Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2013/04/11/2013-07396/signal-booster-rules
Timestamp: 2018-07-23 05:03:18
Document Index: 614067683

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Effective May 13, 2013, except for amendments to Sec. Sec. 1.1307(b)(1), 20.3, 20.21(a)(2), 20.21(a)(5), 20.21(e)(2), 20.21(e)(8)(i)(G), 20.21(e)(9)(i)(H), 20.21(f), 20.21(h), 22.9, 24.9, 27.9, 90.203(q), 90.219(b)(1)(i), 90.219(d)(5), and 90.219(e)(5), which contain information collection requirements that are not effective until approved by the Office of Management and Budget (``OMB''). The FCC will publish a document in the Federal Register announcing the effective date for those sections.
78 FR 21555
21555-21565 (11 pages)
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2013-07396 https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2013-07396
Effective May 13, 2013, except for amendments to §§ 1.1307(b)(1), 20.3, 20.21(a)(2), 20.21(a)(5), 20.21(e)(2), 20.21(e)(8)(i)(G), 20.21(e)(9)(i)(H), 20.21(f), 20.21(h), 22.9, 24.9, 27.9, 90.203(q), 90.219(b)(1)(i), 90.219(d)(5), and 90.219(e)(5), which contain information collection requirements that are not effective until approved by the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”). The FCC will publish a document in the Federal Register announcing the effective date for those sections.
End Further Info End Preamble Start Supplemental Information Start Printed Page 21556
This is a summary of the Federal Communications Commission's Report and Order (R&O), in WT Docket No. 10-4, FCC 13-21, adopted February 20, 2013, and released February 20, 2013. The full text of this document is available for inspection and copying during normal business hours in the FCC Reference Center, 445 12th Street SW., Room CY-A257, Washington, DC 20554, or by downloading the text from the Commission's Web site at http://transition.fcc.gov/​Daily_​Releases/​Daily_​Business/​2013/​db0220/​FCC-13-21A1.pdf. The complete text also may be purchased from the Commission's duplicating contractor, Best Copy and Printing, Inc., Portals II, 445 12th Street SW., Suite CY-B402, Washington, DC 20554. Alternative formats are available for people with disabilities (Braille, large print, electronic files, audio format), by sending an email to FCC504@fcc.gov or calling the Consumer and Government Affairs Bureau at (202) 418-0530 (voice), (202) 418-0432 (TTY).
1. In the R&O, the Commission adopts new technical, operational, and registration requirements for signal boosters. The new rules create two classes of signal boosters—Consumer and Industrial—with distinct regulatory requirements outlined below.
2. Consumer Signal Boosters are designed to be used “out of the box” by individuals to improve their wireless coverage within a limited area such as a home, car, boat, or recreational vehicle. Consumer Signal Boosters will be authorized under provider licenses subject to certain requirements. Specifically, subscribers must obtain some form of licensee consent to operate the booster; register the booster with their provider; use a booster that meets the Network Protection Standard and is FCC certificated; and operate the booster on a secondary, non-interference basis and shut it down if it causes harmful interference. Consumers may continue to use existing signal boosters provided they (1) have the consent of their provider, and (2) register the booster with that provider. The Commission will conduct consumer outreach to educate consumers, public safety entities, small businesses, and others about our new regulatory framework
3. Industrial Signal Boosters include a wide variety of devices that are designed for installation by licensees or qualified installers. These devices are typically designed to serve multiple users simultaneously and cover larger areas such as stadiums, airports, office buildings, hospitals, tunnels, and educational campuses. Industrial Signal Boosters require an FCC license or express licensee consent to operate, and must be appropriately labeled. The R&O also revises technical and operational requirements for duly licensed part 90 Private Land Mobile Radio (PLMR), non-consumer signal boosters.
4. We establish a two-step transition process for equipment certification for both Consumer and Industrial Signal Boosters sold and marketed in the United States. First, on the release date of this R&O, we will no longer accept applications for equipment certification of Consumer or Industrial Signal Boosters that do not comply with our new rules and will cease certification of devices that do not comply with our new rules. Second, on or after March 1, 2014, all Consumer and Industrial Signal Boosters sold and marketed in the United States must meet our new requirements.
5. This document contains modified information collection requirements subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), Public Law 104-13. It has been submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review under Section 3507(d) of the PRA. OMB, the general public, and other Federal agencies are invited to comment on the new or modified information collection requirements contained in this proceeding. In addition, the Commission notes that pursuant to the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2002, Public Law 107-198, see 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(4), it previously sought specific comment on how it might further reduce the information collection burden for small business concerns with fewer than 25 employees.
6. In the present document, the Commission assessed the effects of the policies adopted in this R&O with regard to information collection burdens on small business concerns, and find that these policies will benefit many companies with fewer than 25 employees because the rules we adopt should provide small entities with access to the coverage enhancing benefits of signal boosters that do not harm wireless networks. In addition, we describe below impacts that might affect small businesses, which includes most businesses with fewer than 25 employees.
7. The Commission will send a copy of this R&O in a report to Congress and the Government Accountability Office pursuant to the Congressional Review Act, see 5 U.S.C. 801(a)(1)(A).
8. As required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980, as amended (RFA), an Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (IRFA) was incorporated in the Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) in WT Docket 10-4, at 76 FR 26983, May 10, 2011. The Commission sought written public comment on the proposals in the NPRM, including comment on the IRFA. This present Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (FRFA) conforms to the RFA.
Need for, and Objectives of, the Report and Order:
9. In the R&O the Commission adopts rules and policies that will enhance wireless coverage for consumers, particularly in rural and underserved areas, by broadening the availability of signal boosters while ensuring that boosters do not adversely affect wireless networks. Mobile voice and mobile broadband services are increasingly important to consumers and to our nation's economy. While nearly the entire U.S. population is served by one or more wireless providers, coverage gaps that exist within and at the edge of service areas can lead to dropped calls, reduced data speeds, or complete loss of service. Robust signal boosters can bridge these gaps and extend coverage at the fringe of service areas. Signal boosters are particularly useful in rural and difficult-to-serve indoor environments, such as hospitals. Signal boosters can also improve public safety communications by enabling the public to connect to 911 in areas where wireless coverage is deficient or where an adequate communications signal is blocked or shielded. In short, because signal boosters represent a cost-effective means of improving our nation's wireless infrastructure, the rules the Commission adopts today should lead to more robust service for many Americans at home, at work, and on the road.
10. There were no comments that specifically addressed the IRFA. Nonetheless, we have considered the potential impact of the rules adopted herein on small entities, and conclude that such impact would be minimal, in terms of measurable economic costs associated with compliance with the rules.
Description and Estimate of the Number of Small Entities to Which Rules Will Apply: Start Printed Page 21557
11. The RFA directs agencies to provide a description of and, where feasible, an estimate of the number of small entities that may be affected by the rules adopted. The RFA generally defines the term “small entity” as having the same meaning as the terms “small business,” “small organization,” and “small governmental jurisdiction.” In addition, the term “small business” has the same meaning as the term “small business concern” under the Small Business Act. A small business concern is one which: (1) Is independently owned and operated; (2) is not dominant in its field of operation; and (3) satisfies any additional criteria established by the Small Business Administration (SBA).
12. Small Businesses, Small Organizations, and Small Governmental Jurisdictions. As of 2009, small businesses represented 99.9% of the 27.5 million businesses in the United States, according to the SBA. See SBA, Office of Advocacy, “Frequently Asked Questions,” available at http://web.sba.gov/​faqs/​faqindex.cfm?​areaid=​24 (last visited Dec. 11, 2012). Additionally, a “small organization” is generally “any not-for-profit enterprise which is independently owned and operated and is not dominant in its field.” See 5 U.S.C. 601(4). Nationwide, as of 2007, there were approximately 1,621,315 small organizations. See the Independent Sector, The New Nonprofit Almanac & Desk Reference (2010). Finally, the term “small governmental jurisdiction” is defined generally as “governments of cities, counties, towns, townships, villages, school districts, or special districts, with a population of less than fifty thousand.” See 5 U.S.C. 601(5). Census Bureau data for 2007 indicate that there were 89,527 governmental jurisdictions in the United States. See U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, STATISTICAL ABSTRACT OF THE UNITED STATES: 2011, Table 427 (2007). We estimate that, of this total, as many as 88,761 entities may qualify as “small governmental jurisdictions.” [1] Thus, we estimate that most governmental jurisdictions are small.
13. Wireless Telecommunications Carriers (except satellite). This industry comprises establishments engaged in operating and maintaining switching and transmission facilities to provide communications via the airwaves. Establishments in this industry have spectrum licenses and provide services using that spectrum, such as cellular phone services, paging services, wireless Internet access, and wireless video services. See http://www.census.gov/​cgi-bin/​sssd/​naics/​naicsrch?​code=​517210&​search=​2007%20NAICS%20Search. The appropriate size standard under SBA rules is for the category Wired Telecommunications Carriers. Under that size standard, such a business is small if it has 1,500 or fewer employees. See 13 CFR 121.201, NAICS code 517110. Census Bureau data for 2007, which now supersede data from the 2002 Census, show that there were 3,188 firms in this category that operated for the entire year. Of this total, 3,144 had employment of 999 or fewer, and 44 firms had employment of 1,000 employees or more. Thus under this category and the associated small business size standard, the Commission estimates that the majority of wireless telecommunications carriers (except satellite) are small entities that may be affected by our actions. See http://factfinder.census.gov/​servlet/​IBQTable?​_​bm=​y&​-fds_​name=​EC0700A1&​-geo_​id=​&​-_​skip=​600&​-ds_​name=​EC0751SSSZ5&​-_​lang=​en.
14. Radio and Television Broadcasting and Wireless Communications Equipment Manufacturing. The Census Bureau defines this category as follows: “This industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing radio and television broadcast and wireless communications equipment. Examples of products made by these establishments are: transmitting and receiving antennas, cable television equipment, GPS equipment, pagers, cellular phones, mobile communications equipment, and radio and television studio and broadcasting equipment.” See U.S. Census Bureau, 2007 NAICS Definitions, “334220 Radio and Television Broadcasting and Wireless Communications Equipment Manufacturing”; http://www.census.gov/​naics/​2007/​def/​ND334220.HTM#N334220. The SBA has developed a small business size standard for firms in this category, which is: all such firms having 750 or fewer employees. See 13 CFR 121.201, NAICS code 334220. According to Census Bureau data for 2010, there were a total of 810 establishments in this category that operated for the entire year.[2] Of this total, 787 had employment of fewer than 500, and an additional 23 had employment of 500 to 999.[3] Thus, under this size standard, the majority of firms can be considered small.
15. Wireless providers must create and maintain a registration mechanism to allow Consumer Signal Booster operators to register their devices. In addition, on March 1, 2015 and March 1, 2016, the nationwide wireless providers must make public certain information regarding their consent for their subscribers to use Consumer Signal Boosters. Specifically, these wireless providers must publicly indicate their status regarding consent for each Consumer Signal Booster which has received FCC certification.
16. Consumer Signal Boosters must meet the Network Protection Standard with the following requirements: (1) Comply with existing technical parameters (e.g., power and unwanted emissions) for the applicable spectrum band; (2) automatically self-monitor certain operations and shut down if not in compliance with our new technical rules; (3) automatically detect and mitigate oscillations in the uplink and downlink bands; (4) power down or shut down automatically when a device is not needed, such as when the device approaches the base station with which it is communicating; (5) be designed so that these features cannot be easily Start Printed Page 21558defeated; and (6) incorporate interference avoidance for wireless subsystems. In addition, Consumer Signal Boosters must comply with current RF exposure requirements. Consumers may continue to use existing signal boosters provided they (1) have the consent of their serving provider; and (2) register the booster with that provider.
17. The new rules also clarify that Industrial Signal Boosters require an FCC license or licensee consent to operate, must be appropriately labeled, and must comply with our current RF exposure requirements. Regarding part 90 Private Land Mobile Radio (PLMR), non-consumer signal boosters operated by licensees, the Commission revised its technical and operational requirements aimed at preventing interference. In addition, Part 90 Class B signal booster operators much register their devices with the Commission.
18. The Commission established a two-step transition process for equipment certification: (1) On the release date of this R&O, the Commission will no longer accept applications for equipment certification of Consumer or Industrial Signal Boosters that do not comply with our new rules and will cease certification of devices that do not comply with our new rules; and (2) as of March 1, 2014, all Consumer and Industrial Signal Boosters sold and marketed in the United States must meet the new requirements.
19. The RFA requires an agency to describe the steps it has taken to minimize the significant economic impact on small entities consistent with the stated objectives of applicable statutes, including a statement of the factual, policy, and legal reasons for selecting the alternative adopted in the final rule and why each one of the other significant alternatives to the rule considered by the agency which affect the impact on small entities was rejected.
20. With the exception of the Consumer Signal Booster consent reporting requirement, the projected reporting, recordkeeping, and other compliance requirements resulting from the R&O will apply to all entities in the same manner. The Commission believes that applying the same rules equally to all entities in this context promotes fairness. The Commission does not believe that the costs and/or administrative burdens associated with the rules will unduly burden small entities. The revisions the Commission adopts should benefit small entities by giving them more information for resolving instances of interference should it occur. Thus, for example, a small business experiencing interference in part 90 frequencies, which it suspects may be the result of a signal booster, may access the Commission's part 90 Class B signal booster registration tool and research any nearby Class B operators in an effort to stop the interference.
21. Regarding the reporting of wireless providers' consent to Consumer Signal Booster, this requirement only applies to nationwide wireless providers. The Commission concluded that it was appropriate to monitor provider behavior with respect to signal boosters. Specifically, in the event the Commission observes that providers are refusing to give timely and reasonable consideration to signal booster consent requests, it could take appropriate action including measures such as vigorous investigation or revisiting the authorization mechanism for Consumer Signal Boosters. The Commission determined, however, that it would be able to obtain sufficient information in this regard while limiting the requirement to nationwide wireless providers. Thus, the Commission was able to minimize the impact of this requirement on small entities.
22. The Commission will send a copy of the R&O in WT Docket No. 10-4, including the Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis, in a report to be sent to Congress and the Congressional Budget Office pursuant to the Congressional Review Act. In addition, the Commission will send a copy of the R&O in WT Docket No. 10-4, including the Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis, to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the SBA. A copy of the R&O in WT Docket No. 10-4 and the Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (or summaries thereof) will also be published in the Federal Register.
For the reasons discussed in the preamble, the Federal Communications Commission amends 47 CFR parts 1, 2, 20, 22, 24, 27, and 90 as follows:
2. Section 1.1307 is amended by adding a new entry to Table 1 below the existing row for Experimental Radio Services and above the existing row for Paging and Radiotelephone Service, and by revising the first sentence in (b)(2) to read as follows:
Commercial Mobile Radio Services (part 20) Non-building-mounted antennas: height above ground level to lowest point of antenna < 10 m and power > 1000 W ERP (1640 W EIRP).
The Commercial Mobile Radio Services provisions in part 20 shall apply only if a label is affixed to the transmitting antenna that:
(2) Mobile and portable transmitting devices that operate in the Commercial Mobile Radio Services pursuant to part 20 of this chapter; the Cellular Radiotelephone Service pursuant to part 22 of this chapter; the Personal Communications Services pursuant to part 24 of this chapter; the Satellite Communications Services pursuant to part 25 of this chapter; the Miscellaneous Wireless Communications Services pursuant to part 27 of this chapter; the Maritime Services (ship earth station devices only) pursuant to part 80 of this chapter; and the Specialized Mobile Radio Service, and the 3650 MHz Wireless Broadband Service pursuant to part 90 of this chapter are subject to routine environmental evaluation for RF exposure prior to equipment authorization or use, as specified in §§ 2.1091 and 2.1093 of this chapter. * * *
4. Section 2.1091 is amended by revising the first sentence in paragraph (c) to read as follows:
(c) Mobile devices that operate in the Cellular Radiotelephone Service pursuant to part 22 of this chapter; the Personal Communications Services pursuant to part 24 of this chapter; the Satellite Communications Services pursuant to part 25 of this chapter; the Miscellaneous Wireless Communications Services pursuant to part 27 of this chapter; the Maritime Services (ship earth station devices only) pursuant to part 80 of this chapter; and the Specialized Mobile Radio Service, and the 3650 MHz Wireless Broadband Service pursuant to part 90 of this chapter are subject to routine environmental evaluation for RF exposure prior to equipment authorization or use if they operate at frequencies of 1.5 GHz or below and their effective radiated power (ERP) is 1.5 watts or more, or if they operate at frequencies above 1.5 GHz and their ERP is 3 watts or more. * * *
5. Section 2.1093 is amended by revising the first sentence in paragraph (c) to read as follows:
(c) Portable devices that operate in the Cellular Radiotelephone Service pursuant to part 22 of this chapter; the Personal Communications Services pursuant to part 24 of this chapter; the Satellite Communications Services pursuant to part 25 of this chapter; the Miscellaneous Wireless Communications Services pursuant to part 27 of this chapter; the Maritime Services (ship earth station devices only) pursuant to part 80 of this chapter; and the Specialized Mobile Radio Service, the 4.9 GHz Band Service, and the 3650 MHz Wireless Broadband Service pursuant to part 90 of this chapter; the Wireless Medical Telemetry Service (WMTS) and the Medical Device Radiocommunication Service (MedRadio), pursuant to subparts H and I of part 95 of this chapter, respectively; and unlicensed personal communication service, unlicensed NII devices and millimeter wave devices authorized under 15.253(f), 15.255(g), 15.257(g), 15.319(i), and 15.407(f) of this chapter are subject to routine environmental evaluation for RF exposure prior to equipment authorization or use. * * *
6. The authority citation for part 20 is revised to read as follows:
Authority: 47 U.S.C. 154, 160, 201, 251-254, 301-303 and 332 unless otherwise noted.
7. Add § 20.2 to read as follows:
(a) Part 1. This part includes rules of practice and procedure for license applications, adjudicatory proceedings, procedures for reconsideration and review of the Commission's actions; provisions concerning violation notices and forfeiture proceedings; competitive bidding procedures; and the environmental requirements that, together with the procedures specified in § 17.4(c) of this chapter, if applicable, must be complied with prior to the initiation of construction. Subpart F includes the rules for the Wireless Telecommunications Services and the procedures for filing electronically via the ULS.
8. Section 20.3 is amended by adding definitions “Consumer Signal Booster”, “Fixed Consumer Signal Booster”, “Industrial Signal Booster”, “Mobile Start Printed Page 21560Consumer Signal Booster”, “Non-individual”, “Provider-Specific Consumer Signal Boosters”, “Signal booster”, “Signal booster operator”, and “Wideband Consumer Signal Boosters” in alphabetical order to read as follows:
9. Add § 20.21 to read as follows:
(a) Operation of Consumer Signal Boosters. A subscriber in good standing of a commercial mobile radio service system may operate a Consumer Signal Booster for personal use under the authorization held by the licensee providing service to the subscriber provided that the subscriber complies with paragraphs (a)(1) through (6). Failure to comply with all applicable rules in this section and all applicable technical rules for the frequency band(s) of operation voids the authority to operate the Consumer Signal Booster.
(5) The Consumer Signal Booster complies with paragraphs (e), (f), (g), and (h) of this section and § 2.907 of this chapter; and
(6) The subscriber may not deactivate any features of the Consumer Signal Booster which are designed to prevent harmful interference to wireless networks. These features must be enabled and operating at all times the signal booster is in use.
(2) Certification requirements. (i) A Consumer Signal Booster can only be certificated and operated if it complies with all applicable rules in this subpart and all applicable technical rules for the frequency band(s) of operation including, but not limited to: § 22.355 of this chapter, Public Mobile Services, frequency tolerance; § 22.913 of this chapter, Cellular Radiotelephone Service effective radiated power limits; § 22.917 of this chapter, Cellular Radiotelephone Service, emission limitations for cellular equipment; § 24.232 of this chapter, Broadband Personal Communications Service, power and antenna height limits; § 24.238 of this chapter, Broadband Personal Communications Service, emission limitations for Broadband PCS equipment; § 27.50 of this chapter, Miscellaneous Wireless Communications Services, power and antenna height limits; § 27.53 of this chapter, Miscellaneous Wireless Communications Services, emission limits; § 90.205 of this chapter, Private Land Mobile Radio Services, power and antenna height limits; § 90.210 of this chapter, Private Land Mobile Radio Services, emission masks; and § 90.247 of this chapter, Private Land Mobile Radio Services, mobile repeater stations.Start Printed Page 21561
(i) Technical Requirements—(A) Noise Limits. (1) The transmitted noise power in dBm/MHz of consumer boosters at their uplink and downlink ports shall not exceed −103 dBm/MHz—RSSI.
Where RSSI (received signal strength indication) is the downlink composite received signal power in dBm at the booster donor port for all base stations in the band of operation. RSSI is expressed in negative dB units relative to 1 mW.
(H) Transmit Power Off Mode. When the consumer booster cannot otherwise meet the noise and gain limits defined herein it must operate in “Transmit Power OFF Mode.” In this mode of operation, the uplink and downlink noise power shall not exceed −70 dBm/MHz and uplink gain shall not exceed the lesser of 23 dB or MSCL.Start Printed Page 21562
(2)(i) Maximum downlink noise power shall not exceed −102.5 dBm/MHz + 20 Log10 (Frequency), where Frequency is the uplink mid-band frequency of the supported spectrum bands in MHz.
(ii) Compliance with Noise limits will use instrumentation calibrated in terms of RMS equivalent voltage, and with booster input ports terminated or without input signals applied within the band of measurement.
(ii) In order of preference, BSCL is determined as follows: determine path loss between the base station and the booster; such measurement shall be based on measuring the received forward pilot/control channel power at the booster and reading the pilot/control channel transmit power from the base station as defined in the system information messages sent by the base station; estimate BSCL by assuming that the base station is transmitting at a level of +25 dBm per channel (assume a small, lightly loaded cell) and measuring the total received signal power level within the channel in dBm (RPCH) received at the booster input port. BSCL is then calculated as 25-RPCH; or assume that the BSCL is 70 dB without performing any measurement.
(2) The uplink and downlink maximum gain of a frequency selective consumer booster referenced to its input and output ports shall not exceed 19.5 dB + 20 Log (Frequency), or 100 dB for systems having automatic gain adjustment based on isolation measurements between booster donor and server antennas.
Where, Frequency is the uplink mid-band frequency of the supported spectrum bands in MHz.
(G) Intermodulation Limits. The transmitted intermodulation products of a consumer booster at its uplink and downlink ports shall not exceed the power level of −19 dBm for the supported bands of operation. Compliance with intermodulation limits will use boosters operating at maximum gain and maximum rated output power, with two continuous wave (CW) input signals spaced 600 kHz apart and centered in the pass band of the booster, Start Printed Page 21563and with a 3 kHz measurement bandwidth.
(H) Booster Antenna Kitting. All consumer boosters must be sold with user manuals specifying all antennas and cables that meet the requirements of this section. Mobile consumer boosters must be sold together with antennas, cables, and/or coupling devices that meet the requirements of this section. The grantee is required to submit a technical document with the application for FCC equipment authorization that shows compliance of all antennas, cables, and/or coupling devices with the requirements of this section, including any antenna or equipment upgrade options that may be available at initial purchase or as a subsequent upgrade.
(1) In on-line, point-of-sale marketing materials,
(i) For Consumer Signal Boosters:
(ii) For Industrial Signal Boosters:
(g) Marketing and sale of signal boosters. Except as provided in § 2.803 of this chapter, no person, manufacturer, distributor, or retailer may market, distribute or offer for sale or lease any Consumer Signal Booster that does not comply with the requirements of this section to any person in the United States or to any person intending to operate the Consumer Signal Booster within the United States at any time on or after March 1, 2014. Consumer Signal Boosters may only be sold to members of the general public for their personal use.
11. Add § 22.9 to read as follows:
Individuals and non-individuals may operate certificated Consumer Signal Boosters on frequencies regulated under this part provided that such operation complies with all applicable rules under this part and § 20.21 of this chapter. Failure to comply with all applicable rules voids the authority to operate a signal booster.
End Authority Start Printed Page 21564 Start Amendment Part
13. Add § 24.9 to subpart A to read as follows:
15. Add § 27.9 to subpart A to read as follows:
17. In § 90.7 add the definition for “Signal amplifier” in alphabetical order to read as follows:
18. Add paragraph (q) to § 90.203 to read as follows:
(q) Certification requirements for signal boosters are set forth in § 90.219.
19. Revise § 90.219 to read as follows:
This section contains technical and operational rules allowing the use of signal boosters in the Private Land Mobile Radio Services (PLMRS). Rules for signal booster operation in the Commercial Mobile Radio Services under part 90 are found in § 20.21 of this chapter.
(a) Definitions. The definitions in this paragraph apply only to the rules in this section.
(b) Authority to operate. PLMRS licensees for stations operating on assigned channels higher than 150 MHz may operate signal boosters, limited to the service band for which they are authorized, as needed anywhere within the PLMRS stations' service contour, but may not extend the stations' service contour.
(c) Licensee responsibility; interference. PLMRS licensees that operate signal boosters are responsible for their proper operation, and are responsible for correcting any harmful interference that signal booster operation may cause to other licensed communications services. Normal co-channel transmissions are not considered to be harmful interference. Licensees are required to resolve interference problems pursuant to § 90.173(b). Licensees shall act in good faith regarding the operation of signal boosters and in the resolution of interference due to signal booster operation. Licensees who are unable to determine the location or cause of signal booster interference may seek assistance from the FCC to resolve such problems.
(d) Deployment rules. Deployment of signal boosters must be carried out in accordance with the rules in this paragraph.
(5) Class B signal booster installations must be registered in the FCC signal booster database that can be accessed at the following URL: www.fcc.gov/​signal-boosters/​registration.Start Printed Page 21565
(e) Device Specifications. In addition to the general rules for equipment certification in § 90.203(a)(2) and part 2, subpart J of this chapter, a signal booster must also meet the rules in this paragraph.
(i) The signals are retransmitted on the same channels as received. Minor departures from the exact provider or reference frequencies of the input signals are allowed, provided that the retransmitted signals meet the requirements of § 90.213.
(iii) The retransmitted signals continue to meet the unwanted emissions limits of § 90.210 applicable to the corresponding received signals (assuming that these received signals meet the applicable unwanted emissions limits by a reasonable margin).
“WARNING. This is NOT a CONSUMER device. It is designed for installation by FCC LICENSEES and QUALIFIED INSTALLERS. You MUST have an FCC LICENSE or express consent of an FCC Licensee to operate this device. You MUST register Class B signal boosters (as defined in 47 CFR 90.219) online at www.fcc.gov/​signal-boosters/​registration. Unauthorized use may result in significant forfeiture penalties, including penalties in excess of $100,000 for each continuing violation.”
1. The 2007 U.S Census data for small governmental organizations are not presented based on the size of the population in each such organization. There were 89,476 local governmental organizations in 2007. If we assume that county, municipal, township, and school district organizations are more likely than larger governmental organizations to have populations of 50,000 or less, the total of these organizations is 52,095. If we make the same population assumption about special districts, specifically that they are likely to have a population of 50,000 or less, and also assume that special districts are different from county, municipal, township, and school districts, in 2007 there were 37,381 such special districts. Therefore, there are a total of 89,476 local government organizations. As a basis of estimating how many of these 89,476 local government organizations were small, in 2011, we note that there were a total of 715 cities and towns (incorporated places and minor civil divisions) with populations over 50,000. CITY AND TOWNS TOTALS: VINTAGE 2011—U.S. Census Bureau, available at http://www.census.gov/​popest/​data/​cities/​totals/​2011/​index.html. If we subtract the 715 cities and towns that meet or exceed the 50,000 population threshold, we conclude that approximately 88,761 are small. U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, STATISTICAL ABSTRACT OF THE UNITED STATES 2011, Tables 427, 426 (Data cited therein are from 2007).
2. U.S. Census Bureau, American FactFinder, 2010 Economic Census, Industry Series, Industry Statistics by Employment Size, NAICS code 334220 (released June 26, 2012); http://factfinder.census.gov. The number of “establishments” is a less helpful indicator of small business prevalence in this context than would be the number of “firms” or “companies,” because the latter take into account the concept of common ownership or control. Any single physical location for an entity is an establishment, even though that location may be owned by a different establishment. Thus, the numbers given may reflect inflated numbers of businesses in this category, including the numbers of small businesses.
3. Id. Eighteen establishments had employment of 1,000 or more.
[FR Doc. 2013-07396 Filed 4-10-13; 8:45 am]