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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 4 / Thursday, January 7, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
USF or Fund and ensure that the Lifeline program can continue to allocate its limited resources to reimbursing increasingly important broadband internet access service for low-income Americans.
B. Summary of Significant Issues Raised by Public Comments to the IRFA or FRFA
110. The Commission received no comments in direct response to the IRFA contained in the 2017 Lifeline NPRM or the FRFA in the 2019 Lifeline Order.

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C. Response to Comments by the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business Administration 111. Pursuant to the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, which amended the RFA, the Commission is required to respond to any comments filed by the Chief Counsel of the Small Business Administration SBA, and to provide a detailed statement of any change made to the proposed rules as a result of those comments.
112. The Chief Counsel did not file any comments in response to the proposed rules in this proceeding.
D. Description and Estimate of the Number of Small Entities to Which Rules May Apply 113. 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 herein. 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 that: 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.
114. Small Businesses, Small Organizations, Small Governmental Jurisdictions. Our actions, over time, may affect small entities that are not easily categorized at present. We therefore describe here, at the outset, three broad groups of small entities that could be directly affected herein. First, while there are industry specific size standards for small businesses that are used in the regulatory flexibility analysis, according to data from the SBAs Office of Advocacy, in general a small business is an independent business having fewer than 500

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employees. These types of small businesses represent 99.9% of all businesses in the United States, which translates to 30.7 million businesses.
115. Next, the type of small entity described as a small organization is generally any not-for-profit enterprise which is independently owned and operated and is not dominant in its field. The Internal Revenue Service IRS uses a revenue benchmark of $50,000 or less to delineate its annual electronic filing requirements for small exempt organizations. Nationwide, for tax year 2018, there were approximately 571,709 small exempt organizations in the U.S. reporting revenues of $50,000
or less according to the registration and tax data for exempt organizations available from the IRS.
116. Finally, the small entity described as a small governmental jurisdiction is defined generally as governments of cities, counties, towns, townships, villages, school districts, or special districts, with a population of less than fifty thousand. U.S. Census Bureau data from the 2017 Census of Governments indicate that there were 90,075 local governmental jurisdictions consisting of general purpose governments and special purpose governments in the United States. Of this number there were 36,931 general purpose governments county, municipal and town or township with populations of less than 50,000 and 12,040 special purpose governments independent school districts with enrollment populations of less than 50,000. Accordingly, based on the 2017
U.S. Census of Governments data, we estimate that at least 48,971 entities fall into the category of small governmental jurisdictions.
1. Wireline Providers 117. Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers Incumbent LECs. Neither the Commission nor the SBA has developed a small business size standard specifically for incumbent local exchange services. The closest applicable NAICS Code category is Wired Telecommunications Carriers.
Under the applicable SBA size standard, such a business is small if it has 1,500
or fewer employees. U.S. Census Bureau data for 2012 indicate that 3,117 firms operated the entire year. Of this total, 3,083 operated with fewer than 1,000
employees. Consequently, the Commission estimates that most providers of incumbent local exchange service are small businesses that may be affected by our actions. According to Commission data, one thousand three hundred and seven 1,307 Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers reported that
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they were incumbent local exchange service providers. Of this total, an estimated 1,006 have 1,500 or fewer employees. Thus, using the SBAs size standard the majority of incumbent LECs can be considered small entities.
118. Competitive Local Exchange Carriers Competitive LECs, Competitive Access Providers CAPs, Shared-Tenant Service Providers, and Other Local Service Providers. Neither the Commission nor the SBA has developed a small business size standard specifically for these service providers. The appropriate NAICS Code category is Wired Telecommunications Carriers and under that size standard, such a business is small if it has 1,500
or fewer employees. U.S. Census Bureau data for 2012 indicate that 3,117 firms operated during that year. Of that number, 3,083 operated with fewer than 1,000 employees. Based on these data, the Commission concludes that the majority of Competitive LECS, CAPs, Shared-Tenant Service Providers, and Other Local Service Providers, are small entities. According to Commission data, 1,442 carriers reported that they were engaged in the provision of either competitive local exchange services or competitive access provider services. Of these 1,442 carriers, an estimated 1,256
have 1,500 or fewer employees. In addition, 17 carriers have reported that they are Shared-Tenant Service Providers, and all 17 are estimated to have 1,500 or fewer employees. Also, 72
carriers have reported that they are Other Local Service Providers. Of this total, 70 have 1,500 or fewer employees.
Consequently, based on internally researched FCC data, the Commission estimates that most providers of competitive local exchange service, competitive access providers, SharedTenant Service Providers, and Other Local Service Providers are small entities.
119. Interexchange Carriers IXCs.
Neither the Commission nor the SBA
has developed a small business size standard specifically for Interexchange Carriers. The closest applicable NAICS
Code category is Wired Telecommunications Carriers. The applicable size standard under SBA
rules is that such a business is small if it has 1,500 or fewer employees. U.S.
Census Bureau data for 2012 indicate that 3,117 firms operated for the entire year. Of that number, 3,083 operated with fewer than 1,000 employees.
According to internally-developed Commission data, 359 companies reported that their primary telecommunications service activity was the provision of interexchange services.
Of this total, an estimated 317 have
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