTS, WATS, 800, 900

and operator service not billed to the

number from which the call is placed,

the number of customer units would

equal the number of billing accounts

less those accounts already associated

with presubscribed lines reported by the

carrier. For non-switched services,

including service provided by CAPs,

special access, and private (alternative

access) line providers, the number of

customer units would be based on the

total capacity provided to customers

measured as voice equivalent lines. For

this purpose, 4 Khz or 64 Kbps

equivalents would equate to one voice

equivalent line. Dividing the

$39,000,000 cost allocation by an

estimated 300,000,000 customer units 21

results in a fee of $.13 per customer

unit.

60. In addition, as an alternative to

the fee structure described above, we are

proposing to base our carrier fees on the

number of minutes of interstate service

in calendar year 1994. For access service

provided by local exchange carriers, the

number of interstate minutes would

equal the number of originating and

terminating access minutes. For

interstate service upon which access

charges are paid, the number of minutes

would equal the number of originating

and terminating access minutes. For

other interstate services billed based on

timed usage, the number of minutes

would equal the number of billed

minutes. For interstate services not

billed on the basis of timed usage,

minutes would be estimated as the

billed revenue in dollars times 10. This

represents a cross-over assumption that

customers would substitute ordinary

MTS for any service which cost more

than ten cents per minute. Hence,

revenue in dollars time 10 represents a

lower bound number of minutes.

Dividing the $39,000,000 cost allocation

by 508 billion minutes 22 results in a fee

of $.08 per 1000 minutes.

D. Procedures for Payment of Regulatory

Fees

61. Generally, we propose to retain

the procedures that we established in

our FY 94 Report and Order for the

payment of regulatory fees. Section 9(f)

requires that we permit ‘‘payment by

installments in the case of fees in large

amounts, and in the case of small

amounts, shall require the payment of

the fee in advance for a number of years

not to exceed the term of the license

held by the payor.’’ See 47 U.S.C.

§ 1559(f). Consistent with the section,

we are again proposing three categories

of fee payments, based upon the

category of service for which the fee

payment is due and the amount of the

fee to be paid. The fee categories are (1)

‘‘standard’’ fees, (2) ‘‘large’’ fees, and (3)

‘‘small’’ fees.

1. Annual Payments of Standard Fees’

62. Standard fees are those regulatory

fees that are payable in full on an

annual basis. Payers of standard fees are

not required to make advance payments

for their full license term and are not

eligible for installment payments. All

standard fees are payable in full on the

date we establish for payment of fees in

their regulatory fee category. The

payment dates for each regulatory fee

category will be announced either in the

Report and Order in this proceeding or

by public notice in the Federal Register

following the termination of the

proceeding.

2. Installment Payments for Large Fees

63. In our FY 1994 Order, we

classified fees for several services at

certain payment amounts and above as

‘‘large’’ fees, eligible to be paid by

installment payments, and afforded

eligible payers the opportunity to

submit fees for these services in two

equally divided payments.23 We

indicated, however, that based on our

experience with the fee program, we

would consider increasing eligibility to

make installments payments. After

gaining some experience, we are

proposing to now lower eligibility or

installment payments. Our decision to

lower the eligibility threshold results

from a determination that our payment

processing system feasibly can handle a

reasonable increase in the number of

regulatees who pay in installments.

Therefore, we propose to set the

eligibility requirement at the lowest

installment payment level permitted in

FY 1994, $12,000, and propose that

regulatees in any category of service

with a payment liability of $12,000 or

more be eligible to make installment

payments. Eligibility for payment by

installment will be based upon the

amount of either a single regulatory fee

payment or a combination of fee

payments by the same licensee or

regulatee.

64. In our FY 1994 Order, we

permitted payment of ‘‘large’’ fees in

two installments and stated that for

future years we would permit four

installment payments by eligible

regulatees. The limited time that will be

available following completion of this

proceeding and the required 90 day

notification period to Congress of our

amendments to the Schedule of

Regulatory Fees following completion of

this proceeding makes the use of four

installment payments impractical for

installment payers and unduly burdens

our fee collection process. Therefore, we

propose that regulatees eligible to pay

by installment payments may submit

their required fee in two equal payments

(on dates to be announced in the Report

and Order terminating this proceeding

or in the Federal Register following the

proceeding’s termination), or, in the

alternative, may submit a single full

payment on the date that their final

installment payment is due.

3. Advance Payments of Small Fees

65. We are proposing to treat

regulatory fee payments by certain radio

licensees as small fees subject to

advance payments. Advance payments

will be required from licensees of those

services that we decided would be

subject to advance payments in our FY

1994 Order.24 Payers of advance fees
3818 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 12 / Thursday, January 19, 1995 / Proposed Rules

(Coast) Service, Private Land Mobile (Other)

Services, Aviation (Aircraft) Service, Aviation

(Ground) Service, General Mobile Radio Service

(GMRS). In addition, applicants for amateur radio

vanity call signs will be required to submit an

advance payment.

25Cable systems should calculate their FY 1995

regulatory fees using the subscriber data to be

submitted to the Commission in their 1994 Annual

Report of Cable Television Systems (FCC Form

325). Accordingly, their number of subscribers will

not necessarily be based on December 31, 1994, but

rather on ‘‘a typical day in the last full week’’ of

December 1994. (See FCC Form 325 Instructions.)

will submit the entire fee due for the

full term of their licenses when filing

their initial, reinstatement or renewal

application. Those subject to the fee

payment pay the amount due for the

current fiscal year multiplied by the

number of years in the term of their

requested license. In the event that the

required fee is adjusted following their

payment of the fee, the payor would not

be subject to the payment of a new fee

until filing an application for renewal or

reinstatement of the license. Thus,

payment for the full license term would

be made based upon the regulatory fee

applicable at the time the application is

filed. Refunds will not be made in cases

where the fee for a service is lower for

FY 1995 than the fee paid under the FY

1994 fee schedule. The Commission will

announce by public notice in the

Federal Register the effective date for

the payment of small fees pursuant to

the FY 1995 fee schedule.

4. Timing of Standard Fee Calculations

and Payment Dates

66. As noted, the date for payment of

standard fees and installment payments

will be published in the Federal

Register. For licensees, permittees and

holders of other authorizations in the

Common Carrier, Mass Media, and

Cable Services, whose fees are not based

on a subscriber, line or circuit count,

fees should be submitted for any

authorization held as of October 1, 1994.

As in our FY 1994 Order, we are

proposing October 1 as the date to be

used for calculating standard fees since

it is the first day of the fiscal year and,

therefore, current licensees subject to

the fees would have benefited from our

regulatory activities from the beginning

of the period covered by the payment.

67. In the case of regulatees whose

fees are based upon a subscriber, line or

circuit count, we propose that the

number of a regulatees’ subscribers,

licenses or circuits on December 31,

1994, will be used to calculate the fee

payment. We have selected the last date

of the calendar year because many of

these entities file reports with us as of

that date. Others calculate their

subscriber numbers as of that date for

internal purposes. Therefore,

calculation of the regulatory fee as of

that date will facilitate both an entity’s

computation of its fee payment and our

verification that the correct fee payment

has been submitted.25

IV. Procedural Matters

A. Comment Period and Procedures

68. Pursuant to the procedures set

forth in sections 1.415 and 1.419 of the

Commission’s rules, interested parties

may file comments on or before

February 13, 1995 and reply comments

on or before February 28, 1995. All

relevant comments will be considered

by the Commission before final action is

taken in this proceeding. To file

formally in this proceeding, participants

must file an original and four copies of

all comments, reply comments and

supporting materials. If participants

want each Commissioner to receive a

personal copy of their comments, an

original and nine copies must be filed.

Comments and reply comments should

be sent to the Office of the Secretary,

Federal Communications Commission,

Washington, D.C. 20554. Interested

parties, who do not wish to formally

participate in this proceeding, may file

informal comments to the same address.

Comments and reply comments will be

available for public inspection during

regular business hours in the FCC

Reference Center (Room 239) of the

Federal Communications Commission,

1919 M Street, NW., Washington, DC

20054.

B. Ex Parte Rules

69. This is a non-restricted notice and

comment rulemaking proceeding. Ex

parte presentations are permitted,

except during the Sunshine Agenda

period, provided they are disclosed

pursuant to the Commission’s rules. See

47 C.F.R. §§ 1.1202, 1.1203 and 1026(a).

C. Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis

70. As required by section 603 of the

Regulatory Flexibility Act (Pub. L. No.

96–354, 94 Stat. 1165, 5 U.S.C. § 601 et

seq. (1981), the Commission has

prepared an Initial Regulatory

Flexibility Analysis (IRFA) of the

expected impact on small entities of the

proposals suggested in this document.

The IRFA is set forth in Appendix A.

Written public comments are requested

with respect to the IRFA. These

comments must be filed in accordance

with the same filing deadlines for

comments on the rest of the Notice, but

they must have a separate and distinct

heading, designating the comments as

responses to the IRFA. The secretary

shall send a copy of this Notice,

including the IRFA, to the Chief

Counsel for Advocacy of the Small

Business Administration in accordance

with section 603(a) of the Regulatory

Flexibility Act.

D. Authority and Further Information

71. Authority for this proceeding is

contained in sections 4(i) and (j, 9, and

303(r) of the Communications Act of

1934 as amended, 47 U.S.C. §§ 154(1)

and (j) and 159 and 303(r).

72. Further information about this

proceeding may be obtained by

contacting Peter W. Herrick, Acting

Associate Managing Director, Program

Analysis at (202) 418–0443.

Federal Communications Commission.

William F. Caton,

Acting Secretary.

Appendix A—Initial Regulatory

Flexibility Analysis

Reason for Action

This rulemaking proceeding is initiated to

obtain comment regarding the Commission’s

proposed amendment of its Schedule of

Regulatory Fees in order to revise its

regulatory fees to collect $116,400,000, the

amount that Congress has required the

Commission to recover through regulatory

fees in Fiscal Year 1995.

Objectives

The Commission seeks to collect the

necessary amount through its proposed

revised regulatory fees, as contained in the

attached Schedule of Regulatory Fees, in the

most efficient manner possible and without

undue burden to the public.

Legal Basis

The proposed action is authorized under

sections (4) (i) and (j), 9 and 303(r) of the

Communications Act of 1934, as amended,

47 U.S.C. §§ 154 (i) and (j), 159, and 303(r).

Reporting, Recordkeeping and Other

Compliance Requirements

The Commission has developed FCC Form

159 and FCC Form 159C for submission with

regulatory fee payments. Also, the

Commission has adopted implementation

rules governing the payment of regulatory

fees. See 47 C.R.R. 1.1151 et seq.

Federal Rules That Overlap, Duplicate or

Conflict With Proposed Rule

None.

Description, Potential Impact, and Number

of Small Entities Involved

The proposed amendment of the Schedule

of Regulatory Fees will affect permittees,

licensees and other regulatees in the cable,

common carrier, mass media, private radio

and international services. After evaluating

the comments in this proceeding, the

Commission will further examine the impact

of any fee revisions or additions or rule
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 12 / Thursday, January 19, 1995 / Proposed Rules 3819

changes on small entities and set forth our

findings in the Final Regulatory Flexibility

Analysis.

Any Significant Alternatives Minimizing the

Impact on Small Entities Consistent With the

Stated Objectives

The Notice solicits comments on

alternative methods of assessing the

regulatory fees necessary to recover the

$116,400,000 in costs that Congress has

required us to recover through regulatory fees

in FY 1995.

BILLING CODE 6712–01–M
3820 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 12 / Thursday, January 19, 1995 / Proposed Rules
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 12 / Thursday, January 19, 1995 / Proposed Rules 3821
3822 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 12 / Thursday, January 19, 1995 / Proposed Rules

BILLING CODE 6712–01–C
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 12 / Thursday, January 19, 1995 / Proposed Rules 3823

26 It should be noted that FTE allocations are

year-end estimates and thus represent projected

work time of on-board staff as well as new and

replacement staff yet to be hired.

27The Commission has chosen to retain, for fee

determination purposes, the fee classifications (i.e.,

Private Radio, Common Carrier, Cable Services and

Mass Media) contained in 47 U.S.C. Section 159.

Although we believe that we have authority to

change the classifications to align them more

closely with our current organizational structure,

we wanted to minimize any adverse impacts to the

schedule brought about solely by such a

classification change.

28The regulatory fee program encompasses a total

of 1,406 FTEs. The agency’s Authorization of

Service, Legal Services and Executive Direction

Activities cover an additional 865 FTEs.

Authorization of Service regulatory costs are

recovered pursuant to Section 8 of the

Communications Act.

29These support activities include a

proportionate share of field operations, engineering

and technology and certain general program

support staff FTEs.

Appendix C—How Full Time

Equivalents (FTEs) Were Calculated

(1) FTE allocations represent how the

Commission anticipates FTEs will actually be

spent during the course of the fiscal year.26

Many factors influence how FTEs are

actually employed during the year, including

varying rates of attrition, speed of hiring new

and replacement staff, the use of part time or

temporary employees in lieu of permanent

staff, changing Commission priorities, and

reorganizations and other activities requiring

a reallocation or reassignment of staff. The

FTE allocations used in the fee development

process have been updated to reflect a

number of personnel reassignments made

incident to recent reorganizations within the

Commission. The impact on the fee

development process is negligible since the

reorganizations, although resulting in a

reassignment of staff and functions, have not

significantly changed the type of work the

reassigned staff is performing.27

(2) Only the Commission’s enforcement,

policy and rulemaking, international, and

user information activities are covered by the

regulatory fee program.28 Of the

Commission’s total of 2,271 FTEs, 846 FTEs

are directly assigned to the agency’s primary

operating bureaus to perform enforcement,

policy and rulemaking, international, and

user information activities. An additional 560

FTEs have been identified by the agency as

supporting these feeable activities.29 The

results of our FTE allocations are as follows:

Fee category FTEs

Mass Media .................................... 253

Common Carrier ............................. 689

Fee category FTEs

Private Radio .................................. 103

Cable Services ............................... 361

Total ..................................... 1406

(3) The total of the costs to be offset

by regulatory fees in FY 1995 is

$116,400,000. Each fee category was

allocated its share of costs based upon

the ratio of its FTEs to the total number

of FTEs allocated to all regulatory fee

categories. The results of this allocation

of costs are shown below:

Fee category FTEs Percent

Cost allocation

(in millions)

Mass Media . 253 18.0 $20.9

Common

Carrier ...... 689 49.0 57.0

Private Radio 103 7.3 8.5

Cable Services .......... 361 25.7 29.9

Total . 1406 100.0 30116.4

30 May not add due to rounding.

BILLING CODE 6712–01–M
3824 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 12 / Thursday, January 19, 1995 / Proposed Rules
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 12 / Thursday, January 19, 1995 / Proposed Rules 3825
3826 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 12 / Thursday, January 19, 1995 / Proposed Rules
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 12 / Thursday, January 19, 1995 / Proposed Rules 3827
3828 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 12 / Thursday, January 19, 1995 / Proposed Rules
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 12 / Thursday, January 19, 1995 / Proposed Rules 3829

[FR Doc. 95–1274 FIled 1–18–95; 8:45am]

BILLING CODE 6712–01–C