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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 180 / Tuesday, September 21, 2021 / Proposed Rules
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devoted to the oversight and/or regulation of the industry. Further, commenters should indicate how the new fee category fits within the Commissions current regulatory fee methodology. To the extent possible, commenters should support any proposed new fee category with data and/or examples necessitating a revision of the Commissions current regulatory fees framework.
B. Fees for Small Satellites 3. In anticipation of listing small satellites for the first time on the FY
2022 regulatory fee schedule, we seek comment on several proposals pertaining to this new category. In 2019, the Commission adopted a new, optional licensing process for small satellites and small spacecraft. The Commission also adopted a small satellite regulatory fee subcategory for licensed and operational satellite systems authorized under the new process adopted in that proceeding. As has been noted in prior year fee proceedings, small satellites typically have a number of characteristics that distinguish them from traditional NGSO
satellite systems, such as having a lower mass, shorter duration missions, and more limited spectrum needs.
4. Commenters suggest that under the streamlined process, less agency resources are necessary to process than other systems because they are exempt from processing rounds and must certify that their operations will not interfere with those of existing operators or materially constrain future operators from using the assigned frequency bands. For example, once small satellites are added to the Commissions regulatory fee schedule, the NGSO
regulatory fee allocation be adjusted to a 5/5/90 split among small satellites, less complex systems, and other systems, respectively. Another suggestion is to assess a fee of 1/20th of the fee for NGSO systems, or a regulatory fee of not more than 1/10th of the previously proposed NGSO fee, which at the time was calculated to be $22,350.00 for small satellites. One commenter believed that such a fee reflected the Commissions costs and was fair, but substantial in the amount.
5. We expect the small satellite fees to be on the FY 2022 fee schedule because there are several systems authorized under the small satellite process that are beginning operations, and we expect these systems to be operating as of the date for assessment of FY 2022 fees. FY
2022 will be the first year where regulatory fees are assessed on small satellites, and therefore we anticipate that we will continue to review
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regulatory fees for small satellites on an ongoing basis as we gain more experience with these licensees and market access grantees.
6. There are a number of factors to consider in assessing the regulatory fee for such systems. There are a number of limitations on the benefits that small satellite licensees and market access grantees may receive from ongoing activities of the Commission. While small satellites may receive interference protection when operating as allocated, such satellites must be compatible with existing operations in the requested frequency bands and not materially constrain future operations of other satellites in those frequency bands.
Moreover, small satellite licensees are limited to a license term not to exceed six years. As such, investments in any particular small satellite system are likely to be smaller compared with other types of NGSO systems, and therefore the overall benefits to a particular licensee from Commission rulemakings and other activities of an ongoing nature are also likely to be smaller. These systems are also less likely to be involved in ongoing adjudications because of the scope of such systems and the fact that they are not authorized under the Commissions processing round procedures. Further, as a result of the structure of the small satellite process, a single system may have multiple licenses or market access grants. There will also only be a few small satellite licensees which would commence operations as of the relevant date for assessing FY 2022 fees. Given these limitations, and taking into consideration the FTE regulatory benefits that may be associated with a single license or grant of market access, we make several proposals that would result in a fee for small satellites that is low, compared to other types of satellites or systems, but will reasonably reflect our FTE burden and the benefits received by these fee payors. We start with considering the number of FTEs working on oversight for this category of operators. Thus, we must estimate the relative number of FTEs that are attributable to benefitting small satellite licensees or grantees, based on the factors above. We also observe that due to the small satellite licensing regulatory framework and the nascent nature of these systems, currently, much of the IB
FTE time that can be associated with small satellites appear to cover small satellite application processing.
7. Given the various considerations above, we seek comment on several proposals on the appropriate methodology to calculate the small satellite fees. First, we seek comment on
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setting a fee for each small satellite license or market access grant, in such a way that the amount would not be dependent on the number of small satellite systems operating in a given regulatory period. This type of fee, rather than a fee that varies depending on the number of licensees or grantees, may be appropriate, since the small satellite process is calibrated to shorter duration missions, and therefore the number of small satellite systems licensed and operational could fluctuate more significantly from year to year than other types of NGSO systems that typically have a 15-year license term, creating uncertainty. We seek comment on these conclusions. There are several options for setting this type of fee. In comparing the actual regulatory work involved, we estimate that for a given small satellite system, the FTE activities would be approximately 1/20th of the FTE activities for a typical system in the category of other NGSO systems, similar to the Commissions findings in In the FY 2018 Report and Order. Thus, one option would be to tie the small satellite fee to the fee allocated for an individual other NGSO system in a given year, and charge any individual small satellite licensee or grantee 1/20th of that amount. Or, charge a small satellite system even if authorized under multiple licenses, 1/20th of that amount. We recognize, however, that the fee for an individual other NGSO
system may vary from year-to-year, and thus the fee for a small satellite licensee would be dependent on how many other NGSO systems are authorized and operational in a given year. As an alternative, we could set a fee for individual small satellite licensees or systems, based on approximately 1/20th of FY 2021 NGSO other systems $17,178and which we could reassess each year to ensure that there was some predictability. We seek comment on these proposals and other appropriate methodology. Commenters suggesting other fee calculation methodologies should discuss how such methodologies would reasonably reflect the FTE time spent on regulatory activities or an objective measure that corresponds to the benefits of FTE time devoted to oversight and regulation of such entities.
8. Second, we seek comment on whether to allocate a percentage of the allocation for space station fees for small satellites. Under this proposal, a certain percentage of the space station fees would need to be recovered from small satellite regulatory fee payors, and therefore the amount would fluctuate depending on the number of payors in
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