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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 169 / Friday, September 3, 2021 / Rules and Regulations to subscriberssuch as requiring larger customer receive antennas and changes to space station designsor would require existing DBS providers and their subscribers to accept more interference and service unavailability than is the case today.
However, the record does show that it is possible to accommodate the provision of new DBS services at reduced orbital spacings under existing rules. Specifically, our rules already allow us to consider requests for new DBS service at reduced orbital spacings if entities making such a request can coordinate their proposed operations with other U.S. DBS operators and secure agreements with other operators already having assignments in the ITU
Region 2 Plans or with prior requests for Plan modifications. The Commission will address such requests under these existing rules rather than adopt new rules.
This approach protects current DBS
consumers from interference and degradation of their video reception, while at the same time allowing potential new DBS operators to demonstratethrough careful system design, advancing technology, and coordination with existing DBS
systemsthat new DBS systems can operate at orbital spacings of less than nine degrees without causing harmful interference to existing systems and their customers. It will also ensure that operations at reduced orbital separations will lead to the same levels of interference observed between two DBS systems operating nine degrees apart, with co-frequency, co-coverage operation, and nominal Appendix 30
power density levels. The Commission recognizes that this will require mitigation measures by future operators at reduced orbital spacings, such as reduced power density levels or nonfully overlapping coverages, but concludes that such measures are more easily and appropriately implemented by future entrants than retroactively imposed on existing DBS operators and their subscribers.
The Commission notes that the ITU
Appendix 30 and 30A ITU rules do not govern the relationship between two DBS systems operating under U.S. ITU
filings, but will use the same ITU
criteria be used to determine compatibility between a new DBS
application with respect to a DBS
system already in the processing queue or previously authorized, even when both systems are or will be operating under U.S. ITU filings. If any of the frequency assignments of the system already in the queue or previously authorized is affected, according to the
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ITU criteria, the new DBS application can still be considered compatible with this system by submission of a letter signed by the affected operator indicating that it consents to the new application.
DBS Licensing Freeze. The Commission imposed a freeze on requests for new DBS systems in 2005.
Having resolved the issues that caused the Commission to impose that freeze, we lift the freeze and will begin accepting new applications for DBS
licenses after the effective date of rules adopted in this Report and Order. New applications or requests for U.S. market access will be accepted only after a date specified in a public notice, which the International Bureau will release after the rules have become effective.
Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis As required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980, as amended RFA, an Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis IRFA was incorporated in the Second Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Second Notice released in November 2018 in this proceeding. The Commission sought written public comment on the proposals in the Second Notice, including comments on the IRFA. No comments were filed addressing the IRFA. This present Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis FRFA
conforms to the RFA.
A. Need for, and Objectives of, the Proposed Rules The Report and Order modifies the Commissions rules and policies for licensing space stations in the Digital Broadcasting Satellite DBS Service.
These changes, among other things, provide a licensing system under which new licenses for DBS satellites in reduced spacing orbital slots would be processed according to the Commissions rules for geostationary orbit space stations in the FixedSatellite Service.
B. Legal Basis The action is authorized under sections 4i, 303, and 309 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 154i, 303, 309.
C. Description and Estimate of the Number of Small Entities to Which the Proposed Rules May Apply 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 adoption of proposed rules. The RFA generally defines the term small entity as having the same meaning as the terms small business, small organization,
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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. Below, we describe and estimate the number of small entity licensees that may be affected by adoption of the proposed rules.
Satellite Telecommunications and All Other Telecommunications The rules adopted in this Report and Order affect some providers of satellite telecommunications services. Satellite telecommunications service providers include satellite and earth station operators. Since 2007, the SBA has recognized two census categories for satellite telecommunications firms:
Satellite Telecommunications and Other Telecommunications. Under both categories, a business is considered small if it had $32.5 million or less in annual receipts.
The first category of Satellite Telecommunications comprises establishments primarily engaged in providing point-to-point telecommunications services to other establishments in the telecommunications and broadcasting industries by forwarding and receiving communications signals via a system of satellites or reselling satellite telecommunications. For this category, Census Bureau data for 2007 show that there were a total of 512 satellite communications firms that operated for the entire year. Of this total, 482 firms had annual receipts of under $25
million.
The second category of Other Telecommunications is comprised of entities primarily engaged in providing specialized telecommunications services, such as satellite tracking, communications telemetry, and radar station operation. This industry also includes establishments primarily engaged in providing satellite terminal stations and associated facilities connected with one or more terrestrial systems and capable of transmitting telecommunications to, and receiving telecommunications from, satellite systems. Establishments providing internet services or voice over internet protocol VoIP services via clientsupplied telecommunications connections are also included in this industry. For this category, Census Bureau data for 2007 show that there
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