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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 37 / Friday, February 26, 2021 / Rules and Regulations satellite technology is relatively efficient at serving rural and remote areas when compared with alternative, terrestrial services. NGSO FSS operators have more of an incentive to serve areas which terrestrial providers find it more costly to serve, and less of an incentive to serve high-population areas which already have multiple terrestrial suppliers that would be more challenging to compete against. So while some NGSO FSS operators might not provide coverage throughout the United States, they have the incentive to concentrate their efforts in those areas where they have a cost advantage, typically in areas where there might be fewer terrestrial providers, and where those terrestrial providers might have higher costs per subscriber than in more highly populated areas.
Given these incentives and the coverage provided by already-approved NGSO FSS systems, we also do not agree that, in eliminating this requirement, we should require NGSO
FSS system applicants that will not serve the entire United States to demonstrate in their application that they will provide substantial service to the rural areas within their coverage area. Like with the domestic coverage requirement itself, without this requirement, we believe that systems already in operation or proposed will continue to provide coverage of all of the United States because of the technical and financial advantages that NGSO FSS satellite systems have in providing services to sparsely populated areas when compared with terrestrial alternatives that are relatively more costly to deploy in these areas. And providing greater flexibility to NGSO
FSS system designers will allow greater deployment and more cost-effective solutions for consumers, including in rural areas.
We also disagree with one comment that the domestic coverage requirement is mandated by section 1 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended the Act. The Commission has authorized a large variety of GSO
satellite networks and terrestrial wireless systems without ever interpreting the Act to require that a single wireless applicant cover the entire United States. Nor did the Commission so interpret the Act when adopting the particular NGSO FSS
coverage requirements at issue here.
Indeed, the deregulatory and procompetitive purposes of the Telecommunications Act of 1996
suggest we should welcome competition in all its forms. The Commission fulfills its mission to to make available, so far as possible, to all the people of the
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United States . . . a rapid, efficient, Nation-wide, and world-wide wire and radio communication service by adopting rules and licensing policies that facilitate the authorization of multiple, innovative NGSO FSS systems capable of serving a variety of needs throughout the nation.
We also reject the approach of considering waivers on a case-by-case basis, as suggested by some commenters, as this would create regulatory uncertainty for NGSO FSS
system proponents while they design systems that will ultimately seek a waiver. Even greater regulatory uncertainty, and higher costs of deployment, would result from Commission efforts to force the reengineering of a satellite constellation until it complied with the domestic coverage requirement.
Instead, in light of NGSO FSS systems which have been licensed or granted U.S. market access to address underserved communities, including in Alaska, we conclude that affording satellite operators regulatory certainty and design flexibility will best serve the interests of connectivity across American communities. We therefore eliminate the domestic coverage requirement for NGSO FSS systems.
We will apply the rules and procedures we adopt in this Report and Order to pending space station applications and petitions for U.S.
market access. In addition, we will allow current licensees and market access recipients to submit a simple letter request to modify particular conditions in their grants consistent with the rule changes adopted in this Order. The Commission may apply new procedures to pending applications if doing so does not impair the rights an applicant possessed when it filed its application, increase an applicants liability for past conduct, or impose new duties on applicants with respect to transactions already completed.
Applicants do not gain any vested right merely by filing an application, and the simple act of filing an application is not considered a transaction already completed for purposes of this analysis. Accordingly, applying our new rules and procedures to pending space station applications will not impair the rights any applicant had at the time it filed its application. Nor will doing so increase an applicants liability for past conduct.
Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis As required by the RFA, an IRFA was incorporated in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in this proceeding. The Commission sought written public
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comment on the proposals in the Notice, including comment on the IRFA. No comments were received on the IRFA.
This present FRFA conforms to the RFA.
A. Need for, and Objectives of, the Rules The Order repeals a domestic coverage requirement for NGSO FSS
satellite systems in order to provide additional regulatory certainty and flexibility, while encouraging the development of innovative satellite systems.
B. Summary of Significant Issues Raised by Public Comments in Response to the IRFA
There were no comments filed that specifically addressed the IRFA.
C. Response to Comments by the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business Administration 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. 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 Rules Will 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 the rules adopted herein. The RFA 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. Below, we describe and estimate the number of small entity licensees that may be affected by adoption of the final rules.
E. 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
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