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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 181 / Wednesday, September 22, 2021 / Rules and Regulations 80 allocation within the NGSO fee category. We proposed a 20/80
allocation in the FY 2021 NPRM
within the category of NGSO fees, with less complex NGSO systems responsible for 20% of NGSO regulatory fees and the remaining NGSO systems other responsible for 80% of NGSO
regulatory fees.
21. Several commenters disagree generally with creating NGSO
subcategories, arguing that operators should not pay differing fees based on whether an NGSO system is less complex. Below, we discuss the NGSO
subcategories and the allocation of the NGSO fees among the NGSO
subcategories.
a. NGSO Space Station Subcategories 22. We reject commenters arguments that we should not have adopted the less complex and other subcategories within the NGSO
regulatory fee category. Our decision is based on the fact that commenters primarily rely on arguments that were fully considered and addressed as part of our decision in the Report and Order accompanying the FY 2021 NPRM, providing no new arguments or citing no new developments. Thus, our decision to create two NGSO fee subcategories incorporated elements of the specific proposals, and our decisionmaking process did not constitute an abrupt reversal or abrupt change in direction, but was based on a fully developed record following a notice and comment rulemaking.
23. We also disagree with the contention that we attached misplaced significance to application processing costs in determining the amount of Commission resources used in the oversight and regulation of NGSO
systems because we took into consideration processing round procedures in concluding that certain NGSO systems require fewer Commission resources. Section 9 of the Communications Act requires the Commission to recover, through regulatory fees, the total amount of its appropriation each year. The Commission must consider all FTE time costs in recovering its regulatory fees.
We perform a holistic analysis of our regulation of NGSO systems and the FTE time accorded the oversight and regulation thereof, including rulemakings benefiting those systems, which are directly relevant for purposes of assessing regulatory fees. In so doing, we look at the overall FTE time spent in oversight and regulation of the types of NGSO systems and identify examples of proceedings involving certain NGSO
systems.

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24. Finally, we reject commenters allegations that the consideration of earth stations is overly simplistic.
Comparative complexity in earth station siting and licensing is not relevant to our analysis to determine whether an NGSO space system is less complex to regulate. Regulatory fees for earth stations are separately assessed from space stations fees. Although individual earth station applications may differ in terms of Commission resources required to process, those activities are not relevant to determine whether a space system planning to communicate with such an earth station is a complex system or not. Similarly, we disagree with arguments that space station systems communicating with larger numbers of earth stations are not likely to require more Commission oversight and regulatory activities. While an earth station blanket license application for technically-identical user terminals may in some instances be fairly easily processed, the ongoing activities associated with regulating the corresponding NGSO space station system will be more intensive, because the number of earth stations is an indicator that the space system itself is more complex. Furthermore, we also disagree with the contention that our consideration of numbers of earth stations presupposes that EESS systems require no more than 20 earth stations to support their network. Our experience has shown that authorized EESS systems typically communicate with fewer than 20 earth stations in the United States, and takes into account earth stations owned and operated by a third party that communicate with a particular NGSO system. As indicated, we are using fewer than 20 earth stations as a proxy and at the application stage, if we determine that a space system is planning to communicate with more than 20 earth stations based on the system design, such system design and plans would indicate that the space system would not fall into the less complex system category for regulatory fee purposes.
Nothing in the record, or our analysis of the resources the International Bureau devotes to NGSO oversight and regulation, demonstrates that we erred in adopting an additional NGSO space station regulatory fee category for less complex NGSO systems.
b. 20/80 NGSO Regulatory Fee Allocation 25. We adopt our proposal from the FY 2021 NPRM to allocate 20% of NGSO regulatory fees to less complex NGSO systems and 80% of NGSO
regulatory fees to other NGSO

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systems. In so doing, we consider the record, our experience, and analysis of the time International Bureau FTEs devote to oversight and regulation of less complex and other NGSO
systems. While some commenters agree with the 20/80 allocation, others disagree. Many of those commenters disagree with the underlying creation of the less complex NGSO fee category, as adopted. The Commission considered various aspects of the Commissions oversight and the amount of FTE time devoted to the subcategories of NGSOs, specifically on the number of applications processed, the number of changes made to the Commissions rules, and the number of FTEs working on oversight for each category of operators. Here, in evaluating the FTE
time devoted to the subcategories to develop the proposed 20/80 allocation, we considered the adjudicatory role of the Commission in connection with different types of NGSO systems which is typically more intensive for those systems authorized as part of processing rounds. We also considered the number of rulemakings over the last several years, as well as current rulemakings, and which types of NGSO
systems were implicated in those rulemaking activities, and we considered the various international activities that Commission staff engage in and how those activities benefit the different types of NGSO systems. We then considered the number of FTEs typically working on processing round issues/adjudications on an ongoing basis, compared the number of FTEs working on various rulemakings, and considered the number of FTEs in the International Bureau that engage in various international activities and forums, and the extent to which such activities benefit each category of NGSO
system. Our allocation percentage is based on our quantitative experience approximate numbers of FTE hours spent in a year and expert judgement, and such calculation remains to be the best approximation of our FTE cost allocation at this time, based on the record before us. The fees must be administrable, and we note again that the Commissions methodology need not reach scientific precision and instead must simply be reasonable.
2. NGSO Regulatory FeesSatellites Authorized Under Multiple Call Signs 26. We find it premature to make a determination how the Commissions regulatory fees should apply to NGSO
satellites operating as an integrated NGSO system, but authorized under multiple call signs. Several commenters to the FY 2021 NPRM asked us to clarify
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