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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 4 / Thursday, January 7, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
Wireless Telecommunications Carriers except Satellite.
127. In addition, in the Paging Second Report and Order 83 FR 19440, May 3, 2018, the Commission adopted a size standard for small businesses for purposes of determining their eligibility for special provisions such as bidding credits and installment payments. A
small business is an entity that, together with its affiliates and controlling principals, has average gross revenues not exceeding $15 million for the preceding three years. The SBA has approved this definition. An initial auction of Metropolitan Economic Area MEA licenses was conducted in the year 2000. Of the 2,499 licenses auctioned, 985 were sold. Fifty-seven companies claiming small business status won 440 licenses. A subsequent auction of MEA and Economic Area EA licenses was held in the year 2001. Of the 15,514 licenses auctioned, 5,323 were sold. One hundred thirtytwo companies claiming small business status purchased 3,724 licenses. A third auction, consisting of 8,874 licenses in each of 175 EAs and 1,328 licenses in all but three of the 51 MEAs, was held in 2003. Seventy-seven bidders claiming small or very small business status won 2,093 licenses.
128. Currently, there are approximately 74,000 Common Carrier Paging licenses. According to the most recent Trends in Telephone Service, 291
carriers reported that they were engaged in the provision of paging and messaging services. Of these, an estimated 289 have 1,500 or fewer employees and two have more than 1,500 employees. We estimate that the majority of common carrier paging providers would qualify as small entities under the SBA definition.
129. Wireless Telephony. Wireless telephony includes cellular, personal communications services, and specialized mobile radio telephony carriers. The closest applicable SBA
category is Wireless Telecommunications Carriers except Satellite. Under the SBA small business size standard, 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 fewer than 1,000
employees and 12 firms had 1000
employees or more. Thus under this category and the associated size standard, the Commission estimates that a majority of these entities can be considered small. According to Commission data, 413 carriers reported that they were engaged in wireless telephony. Of these, an estimated 261

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have 1,500 or fewer employees and 152
have more than 1,500 employees.
Therefore, more than half of these entities can be considered small.
130. 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. 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. 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. For this category, U.S. Census Bureau data for 2012 show that there were 1,442 firms that operated for the entire year. 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. Thus, the Commission estimates that the majority of All Other Telecommunications firms potentially affected by our action can be considered small.
3. Internet Service Providers 131. Internet Service Providers Broadband. Broadband internet service providers include wired e.g., cable, DSL and VoIP service providers using their own operated wired telecommunications infrastructure fall in the category of Wired Telecommunication Carriers. Wired Telecommunications Carriers are comprised of establishments primarily engaged in operating and/or providing access to transmission facilities and infrastructure that they own and/or lease for the transmission of voice, data, text, sound, and video using wired telecommunications networks.
Transmission facilities may be based on a single technology or a combination of technologies. The SBA size standard for this category classifies a business as small if it has 1,500 or fewer employees.
U.S. Census Bureau data for 2012 show that there were 3,117 firms that operated that year. Of this total, 3,083 operated with fewer than 1,000 employees.
Consequently, under this size standard
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the majority of firms in this industry can be considered small.
E. Description of Projected Reporting, Recordkeeping, and Other Compliance Requirements for Small Entities 132. As the changes enacted today are primarily clarifications of existing Commission rules or statutory authorities, we do not anticipate that the changes will result in significant additional compliance requirements for small entities. However, some small entities may have an additional burden.
For those changes, we have determined that the clarity the rule changes will bring to the Lifeline program outweighs the burden of any increased compliance concerns. We have noted the applicable rule changes below impacting small entities.
133. Compliance burdens. The rules we implement impose some compliance burdens on small entities by requiring them to become familiar with the new rules to comply with them. In most instances, the burden of becoming familiar with the new rule in order to comply with it is the only additional burden the rule imposes.
134. Adjusting systems to account for potential changes in Lifeline reimbursement rates. The rules we implement may require small entities to change their billing systems, customer service plans, and other business operations to account for modifications in the Lifeline supported services. We believe these changes will not be significant.
F. Steps Taken To Minimize the Significant Economic Impact on Small Entities, and Significant Alternatives Considered 135. The RFA requires an agency to describe any significant, specifically small business, alternatives that it has considered in reaching its proposed approach, which may include the following four alternatives among others: 1 the establishment of differing compliance or reporting requirements or timetables that take into account the resources available to small entities; 2 the clarification, consolidation, or simplification of compliance and reporting requirements under the rule for such small entities;
3 the use of performance rather than design standards; and 4 an exemption from coverage of the rule, or any part thereof, for such small entities.
136. This rulemaking could impose minimal additional burdens on small entities. These impacted small entities should already be familiar with the Commissions supported services rules, but the removal of broadband internet
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