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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 19 / Monday, February 1, 2021 / Proposed Rules
modifications to 25.209a and b to extend the Ka-band off-axis antenna gain requirements across the full 27.5
30 GHz band, and to reference these alternative routine license application processing requirements in 25.115g, k, and 25.220a. We seek comment on these proposals.
Procedural Matters Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis As required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act RFA,70 the Commission has prepared this Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis IRFA of the possible significant economic impact on small entities by the policies and rules proposed in this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking NPRM. We request written public comments on this IRFA.
Commenters must identify their comments as responses to the IRFA and must file the comments by the deadlines for comments on the NPRM provided above in section IV.B. The Commission will send a copy of the NPRM, including this IRFA, to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business Administration.71 In addition, summaries of the NPRM and IRFA will be published in the Federal Register.72
A. Need for, and Objectives of, the Proposed Rules The NPRM seeks comment on several proposals relating to the Commissions allocation of frequency bands for use by the Fixed-Satellite Service FSS and technical rules and policies for preventing harmful interference between stations operating in the FixedSatellite Service and stations operating in the Digital Broadcasting Satellite DBS Service and the BroadcastingSatellite Service BSS. Adoption of the proposed changes would, among other things, permit the use of the 17.317.8
GHz band in the space-to-Earth direction by stations in the FixedSatellite Service.
B. Legal Basis The proposed action is authorized under sections 4i, 7a, 303c, 303f, 303g, and 303r of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 154i, 157a, 303c, 303f, 303g, 303r.
70 See 5 U.S.C. 603. The RFA, see 5 U.S.C. 601
et seq., has been amended by the Contract With America Advancement Act of 1996, Public Law 104121, Title II, 110 Stat. 847 1996 CWAAA.
71 See 5 U.S.C. 603a.
72 Id.

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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.73 The RFA generally defines the term small entity as having the same meaning as the terms small business, small organization, and small governmental jurisdiction. 74 In addition, the term small business has the same meaning as the term small business concern under the Small Business Act.75 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.76 Below, we describe and estimate the number of small entity licensees that may be affected by adoption of the proposed rules.
Satellite Telecommunications. This category comprises firms primarily engaged in providing telecommunications services to other establishments in the telecommunications and broadcasting industries by forwarding and receiving communications signals via a system of satellites or reselling satellite telecommunications. 77 Satellite telecommunications service providers include satellite and earth station operators. The category has a small business size standard of $35 million or less in average annual receipts, under SBA rules.78 For this category, U.S.
Census Bureau data for 2012 show that there were a total of 333 firms that operated for the entire year.79 Of this U.S.C. 604a3.
U.S.C. 6016.
75 5 U.S.C. 6013 incorporating by reference the definition of small business concern in 15 U.S.C.
632. Pursuant to the RFA, the statutory definition of a small business applies unless an agency, after consultation with the Office of Advocacy of the Small Business Administration and after opportunity for public comment, establishes one or more definitions of such term which are appropriate to the activities of the agency and publishes such definitions in the Federal Register. 5 U.S.C. 6013.
76 Small Business Act, 15 U.S.C. 632 1996.
77 See U.S. Census Bureau, 2017 NAICS
Definition, 517410 Satellite Telecommunications, https www.census.gov/cgi-bin/sssd/naics/
naicsrch?input=517410&search=2017+NAICS+
Search&search=2017.
78 See 13 CFR 121.201, NAICS Code 517410.
79 See U.S. Census Bureau, 2012 Economic Census of the United States, Table ID:
EC1251SSSZ4, Information: Subject SeriesEstab and Firm Size: Receipts Size of Firms for the U.S.:
2012, NAICS Code 517410, https data.census.gov/
cedsci/table?text=EC1251SSSZ4&n=

total, 299 firms had annual receipts of less than $25 million.80 Consequently, we estimate that the majority of satellite telecommunications providers are small entities.
All Other Telecommunications. The All Other Telecommunications category is comprised of establishments primarily engaged in providing specialized telecommunications services, such as satellite tracking, communications telemetry, and radar station operation.81 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.82 Establishments providing internet services or voice over internet protocol VoIP services via clientsupplied telecommunications connections are also included in this industry.83 The SBA has developed a small business size standard for All Other Telecommunications, which consists of all such firms with annual receipts of $35 million or less.84 For this category, U.S. Census Bureau data for 2012 show that there were 1,442 firms that operated for the entire year.85 Of those firms, a total of 1,400 had annual receipts less than $25 million and 15
firms had annual receipts of $25 million to $49,999,999.86 Thus, the Commission estimates that the majority of All Other Telecommunications firms potentially affected by our action can be considered small.
We anticipate that our proposed rule changes may have an impact on earth station and space station applicants and licensees. Space station applicants and licensees, however, rarely qualify under the definition of a small entity.

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517410&tid=ECNSIZE2012.
EC1251SSSZ4&hidePreview=false&vintage=2012.
80 Id. The available U.S. Census Bureau data does not provide a more precise estimate of the number of firms that meet the SBA size standard.
81 See U.S. Census Bureau, 2017 NAICS
Definition, 517919 All Other Telecommunications, https www.census.gov/cgibin/sssd/naics/naicsrch?input=517919&search=
2017+NAICS+Search&search=2017.
82 Id.
83 Id.
84 See 13 CFR 121.201, NAICS Code 517919.
85 See U.S. Census Bureau, 2012 Economic Census of the United States, Table ID:
EC1251SSSZ4, Information: Subject SeriesEstab and Firm Size: Receipts Size of Firms for the U.S.:
2012, NAICS Code 517919, https data.census.gov/
cedsci/table?text=EC1251SSSZ4
&n=517919&tid=ECNSIZE2012.EC1251SSSZ4&
hidePreview=false.
86 Id. The available U.S. Census Bureau data does not provide a more precise estimate of the number of firms that meet the SBA size standard of annual receipts of $35 million or less.

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