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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 36 / Thursday, February 25, 2021 / Rules and Regulations small business concerns with fewer than 25 employees, pursuant to the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2002, Public Law 107198.
36. Congressional Review Act. The Commission has determined, and the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, concurs, that this rule is non-major under the Congressional Review Act, 5
U.S.C. 8042. The Commission will send a copy of this Report and Order to Congress and the Government Accountability Office pursuant to 5
U.S.C. 801a1A.
37. People with Disabilities. To request materials in accessible formats for people with disabilities braille, large print, electronic files, audio format, send an email to fcc504@fcc.gov or call the Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau at 2024180530 voice, 2024180432 TTY.
Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis 38. As required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980, as amended RFA, an Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis IRFA was incorporated in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Notice released in April 2019. The Commission sought written public comment on the proposals in the Notice, including comment on the IRFA. No comments were filed addressing the IRFA. This present Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis FRFA conforms to the RFA.
A. Need for, and Objectives of, the Report and Order 39. In the Report and Order, the Commission updates its rule for overthe-air reception devices OTARD to include hub and relay antennas that are used for the distribution of fixed wireless services to multiple customer locations, regardless of whether they are primarily used for this purpose, so long as the antennas serve a customer on whose premises they are located. This change is necessitated by the shift away from larger antennas spread over greater distances to 5G wireless networks with dense deployment requirements.
Todays fixed wireless networks rely on smaller antennas located in close proximately to each other. These smaller antennas meet the OTARD size restriction but are excluded from OTARD protection due to their function.
By updating the OTARD rule to include these antennas, the Commission recognizes the shift in the fixed wireless infrastructure landscape.
40. The shift in the types of service provided by fixed wireless service providers also prompts the need for this rule change. Specifically, these service
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providers offerings are no longer commingled with telecommunications services and therefore would not otherwise receive protection from one of the Commissions preemption schemes.
In this regard, the Commissions actions level the playing field for fixed wireless broadband service providers so that they are better able to compete with other service providers that already receive protection from the Commissions OTARD rule or other preemption scheme. By making this modification, the Commission places fixed wireless broadband providers on similar footing with other service providers and expands siting options for fixed wireless hub and relay antennas. These changes will reduce costs and construction timelines for new fixed wireless sites.
They will also provide for alternative locations for fixed wireless hub and relay antennas to be installed and remove market barriers for fixed wireless services that otherwise would exist. Additionally, the changes adopted in the Report and Order will enhance the development of broadband services and further the Commissions efforts to address the digital divide by helping to bring faster internet speeds, lower latency, and advanced applications like the Internet of Things IoT, telehealth, and remote learning to rural and underserved areas, as well as throughout the United States.
B. Summary of Significant Issues Raised by Public Comments in Response to the Interim Regulatory Flexibility Analysis 41. There were no comments filed that specifically addressed the proposed rules and policies presented in the IRFA.
C. Response to Comments by the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business Administration 42. 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 for Advocacy 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.
43. 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 the Rules Will Apply 44. 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 and adopted herein. The RFA

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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 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 SBA.
45. 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.
46. 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.
47. 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
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