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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 179 / Monday, September 20, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
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.
Small Businesses, Small Organizations, Small Governmental Jurisdictions. The Commissions actions, over time, may affect small entities that are not easily categorized at present.
The Commission therefore describes 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 Small Business Administrations SBA Office of Advocacy, in general a small business is an independent business having fewer than 500 employees. These types of small businesses represent 99.9% of all businesses in the United States, which translates to 30.7 million businesses.
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.
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, the Commission estimates that at least 48,971 entities fall into the category of small governmental jurisdictions.

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Radio Frequency Equipment Manufacturers RF Manufacturers.
Neither the Commission nor the SBA
has developed a small business size standard applicable to Radio Frequency Equipment Manufacturers RF
Manufacturers. There are several analogous SBA small entity categories applicable to RF ManufacturersFixed Microwave Services, Other Communications Equipment Manufacturing, and Radio and Television Broadcasting and Wireless Communications Equipment Manufacturing. A description of these small entity categories and the small business size standards under the SBA
rules are detailed below.
Fixed Microwave Services. Microwave services include common carrier, private-operational fixed, and broadcast auxiliary radio services. They also include the Upper Microwave Flexible Use Service, Millimeter Wave Service, Local Multipoint Distribution Service LMDS, the Digital Electronic Message Service DEMS, and the 24 GHz Service, where licensees can choose between common carrier and noncommon carrier status. There are approximately 66,680 common carrier fixed licensees, 69,360 private and public safety operational-fixed licensees, 20,150 broadcast auxiliary radio licensees, 411 LMDS licenses, 33
24 GHz DEMS licenses, 777 39 GHz licenses, and five 24 GHz licenses, and 467 Millimeter Wave licenses in the microwave services. The Commission has not yet defined a small business with respect to microwave services. The closest applicable SBA category is Wireless Telecommunications Carriers except Satellite and the appropriate size standard for this category under SBA rules is that such a business is small if it has 1,500 or fewer employees.
For this industry, U.S. Census Bureau data for 2012 show that there were 967
firms that operated for the entire year.
Of this total, 955 firms had employment of 999 or fewer employees and 12 had employment of 1,000 employees or more. Thus under this SBA category and the associated size standard, the Commission estimates that a majority of fixed microwave service licensees can be considered small.
The Commission does not have data specifying the number of these licensees that have more than 1,500 employees, and thus is unable at this time to estimate with greater precision the number of fixed microwave service licensees that would qualify as small business concerns under the SBAs small business size standard.
Consequently, the Commission estimates that there are up to 36,708

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common carrier fixed licensees and up to 59,291 private operational-fixed licensees and broadcast auxiliary radio licensees in the microwave services that may be small and may be affected by the rules and policies discussed herein. The Commission notes, however, that the microwave fixed licensee category includes some large entities.
Other Communications Equipment Manufacturing. This industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing communications equipment except telephone apparatus, and radio and television broadcast, and wireless communications equipment.
Examples of such manufacturing include fire detection and alarm systems manufacturing, Intercom systems and equipment manufacturing, and signals e.g., highway, pedestrian, railway, traffic manufacturing. The SBA has established a size standard for this industry as all such firms having 750 or fewer employees. U.S. Census Bureau data for 2012 shows that 383
establishments operated in that year. Of that number, 379 operated with fewer than 500 employees and 4 had 500 to 999 employees. Based on this data, the Commission concludes that the majority of Other Communications Equipment Manufacturers are small.
Radio and Television Broadcasting and Wireless Communications Equipment Manufacturing. 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. The SBA has established a small business size standard for this industry of 1,250 employees or less.
U.S. Census Bureau data for 2012 show that 841 establishments operated in this industry in that year. Of that number, 828 establishments operated with fewer than 1,000 employees, 7 establishments operated with between 1,000 and 2,499
employees and 6 establishments operated with 2,500 or more employees.
Based on this data, the Commission concludes that a majority of manufacturers in this industry are small.
E. Description of Projected Reporting, Recordkeeping, and Other Compliance Requirements for Small Entities In the Report and Order, the Commission adopts rules that affect reporting, recordkeeping, and other
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