By the Commission: Commissioner Chong concurring and issuing a statement in which Commissioner Quello joins at a later date.

I. Introduction

1. By this Report and Order, the Commission completes its rulemaking proceeding to revise its Schedule of Regulatory Fees in order to recover the amount of regulatory fees that Congress, pursuant to Section 9(a) of the Communications Act, has required it to collect for Fiscal Year (FY) 1996. See 47 U.S.C. 159 (a).

2. For FY 1996, Congress has required that we collect $126,400,000 in regulatory fees in order to recover the costs of our enforcement, policy and rulemaking, international and user information activities for FY 1996. Pub. L. No. 104-134 and 47 U.S.C. 159(a)(2). This is $10 million more than Congress designated for recovery through regulatory fees for FY 1995. See Assessment and Collection of Regulatory Fees for Fiscal Year 1995, FCC 95-227, released June 19, 1995, 60 FR 34004 (June 29, 1995). See FY 1995 Report and Order, 10 FCC Rcd 13531. It is also $10 million more than Congress initially required us to collect in regulatory fees for FY 1996.⁽¹⁾ See Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the Matter of Assessment and Collection of Regulatory Fees for Fiscal Year 1996, FCC 96-153, released April 9, 1996, 61 FR 16432 (April 15, 1996). The current Schedule of Regulatory Fees ("Schedule") is set forth in Sections 1.1152 through 1.1156 of the Commission's rules. 47 C.F.R. 1.1152-1.1156.

3. In addition to adjusting our Section 9 regulatory fees to ensure collection of the $126.4 million that Congress requires us to collect in FY 1996, we are also adjusting the Schedule and associated payment procedures to reflect changes to certain fee amounts recently mandated by Congress in Pub. L. No. 104-134, to reflect changes in the estimated number of payment units associated with services subject to a fee and to incorporate certain public interest considerations. See 47 U.S.C. 159 (b).

4. Finally, we are amending the Schedule in order to assess regulatory fees upon licensees and/or regulatees of services not currently subject to payment of a fee, to simplify and streamline the Schedule and to clarify and/or revise certain payment procedures. 47 U.S.C. 159(b)(3). Except where noted, in those instances where we received no comments on a proposal set forth in our NPRM, we are adopting the proposal without further discussion.

II. Background

5. Section 9(a) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, requires us to assess and collect annual regulatory fees to recover the costs, as determined annually by Congress, that we incur in carrying out enforcement, policy and rulemaking, international, and user information activities. 47 U.S.C. 159(a). In our FY 1994 Report and Order, 59 FR 30984 (June 16, 1994), 9 FCC Rcd 5333, we adopted the Schedule of Regulatory Fees that Congress established and we prescribed rules to govern payment of the fees, as required by Congress. 47 U.S.C. 159(b), (f)(1). Subsequently, in our FY 1995 Report and Order, we modified the Schedule to increase by approximately 93 percent the revenue generated by our regulatory fees due to the increased amount that Congress required us to collect in FY 1995. 60 FR 34004 (June 29, 1995). Also, in the FY 1995 Report and Order, we amended certain rules governing our regulatory fee program based upon our experience administering the program in FY 1994. See 47 C.F.R. 1.1151 et seq.

6. As noted above, for FY 1994 we adopted the Schedule of Regulatory Fees established in Section 9(g) of the Act. For fiscal years after FY 1994, however, Sections 9(b)(2) and (3), respectively, provide that we adjust our fees by making "Mandatory Adjustments" and "Permitted Amendments" to the Schedule of Regulatory Fees. 47 U.S.C. 159(b)(2), (b)(3). Section 9(b)(2), entitled "Mandatory Adjustments", requires that we revise the Schedule of Regulatory Fees whenever Congress changes the amount that we are to recover. 47 U.S.C. 159(b)(2).

7. Section 9(b)(3), entitled "Permitted Amendments," requires that we determine annually whether to adjust the fees to take into account factors that are reasonably related to the benefits provided to the payors of the fees and factors that are in the public interest. In making these amendments, we are to "add, delete, or reclassify services in the Schedule to reflect additions, deletions or changes in the nature of its services." 47 U.S.C. 159(b)(3). Section 9(i) requires that we develop accounting systems necessary to making permitted amendments. 47 U.S.C. 159(i). Finally, we are required to notify Congress of any permitted amendments 90 days before those amendments go into effect. 47 U.S.C. 159(b)(4)(B).

III. Discussion

A. Overall Methodology

8. As noted above, Congress has required that we recover $126,400,000 for FY 1996 through the collection of regulatory fees, representing the costs applicable to our enforcement, policy and rulemaking, international, and user information activities. 47 U.S.C. 159(a).

9. In our NPRM, we proposed to develop our fees for FY 1996 by first adjusting our estimates of payment units so that we could determine how much revenue we would collect even if we did not change any individual fee amounts. We then compared the total estimated revenue that we would collect at the existing fee amounts to the total revenues that we are required to collect in FY 1996 ($126.4 million), and pro-rated the difference among all the existing fee categories.⁽²⁾ We then intended to compare these projected revenues with cost data accumulated from our new cost accounting system and to make any further adjustments necessary to ensure that costs generally correlated with revenues in each fee category. As discussed in the NPRM, this step was not performed due to implementation problems associated with our new cost accounting system.

10. We next considered various recommendations made by our Bureaus' and Offices' managers concerning adjustments to the fees and to our collection procedures. The results of these actions, the detailed steps we followed in the development of our proposed FY 1996 regulatory fees, and a proposed new Schedule of Regulatory Fees were presented in our NPRM.⁽³⁾ In addition, we provided detailed descriptions of each fee category, information on the entity responsible for payment of each fee, and other critical information designed to assist potential fee payers in determining the extent of fee liability, if any, for FY 1996. We invited interested parties to comment on our proposed methodology and on our various proposals to revise the Schedule of Regulatory Fees. We are adopting the same general methodology, as set forth in Paragraphs 12-14 below, for developing FY 1996 regulatory fees as we proposed in our NPRM.

11. While we received no comments specifically supporting or opposing the proposed methodology, the law firm of Bernstein and McVeigh contends that regulatees are entitled to a fee payment credit because the Federal government, including the Commission, was closed for business for significant periods due to budget disputes and snowstorms resulting in substantially lower regulatory expenditures than anticipated. However, we have no discretion in the amount that we are required to collect since it is Congress that annually establishes the amount that we are to collect through regulatory fees. See 47 U.S.C. 159(a). Thus, Bernstein and McVeigh's pleading requires no further discussion.

B. Adjustment of Payment Units

12. In order to calculate individual service fees for FY 1996, we first adjusted the estimated payment units for each service because, in many services, payment units have changed substantially since last year. We obtained our estimates through a variety of means, including our licensee data bases, actual prior year payment records, and industry and trade group projections. Herein, we are further adjusting certain payment units to reflect refinements to our unit counts since adoption of our NPRM. Appendix B provides a summary of how payment units were determined for each fee category.

C. Adjustment of Television Station Fees

13. On April 26, 1996, the President signed H.R. 3019 (Pub. L. No. 104-134), "The Balanced Budget Downpayment Act." This legislation, in addition to requiring that we collect $126.4 million in regulatory fees, revised the fees for television broadcast licensees set forth in Section 1.1153 of our rules.⁽⁴⁾ As Congress has required, we have incorporated its revised television station fees into our Schedule of Regulatory Fees for FY 1996.

D. Recalculation of Fees - Mandatory Adjustments

14. We next determined the amount of revenue to be collected from television station licensees based on the new fee amounts established by Congress, as discussed in Paragraph 13. See Appendix C. We subtracted our estimated television revenues ($10,060,000) from the total amount that Congress requires us to collect in FY 1996 ($126,400,000). The difference ($116,340,000) is the amount to be recovered from all other regulatees in order to meet Congress' requirement for FY 1996. We then multiplied the revised payment unit estimates for FY 1996 by the corresponding FY 1995 fee amounts in each non-television fee category to determine the revenue we would collect in FY 1996, assuming no other change to the FY 1995 fees. Next, we adjusted the revenue requirements for each fee category on a proportional basis, consistent with Section 9(b)(2) of the Act, in order to insure that we would collect approximately $116,340,000 from these fee categories. Finally, we recalculated the individual fee amounts in order to collect the adjusted amount in each service, and rounded each fee amount as provided by Section 9(b)(2).⁽⁵⁾ Appendix C provides detailed calculations describing how the revised fee amounts were determined.

E. Proposed Permitted Amendments

15. In our NPRM, we proposed certain changes and additions to our current fee categories and to our methodologies for assessing fees in individual service categories. We have given full consideration to the comments by interested parties and, in certain instances, we have decided that further adjustments to the Schedule of Regulatory Fees are warranted based upon the public interest and other criteria established in 47 U.S.C. 159(b)(3). Each of these changes is discussed below together with any comments we received in response to our NPRM. However, as noted above, we will not discuss further any of our proposals from the NPRM which received no comments. Instead, these proposals are incorporated as proposed in our NPRM or are not adopted in those cases in which we proposed not to change our current rules and procedures. These include: Commercial AM/FM/TV Construction Permits, where we considered and rejected including the revenue requirement in the fees for the broadcast station licensees; Wireless Cable, where we considered and rejected the idea of basing the payment units on subscriber counts instead of on a per license basis; Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) Service, where we also considered and rejected a proposal to establish payment units on a subscriber basis rather than per satellite; Interstate Telephone Service Providers, where we proposed to consolidate several service categories into one category; and Earth Stations, where we also proposed to consolidate several service categories into one category.

1. Commercial Mobile Radio Service (CMRS)

16. In the NPRM, we proposed to establish a CMRS Mobile Services fee category and to include in the category cellular providers and CMRS service licensees authorized to provide interconnected mobile radio services for profit to the public, or to such classes of eligible users as to be effectively available to a substantial portion of the public. See NPRM at para. 19. We stated that the new CMRS Mobile Services category was intended to replace the Public Mobile/Cellular Radio regulatory fee category and that certain mobile services assigned to the Private Land Mobile Radio Service fee category for FY 1995 would be included in the new CMRS category for FY 1996.⁽⁶⁾ Also, we proposed to defer assessing a regulatory fee upon licensees in the Personal Communications Service (PCS) because PCS is in a very early start-up phase. Finally, we proposed that CMRS Mobile Services fee payors calculate their annual regulatory fee based on their total mobile or cellular unit (mobile or cellular call sign or telephone number) count, or on their total per unit (two-way pager) count, as determined on December 31, 1995.

17. The American Mobile Telecommunications Association, Inc. (AMTA) and Nextel Communications, Inc. (Nextel) oppose including Specialized Mobile Radio (SMR) licensees and other mobile communications providers, previously assigned to one of the Private Mobile Radio Services (PMRS) fee categories, in the CMRS Mobile Services fee category for FY 1996. The parties contend that these mobile service providers are not properly subject to the CMRS Mobile Services fee because their operations were not a part of the CMRS service on December 31, 1995, the date for calculating the CMRS Mobile Services fee, and, in fact, will not convert to CMRS status until August 10, 1996. AMTA and Nextel also urge that we exclude from the CMRS Mobile Services category any mobile units that do not have full interconnection capability with the public switched network. In addition, Nextel contends that, given the competitive status of CMRS providers, we should not subject some new mobile service providers to a CMRS Mobile Services fee and defer imposition of the requirement on other new providers, such as PCS. Instead, AMTA and Nextel urge that current mobile service providers pay no fee or remain in the PMRS fee category. Finally, AMTA contends that existing mobile licensees who have paid their regulatory fees in advance should not be subject to a CMRS Mobile Services fee until they file applications for renewal or reinstatement. In the alternative, AMTA and Nextel contend that current licensees that become subject to the CMRS Mobile Services fee before their existing licenses expire are entitled to a credit for the remaining years of their advance fee payments.

18. In the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993, Congress provided that private carrier systems, including 220-222 MHz and SMR services, providing interconnected mobile radio services for profit to the public, or to such classes of eligible users as to be effectively available to a substantial portion of the public, were to be reclassified as CMRS licensees.⁽⁷⁾ Congress provided a three year transition period pursuant to which private carrier licensees authorized prior to August 10, 1993, would continue to be regulated as private carriers until August 10, 1996. Therefore, we agree with the commenters that we should not require licensees that will not become subject to CMRS regulation until August 10, 1996, to pay a CMRS Mobile Services fee for FY 1996. Further, we agree with the parties that existing CMRS licensees should include in their calculations of the CMRS Mobile fee only those units operational on December 31, 1995. Also, as a result of this decision, we have reduced our estimate of the number of payment units for this category.

19. However, we do not agree that CMRS units that do not fully connect with the public switched network should not be subject to the CMRS fee. Consistent with Section 9(a) and 9(b), our CMRS Mobile Services fee is based upon the costs of our regulatory oversight. As such, we will require mobile providers to submit a CMRS Mobile Services fee based upon our regulatory costs rather than the particular use that a provider makes of its frequencies. Therefore, mobile operators, otherwise subject to the CMRS Mobile Services fee, should submit a CMRS Mobile Services fee for any unit operating under the authority of a license authorizing the operator to provide "for profit" service to the public and to interconnect its services with the public switched network, without limitation, or to such classes of eligible users as to be effectively available to a substantial portion of the public, as described in Section 20.3 of our Rules.⁽⁸⁾ 47 C.F.R. 20.3.

20. In addition, we reject Nextel's argument that, because we have decided that PCS licensees should not be subject to the fee for FY 1996, all new providers of CMRS service should be excepted from payment of the CMRS Mobile Services fee. Unlike other services within the CMRS category of services, PCS has only recently been established and few PCS providers are now operational. In contrast, SMR licensees, such as Nextel, have long been eligible to provide mobile service, including interconnection with the public switched network, and thus, although they may be newly assigned to CMRS, these operators cannot be said to be new providers of mobile services.

21. We recognize that some current mobile service providers have paid Private Land Mobile fees covering the length of their license term. However, we decline to defer assessing a CMRS fee on these licensees until the expiration of their current licenses.⁽⁹⁾ In our NPRM, we stated that payors of advance fees would not have these fees "adjusted" during their license term. See NPRM at para. 56. Our clear purpose was to assure payors of advance fees that we would not require any additional payment if we increased the fee amount required for the fee category in which the payment was made. It was not our intent that licensees transferred from one fee category to another would not be subject to the fee payment required by their new fee category until the expiration of their current license. Nevertheless, under our Rules, a licensee is entitled to a refund of an advance payment, upon request, whenever we "adopt new rules that nullify a license or other authorization." 47 C.F.R. 1.1159(2)(i). Therefore, any licensee that converts from private to CMRS and has paid its fees in advance for a period of years, may file a request for refund with its initial CMRS regulatory fee payment. Detailed procedures for refund requests will be issued by Public Notice.

22. Destineer, Inc., a PCS licensee, asks that we establish a CMRS Messaging Service fee category to replace our CMRS One-Way Paging fee category. Destineer recognizes that, as a PCS provider, it is not subject to any fee payment for FY 1996. However, it states that, with the exception of two-way paging services, our CMRS Mobile category includes only broadband services and that broadband services, unlike paging services, provide for real time two-way interactive voice communications. We agree with Destineer that there are important regulatory, technical and competitive differences between the two narrowband and broadband services that may warrant establishing a fee category that would include all narrowband services, including two-way paging. However, Destineer has provided us with no information concerning how to structure its proposed fee category, e.g., estimated units that would be included in the category for FY 1996 or the impact of the new fee category on revenues from our CMRS Mobile fee category. Therefore, we will adopt our proposed CMRS Mobile Services and CMRS One-Way Paging fee categories for FY 1996, but we invite interested parties to file proposals and comments on alternative methods to assess CMRS fees in our proceeding to establish regulatory fees for FY 1997.

2. Commercial AM/FM Radio

23. In our NPRM, we discussed a proposal to assess regulatory fees for Commercial AM and FM radio licensees according to the size of a station's market, but concluded that development of a market-based fee assessment methodology for radio broadcast stations appeared to be not cost effective. See FCC 96-153 at 20.⁽¹⁰⁾ As a result, we proposed to assess radio broadcast fees solely on the basis of class of license, utilizing the statutory fee structure that we adopted for FY 1994 and FY 1995. 47 U.S.C. 159(g). In our NPRM, we invited comments proposing alternatives to the current radio fee structure. Id. at 21.

24. The Montana Broadcasters Association (Montana) filed comments proposing a radio broadcast service fee structure based on class of station and on market size. Montana maintains that its proposed fee structure is similar to the fee structure that Congress enacted for television broadcast stations and that it would more fairly allocate regulatory fees among radio stations by reducing the fees for small market radio stations and increasing them for larger stations. See 47 U.S.C. 159(g)

25. Montana's proposed fee structure takes into account both a station's market size and the classification of its facilities. The proposed fee structure establishes broad groupings of radio broadcast markets determined by market size. It assigns a different level of fees for each market grouping predicated on the ratios between fees that Congress initially assessed for licensees in different sized television markets. Montana proposes four specific market classifications: Markets 1 through 25, Markets 26 through 50, Markets 51 through 100, and Remaining Markets. Stations are assigned to a market grouping based upon Arbitron Rating Co. (Arbitron) market designations. Montana proposes ratios between fees paid by larger market radio broadcast stations and fees paid by remaining market radio broadcast stations as follows:

Markets 1 through 25 1 to 3.4⁽¹¹⁾

Markets 26 through 50 1 to 2.4

Markets 51 through 100 l to 1.6

26. Montana assigns different classes of stations to each market by relying on an analysis of the broadcast markets conducted by Dataworld MediaXpert Service. According to Montana, its proposed rate structure would result in aggregate revenue to the Commission approximating the amount to be recovered from AM and FM licensees through the fee structure proposed in our NPRM. Although the Montana proposal would raise the fees for radio stations in the top 100 markets, no comments were filed by parties who would be adversely affected by the proposal.

27. Montana proposes to utilize the Dataworld data base which in turn is based on Arbitron market rankings. In our FY 1995 Report and Order, we found that a proposal to base fees on Arbitron data did not provide a sufficiently accurate and equitable methodology for determining fees. 10 FCC Rcd at 531-532. Moreover, because Congress recently mandated that we amend the regulatory fee schedule for television stations, we believe that further evaluation of the proposal is necessary in order to determine the proper ratio between fees for radio stations in different markets and to evaluate the impact of this change. See H.R. 3019, H. Rept. 104-537.

28. As a result, for FY 1996, we have decided to adopt the basic fee structure proposed in our NPRM, which differentiates between licensees based on the class of a station's license. The fees therein are low enough so that they should not be an onerous burden on most licensees, and our policy is to grant waivers of the fees where our licensees can make a showing of a compelling case of financial hardship.

29. We agree, however, that there may be inequities in requiring all radio stations of the same class to pay the same fee without regard to the size of their market, particularly since stations serving greater populations generally have greater revenues than stations serving smaller markets. Thus, we believe that the Montana proposal warrants further study and consideration. It is our intention to consider the Montana proposal, or some modification thereof, for assessment of the FY 1997 fees. We will be commencing, subsequent to this proceeding, a Notice of Inquiry in order to develop a more appropriate methodology for assessing AM and FM fees. We invite interested parties to comment on Montana's proposal and to submit alternative AM and FM fee methodologies for our consideration in the context of that proceeding.

3. Commercial VHF/UHF Television Stations

30. Subsequent to the release of the FY 1996 NPRM, Congress required that we revise Section 1.1153 of the rules in order to increase the fees for VHF and UHF Television Stations located in the top 50 markets and to reduce the fees for stations in the 51 to 100 largest markets and in the remaining markets category. Pub. L. No. 104-134. Therefore, as required by Congress, we will amend Section 1.1153 of our rules to include the specific fees that Congress determined should be assessed licensees in the Television Broadcast Service for FY 1996. See Appendix D for a listing of the FY 1996 Television Broadcast fees.

31. In our NPRM we proposed to rely on Nielsen DMA rankings to determine the appropriate regulatory fee for television licensees in FY 1996 because Arbitron has ceased publication of its Areas of Dominant Influence that we formerly relied upon. See NPRM at para. 27. Southern Broadcast Corporation of Sarasota (Southern), licensee of Station WWSB(TV), Sarasota, Florida, opposes reliance on Nielsen DMA's because, as calculated by the DMA, its market rank would change to the 15th largest DMA market from the 153rd ADI market. As a result, Southern will be subject to a substantially higher fee than it has previously been assessed.

32. We have decided to rely on Nielsen's DMA market rankings, as proposed. As noted above, current Arbitron data for assessing television regulatory fees is no longer available. Nielsen data is generally accepted throughout the industry and will be updated and published annually by Warren Publishing in its Television and Cable Factbook. While the change may result in some licensees being assigned to new markets, this is not a basis for rejecting Nielsen markets. Nielsen markets may, in fact, provide a more accurate reflection of an applicant's service area than do Arbitron markets. We will consider the equities concerning the fees of licensees that change markets on a case-by-case basis, upon request, and, where a licensee demonstrates that it does not serve its assigned market, we will consider reducing the assigned fees to a more equitable level, based upon the area actually served by the licensee.

4. Auxiliary Broadcast Stations

33. This fee category includes licensees of Remote Pickup Stations, Aural Broadcast Auxiliary Stations, Television Broadcast Auxiliary Stations, and Low Power Auxiliary Stations, authorized under Part 74 of the Commission's Rules. These stations are generally associated with a particular television or radio broadcast station or cable television system.

34. In an attempt to simplify the Fee Schedule, our NPRM considered the feasibility and equity of combining Auxiliary Broadcast Station fees with the primary fees paid by broadcast station licensees and cable television operators into a single, consolidated fee. Although a consolidated fee has certain advantages, there are significant problems with using this approach and we found that such a fee would likely result in serious inequities since larger commercial broadcast stations and cable systems in the most profitable markets are more likely to utilize multiple auxiliary stations. While a consolidated fee would have little impact on stations serving larger populations, it could result in less profitable stations in smaller markets subsidizing regulatory fees for stations serving larger markets. Thus, our NPRM proposed to retain Auxiliary Broadcast Station fees as a separate category in FY 1996.

35. The Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE) urges reduction or elimination of the Auxiliary Broadcast Station fee. It contends that frequency coordination and regulation of these facilities are in large part conducted by volunteers and supported by voluntary contributions from the industry. In SBE's view, imposition of a regulatory fee on broadcast auxiliary stations could "possibly place the entire program of SBE-affiliated frequency committees in jeopardy."

36. We have decided to not reduce or eliminate the Auxiliary Broadcast Station fee. We cannot conclude that our proposed regulatory fee would adversely impact voluntary coordination of auxiliary stations. Moreover, the relatively small fee for Auxiliary Broadcast Stations already takes into account volunteer efforts, including those described by SBE. Accordingly, we will retain a separate Auxiliary Broadcast Station fee as proposed in the NPRM. See Appendix F, Paragraph 27.

5. Intelsat & Inmarsat Signatory

37. In our NPRM, we proposed to establish a Signatory fee category to recover our costs of regulating the U.S. Signatories to the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (Intelsat) and to the International Mobile Satellite Organization (Inmarsat). See FY 1996 NPRM at para. 43. We stated that the new fee was warranted due to the unique role of the U.S. Signatories in Intelsat's and Inmarsat's structure and our regulatory role with respect to these entities. The U.S. Signatory to Intelsat is the Communications Satellite Corporation (Comsat), the entity designated, pursuant to the Communications Satellite Act, as the sole operating entity to participate in Intelsat in order to construct and operate the space segment of the global commercial telecommunications satellite system established under the Interim Agreement and Special Agreement signed by the Governments on August 20, 1964. See 47 U.S.C. 731. Also, pursuant to the Communications Satellite Act, Comsat is solely designated to participate in the Inmarsat. See 47 U.S.C. 751. Because Comsat is the entity that Congress designated as the U.S. Signatory to both Intelsat and Inmarsat, the fee would apply only to Comsat.

38. Comsat has opposed our adoption of the Signatory Fee, contending that the proposed fee is unlawful and, even if lawful, excessive. GE American Communication, Inc. (GE Americom) has filed comments supporting our adoption of the Signatory fee and reply comments responding to certain of Comsat's arguments.

39. Comsat believes that the Signatory fee is beyond our authority in light of Congress' intention not to assess a fee upon space stations operated by international organizations. See FY 1995 Report and Order at para. 110. In addition, Comsat argues that we are authorized to establish new fee categories only in those instances in which there has been a change in our regulation or in the law. Comsat also claims that the Signatory fee is prohibited by Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 of the United States Constitution as an unauthorized and unconstitutional tax because it bears no relationship to any specific regulatory benefit that Comsat receives from the Commission. Instead, Comsat argues, Congress alone conferred upon Comsat its "special benefit" of Signatory status. Finally, Comsat maintains that, even assuming that we have authority to establish a Signatory fee, the total amount to be recovered by the fee is grossly excessive.

40. We reject Comsat's contention that the Signatory fee contravenes Congressional intent reflected in Section 9. In the Conference Report accompanying Section 9, Congress stated with respect to space station fees that

the Committee intends that fees in this category be assessed on operations of U.S. facilities, consistent with U.S. jurisdiction. Therefore, these fees will only apply to space stations directly licensed by the Commission under Title III of the Communications Act. Fees will not be applied to space stations operated by international organizations subject to the International Organizations Immunities Act, 22 U.S.C. Section 288 et seq.⁽¹²⁾

In contrast to the space stations referred to in the Conference Report, however, the Signatory fee will not be imposed on Intelsat and Inmarsat, or on their operation of international space stations. The fee applies only to Comsat, a private, for-profit, U.S. corporation that receives benefits from its special role in international satellite communications. Moreover, in contrast to Congress' rejection of a fee on Intelsat's and Inmarsat's space stations as inconsistent with U.S. jurisdiction, nothing in Section 9 limits our authority to recover our costs of regulating Comsat, a U.S. Corporation.

41. Comsat is also mistaken that the second sentence in subsection 9(b)(3) limits our authority to establish new fee categories. Specifically, subsection 9(b)(3) states that "the Commission shall add, delete, or reclassify services in the Schedule to reflect additions, deletions, or changes in the nature of its services as a consequence of Commission rulemaking proceedings or changes in law." 47 U.S.C. 159(b)(3). The subsection provides that we must add new fees to the Schedule to reflect changes in the nature of our services. The statement does not purport to limit our statutory authority, and duty, to otherwise modify fees as provided in Section 9.

42. In that regard, subsection 9(b)(3) requires that we "amend the Schedule of Regulatory Fees if the Commission determines that the Schedule requires amendment to comply with the requirements of paragraph (1)(A)." Paragraph (1)(A), in turn, requires that we assess and collect regulatory fees to cover the costs of regulatory activities, including international activities, by "tak[ing] into account factors that are reasonably related to the benefits provided to the payor of the fee by the Commission's activities and other factors that the Commission determines are necessary in the public interest." 47 U.S.C. 159(b)(1)(A). Thus, Section 9 both authorizes and requires amendment of the Schedule when, as here, we determine that such action is necessary to recover our regulatory costs for international activities, taking into account the benefits that we provide the payor and other public interest factors.

43. Further, we find no merit in Comsat's argument that our proposed Signatory fee constitutes an unauthorized and unconstitutional tax. Relying on National Cable Television Association v. United States, (NCTA), Comsat claims that the fee is an unconstitutional tax, rather than a fee, because it bears no relationship to any regulatory benefit conferred by the Commission on Comsat as a signatory. Comsat also asserts that Congress may not delegate the power to levy a tax. Comsat, however, misstates the law concerning delegations of taxing authority. In Skinner v. Mid-America Pipe Line Co., the Supreme Court made clear that, even if agency fees are a form of taxation, the delegation of discretionary authority under Congress' taxing power is subject to no constitutional scrutiny greater than applied to other nondelegation challenges. 490 U.S. 212, 224; 109 S.Ct. 1762, 1733 (1989). Thus, so long as the fees in question are within the scope of Congress' lawful delegation of authority in Section 9, they are constitutional. No requirement exists to establish that all of the administrative costs recovered through the signatory fee are not a tax in that they "inure directly to the benefit of regulated parties," rather than to the public generally. Id. at 223-24.

44. Consistent with the Supreme Court's guidance in Skinner, Congress in Section 9 of the Act declared that the fees are to be assessed in a rulemaking proceeding, based upon our costs of performing enforcement, policy and rulemaking, international and user information activities, "taking into account" the benefits provided to the payor of the fee by these activities, as well as other public interest factors, and that we are to recover our costs only in the aggregate amount annually appropriated by Congress.

45. We believe that the fee in question fully satisfies the statutory requirements in Section 9. As noted in the NPRM, our review of our Signatory activities disclosed that approximately 14.7% of the costs attributable to space station regulatory oversight ($3,175,850)⁽¹³⁾, as determined in Appendix C, is directly related to Intelsat and Inmarsat Signatory activities (5.25 FTEs⁽¹⁴⁾ out of a total of 35.7 direct FTEs). As a result, $466,850 (rounded) must be collected from the Signatories to offset the regulatory costs attributed to them ($3,175,850 X 14.7%). Dividing this revenue requirement by two (there are Signatories to two separate organizations), yields a Signatory fee of $233,425. See Appendix F, Paragraph 37. We also have no doubt that Comsat benefits significantly from its status as signatory and the regulatory oversight that is necessitated by that status.⁽¹⁵⁾

Therefore, taking into account these benefits, we perceive no public interest basis for relieving Comsat of the costs that the Commission incurs in regulating its activities.

46. Since the Signatory fee will recover our costs attributable to our Signatory oversight, we are able to reduce the space station fee. The new space station fee is computed by reducing the revenue requirement for space stations calculated in Appendix C ($3,175,850) by the $466,850 to be collected from signatories and dividing the reduced space station revenue requirement ($2,709,000) by the number of payment units (38 operational space stations). The result of these calculations is a new fee of $71,300 (rounded) for each operational space station.⁽¹⁶⁾

47. Finally, although we have imposed a Signatory fee in our FY 1996 Schedule of Regulatory Fees, we intend in FY 1997 to explore alternative means of recovering these costs. We may, for example, conclude that it is more efficient to recover these regulatory costs through increases in the fees for international bearer circuits. However, before making such changes, we will seek public comment in the rulemaking proceeding to implement the FY 1997 Schedule of Regulatory Fees.

6. Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellite Systems

48. In our NPRM, we proposed for the first time to adopt a fee for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellite Systems.⁽¹⁷⁾ In developing that fee, we proposed to apportion the total revenue requirement for all space stations between LEO systems and geosynchronous space station licensees. In so doing, we also proposed to preserve the same relative relationship between the fees established by the Congress in Section 9(g) of the Act for geosynchronous space stations and LEO systems; i.e., an approximate 38.5% differential between the fee for LEO systems and the fee for geosynchronous space stations. 47 U.S.C 159(g). After reducing the space station revenue requirement by the amount of the Signatory fees, the resultant LEO fee is $97,725 (rounded) and the new geosynchronous fee is $70,575 (rounded).⁽¹⁸⁾

49. Motorola requests that we defer imposing any regulatory fee on a LEO system until an entire planned constellation has been launched and is fully operational. In our FY 1994 Report and Order, we decided that a LEO system would become subject to a fee payment when its first satellite became operational upon certification by its licensee that the operations of the first satellite in its system conforms to the terms and conditions of its authorization pursuant to 47 C.F.R. 25.120(d). Nothing in Motorola's comments persuades us otherwise. It may take several years for an entire constellation to be completed. However, a system is capable of providing commercial customer services prior to full deployment of all authorized satellites. Thus, because our regulatory oversight of a LEO system begins when its initial satellite is launched and placed in operation, we will require that a LEO system licensee submit a fee once it certifies to the operation of its initial satellite pursuant to Section 25.120(d) of our rules.

7. Minimum Fee Payment Liability

50. As proposed in our NPRM at para. 57, we will adopt a minimum fee payment policy in order to minimize the cost of our regulatory fee program because our collection and verification costs for small payments are considerably more than our revenues from these collections. A regulatee will be relieved of its fee payment requirement if its total fee due, including all categories of fees for which payment is due by the entity, amounts to less than $10. We have reconsidered our proposal to submit the Form FCC 159 and have determined that we will not require those entities qualifying for the minimum fee liability exemption to file Form FCC 159. Those qualifying for exemption, however, are advised that as part of our verification program, it may be necessary for them to provide proof of exemption should we choose to audit their fee liability.

F. Additional Regulatory Fee Issues

1. Cable Television Systems

51. The National Cable Television Association (NCTA) has filed comments objecting to our proposed fee for cable television systems. NCTA asserts that we failed to discuss in our NPRM the basis for our proposed fee and that we did not demonstrate that the fee is reasonably related to our costs of regulating cable television. NCTA also believes that with deregulation, the fee for cable television should decrease rather than increase, particularly in light of our "social contract" resolution of rate complaints, ongoing deregulation of small cable systems and its expectation of further rate deregulation. Further, NCTA contends that the cable television per subscriber fee should not be set as high relative to the proposed fee for Wireless Cable (MMDS) licensees.

52. In our NPRM, we discussed in detail our methodology for developing our proposed fees for FY 1996, including our cable television fees. See NPRM at Paras. 8-12 and Appendix C. Therein, we set forth both our steps used to develop the fees and our mathematical calculations underlying the development of specific fee proposals. We also explained that, for various reasons, our cost accounting system was not yet able to provide reliable information to assist us in developing our fees. See NPRM at paras. 13-17. Thus, for FY 1996, we were unable to compare the individual fee category revenues with actual data accumulated from our new cost accounting system.

53. Even though we were not able to use our new cost accounting system, we believe the fees for cable systems are reasonably related to our costs attributable to cable television regulation which consist of several different categories of costs. Direct staff costs are those costs attributable to staff assigned to the Cable Services Bureau engaged in activities described in Section 9(a)(1) of the Act. Indirect or overhead support staff costs are those costs attributable to staff assigned to other Bureaus and Offices within the Commission who support direct staff working in the Cable Services Bureau. Support staff accounts for approximately 40% of staff costs attributable to cable television oversight. Other obligations costs are non-personnel costs such as office space rental, equipment, contractual services, supplies, etc. which are attributable to the Cable Services Bureau. In total, these costs have not changed significantly from FY 1995.

54. Additionally, we must recover from our regulatory fees other costs that cannot be specifically attributed to a particular class of licensee. These costs, in the interest of fairness, are allocated on a pro-rata basis to all fee payors. For example, Congress has exempted several classes of licensees from regulatory fees, including amateur radio licensees, non-commercial radio and television stations, non-profit entities and public safety licensees. Although these entities are exempt from payment of a fee, Congress requires that our regulatory costs associated with these entities be borne by those regulatees not exempt from the fee requirement. Additionally, in making the mandatory adjustments to the fee amounts required by Section 9(b)(2)(a), an overall revenue shortfall occurs due to changes in the number of payment units from FY 1995 to FY 1996. This shortfall (over $1 million) is allocated on a pro rata basis to all fee categories, including cable television system operators.

55. Also, we disagree with NCTA's contention that our regulatory costs related to cable television systems should be lower at this stage of the industry's deregulation. Based on the foregoing, our costs attributable to the regulatory categories for which we are required to recover our costs through regulatory fees are actually much higher than they may appear due to overhead and indirect costs. Second, although we are deregulating the cable television industry, our regulatory costs related to cable television have not diminished for FY 1996. Since the Telecommunications Act of 1996 became law, we have commenced several important rulemaking proceedings to further our cable deregulatory policies, requiring significant personnel resources. In addition, because of the large volume of work required of the Commission under the 1996 Act, the Cable Bureau has taken on significant new responsibilities in a number of areas related to the provision of video programming services. For example, the Bureau is responsible for developing and enforcing rules concerning open video systems pursuant to new section 653 of the Communications Act, over-the-air reception devices under section 207 of the 1996 Act and telecommunications navigation devices under new section 629. And the Bureau has been assigned the responsibility to implement the amendments to section 224 (Regulation of Pole Attachments) of the Communications Act of 1934, as well as new section 713 of the Communications Act concerning video programming accessibility. These proceedings (whose costs must be offset by regulatory fees) are in addition to our on-going oversight responsibilities involving rate complaints, program access complaints, informational services, and adjudicatory proceedings work, which must continue even as we implement the Telecommunications Act. Thus, while we agree with NCTA that our "social contracts" with cable operators and the deregulation of small cable operators and similar policy initiatives reduce certain costs of regulation, we cannot conclude that our overall costs of cable regulation or those additional regulatory costs that we must recover from cable operators justify a reduction in the cable television fee for FY 1996.

56. Finally, we reject NCTA's complaint that the cable subscriber fee is too high relative to the regulatory fees paid by Wireless Cable (MMDS) licensees. NCTA estimates that MMDS fees would be $.20 per subscriber if its fee were assessed on a per subscriber basis rather than a call sign basis. As NCTA is aware, cable and MMDS are subject to substantially different regulatory oversight programs. As a consequence of our oversight of these services, our estimated total cost to regulate the cable television industry in FY 1996 is $31 million as opposed to an estimated total cost to regulate MMDS entities in FY 1996 of $158,000. In view of these estimated costs, in large part due to their different regulatory regimes, we see no unreasonable disparity between the revenue requirement that we have assigned to the two services. NCTA should note that MMDS regulatory fees have increased nearly twice as much as cable television fees since Congress established its Schedule of Regulatory Fees in 1993. See 47 U.S.C. 159(g).

57. In summary, we expect that our deregulatory activities will result in reduced oversight costs in future years, but those costs have not and will not diminish for FY 1996. Thus, for FY 1996, we will adopt the cable television fee shown in Appendix D.

2. International Bearer Circuits

58. International Bearer Circuit fees are assessed upon facilities-based common carriers activating a circuit in any transmission facility for the provision of service to an end user or a resale carrier. In our NPRM, we proposed a fee of $ 4.00 per bearer circuit upon facilities-based common carriers activating a circuit in any transmission facility for the provision of service to an end user or a resale carrier.

59. Comsat contends that our proposed fee for international bearer circuits is approximately twice the appropriate fee amount necessary to recover the revenue requirement that we assigned to this fee category. Comsat states that the revenue requirement associated with bearer circuits has increased significantly in one year without any explanation. In Comsat's view, the increase in the revenue requirement for bearer circuits arises from underforecasting payment units in FY 1995 and the use of actual payment units as the basis for our FY 1996 forecast. Comsat states that, since there is no evidence that the costs which the bearer circuit fee is designed to recover have increased, our proposed retention of the $4.00 per circuit fee, based on our underestimate of bearer circuit payment units for FY 1995, is unjustified.

60. The Commission, in its FY 1995 NPRM, estimated that there were 62,000 international bearer circuits susceptible to regulatory fee payment (based on estimated counts as of December 1994). As a result of comments received from interested parties in that rulemaking, we more than doubled (to 125,000) the number of estimated circuits applicable to our development of FY 1995 regulatory fees in our FY 1995 Report and Order. Based on actual numbers of bearer circuits for which fee payments were made in FY 1995, we proposed in our FY 1996 NPRM a total of 228,000 circuits for FY 1996 (based on estimated counts as of December 31, 1995).

61. The Commission knows of no reliable source of bearer circuit counts. We do not maintain this data at the Commission nor do we know of any central repository of this information. As such, we must rely on industry estimates or actual prior year payment information in order to determine the number of payment units for any particular fiscal year. The payment unit estimate for FY 1995 was based on the best information available to us and relied upon information provided by regulatees. The same is true for FY 1996. Although Comsat questions our estimate of payment units for FY 1996, it did not provide its own estimate of circuits, nor did any other commentor. As such, we believe our FY 1996 payment unit estimate based on actual circuits paid for in FY 1995 is appropriate.

62. Comsat's concerns relative to the total revenues being collected from bearer circuits are not persuasive. The methodology for calculating regulatory fees established by the Congress requires that prior year fee amounts be proportionally adjusted in order to ensure that the total amount to be collected is apportioned fairly among our regulatees. The Congress also provided that further adjustments to the fees ("permitted amendments") should be supported by costs derived from our cost accounting system. As noted elsewhere in this item, we were unable to utilize cost data from our new cost accounting system this year and were therefore unable to determine the total costs attributable to bearer circuit regulation and to compare this to our estimate of revenue requirements. This data should be available for development of our FY 1997 regulatory fees. In the absence of reliable cost accounting information, we performed an informal review of bearer circuit costs and found that our costs may significantly exceed the revenue requirement for bearer circuits established in this rulemaking. Estimated staff resources devoted to bearer circuit oversight also seem to support a higher revenue requirement. As such, we believe that our revenue requirement and estimated payment units are based on the most accurate information available, and we will utilize these estimates for FY 1996.

63. In addition, Comsat states that our estimated unit count for bearer circuits may also be low because we failed to consider that we recently authorized domestic satellites to provide international bearer circuits. See FCC 96-14 (released Jan. 22, 1996), summary published 61 FR. 9946 (Mar 12, 1996), 11 FCC Rcd 2429, (DISCO-I Order). Also, Comsat contends that our definition of bearer circuits should include all bearer circuits, not only those provided by common carriers, because the statutory fee schedule contemplates that the bearer circuit fee will be collected from common and private carriers alike.

64. Nothing in Section 9 of our implementing rules limits payment of international bearer circuit fees to international common carriers. Therefore, any common carrier, including domestic satellite licensees providing international bearer circuits, as described in our FY 1995 Report and Order at paras. 115 through 117, is subject to the bearer circuit fee. However, because our DISCO-I Order did not become effective until after the calculation date for bearer circuits (October 1, 1995), domestic satellite licensees were not authorized to provide international bearer circuits at the time for calculating the bearer circuit regulatory fee, and, therefore, we have not included bearer circuits provided by domestic satellite carriers in our estimates of bearer circuit payment units for FY 1996.

65. Finally, Comsat contends that Section 9 provides for the payment of a bearer circuit fee by private carriers. However, our NPRM, as well as prior year NPRMs, did not propose to collect international bearer circuit fees from other than common carriers. We do not have any information in the record of this proceeding on which to calculate a fee applicable to bearer circuits provided directly to end users over non-common carrier international facilities. As a result, we have no other viable alternative but to adopt the fee as proposed in the NPRM. However, we believe that Comsat's proposal warrants further consideration. It is our intention to consider Comsat's proposal, or some modification thereof, for assessment of the FY 1997 fees.

3. National Exchange Carrier Association (NECA)

66. NECA has requested by comments in this proceeding that we amend our rules governing confidentiality of information NECA receives in its role as administrator of the Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) Fund to permit it to use TRS data for the sole additional purpose of aggregating regulatory fees from local exchange carriers (LECs) in accordance with our requirements for assessment of their fees.⁽¹⁹⁾ See 47 C.F.R. 64.604(c)(4)(iii)(I). There were no other comments filed addressing NECA's proposal.

67. Currently, our rules prohibit NECA from using the TRS data it collects for any purpose other than administration of the TRS fund. See 47 C.F.R. 64.604(c)(4)(iii)(I). Because our assessment of regulatory fees from LECs and other common carriers is modeled in large part upon the methodology that we adopted for contributions by these carriers to the TRS fund, we believe that a specific limited modification of the rule governing NECA's use of TRS information would increase NECA's efficiency in determining the appropriate regulatory fee due from any carrier that avails itself of NECA's services in paying its regulatory fee. Thus, we will amend our rules to permit NECA to use TRS information for determining a carrier's fee. Section 64.604(c)(4)(iii)(i) will be amended to state that NECA may also use TRS information "to calculate the regulatory fees of interstate common carriers and to aggregate their fee payments for submission to the Commission."

4. Mobile Satellite Service (MSS)

68. Motorola Satellite Communications, Inc's. ("Motorola") has requested clarification that hand-held transmit and transmit/receive units used in the mobile satellite service (MSS) are within the category of MSS "blanket" earth station licenses subject to a single fee for all authorized units on one license. We have incorporated language in Appendix F that MSS "blanket" earth station licenses include hand-held transmit and transmit/receive units as well as vehicle-based transceivers and are, therefore, subject to a fee payment.

G. Procedures for Payment of Regulatory Fees

69. Section 9(f) requires that we permit "payment by installments in the case of fees in large amounts, and in the case of small amounts, shall require the payment of the fee in advance for a number of years not to exceed the term of the license held by the payor." See 47 U.S.C. 159(f)(1). Consistent with the section, we are again establishing three categories of fee payments, based upon the category of service for which the fee payment is due and the amount of the fee. In general, we are retaining the procedures that we have established for the payment of regulatory fees.

1. Annual Payments of Standard Fees

70. Standard fees are those regulatory fees that are payable in full on an annual basis. Payers of standard fees are not required to make advance payments for their full license term and are not eligible for installment payments. All standard fees are payable in full on the date we establish for payment of fees in their regulatory fee category.

71. The payment due date for standard fees will be announced by Public Notice in the Federal Register following Congressional notification. For licensees, permittees and holders of various authorizations in the Common Carrier, Mass Media, International, and Cable Television Services whose fees are not based on a subscriber, unit, or circuit count, liability for fee payment is established for any authorization held as of October 1, 1995, the first day of FY 1996. However, the licensee, permittee, or other regulatee at the time a fee payment is due is the individual or entity legally liable for the fee payment.

72. In the case of regulatees whose fees are based upon a subscriber, unit, or circuit count, the number of a regulatee's subscribers or circuits on December 31, 1995, will be used to calculate the fee payment.⁽²⁰⁾ As noted in the preceding paragraph, the licensee, permittee, or other regulatee at the time a fee payment is due is legally liable for the fee payment.

2. Installment Payments for Large Fees

73. There will be insufficient time following the effective date of our FY 1996 Schedule of Regulatory Fees to permit implementation of an installment payment program for large fees. All entities who would otherwise have been eligible for installments, i.e., whose fee liability exceeds our previously established level of $12,000, must submit their fee payments on the date we will announce by Public Notice in the Federal Register.

3. Advance Payments of Small Fees

74. As we have in the past, we are treating regulatory fee payments by certain licensees as small fees subject to advance payments. Advance payments will be required from licensees of those services that have been required to make advance payments in the past.⁽²¹⁾ Payers of advance fees are required to submit the entire regulatory fee for the full term of their license when filing their initial, renewal or reinstatement application. Regulatees subject to a payment of small fees shall pay the amount due for the current fiscal year multiplied by the number of years in the term of their requested license. In the event that the regulatory fee is adjusted following payment of the fee, the new fee will not become effective until the expiration of the licensing term. Thus, payment for the full license term would be made based upon the regulatory fee applicable at the time the application is filed. The effective date for the payment of all small fees pursuant to the FY 1996 Schedule will be announced by Public Notice in the Federal Register following Congressional notification.

H. Schedule of Regulatory Fees

75. The Commission's Schedule of Regulatory Fees for FY 1996 is contained in Appendix D of this Report and Order.

IV. Ordering Clause

76. Accordingly, it is ordered that the rule changes as specified herein are adopted. It is further ordered that the rule changes made herein will become effective 60 days from the date of publication in the Federal Register, except that changes to the Schedule of Regulatory Fees, made pursuant to Section 9(b)(3) of the Communications Act, and incorporating regulatory fees for CMRS Mobile Services, CMRS One-Way Paging, Geosynchronous Space Stations, Intelsat and Inmarsat Signatories, and Low Earth Orbit Satellite Systems, will become effective 90 days from notification to Congress. However, it should be noted that for the CMRS Mobile Services, licensees who did not elect to convert their stations from private to commercial status prior to December 31, 1995, will not be subject to payment of a CMRS Mobile Services regulatory fee for FY 1996. Therefore, for stations licensed as commercial on or before the date of determination of fee liability the fee will become effective 60 days from the date of publication in the Federal Register. See para. 17-22 supra. As noted above, the date payment of the regulatory fee is due will be announced by Public Notice in the Federal Register.

V. Authority and Further Information

77. Authority for this proceeding is contained in Sections 4(i) and (j), 9, and 303(r) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 154(1) and (j) and 159 and 303(r).

78. Further information about this proceeding may be obtained by contacting the Fees Hotline at (202) 418-0192.

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

William F. Caton

Acting Secretary

List of Subjects in 47 CFR Part 1

Administrative practice and procedure, communication common carriers, radio, telecommunications, television.

Appendix A

Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis

Final Analysis of the Report and Order

1. As required by Section 603 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 603, an Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (IRFA) was provided in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM). The Commission sought written public comments on the proposals in the NPRM, including the IRFA.

2. Need for and Objective of the Report and Order: Congress has directed the Commission to collect $126,400,000 in regulatory fees for fiscal year (FY) 1996. The Commission, pursuant to 47 U.S.C. 159, is modifying its Schedule of Regulatory Fees in order to comply with the Congressional directive.

3. Summary of Significant Issues Raised by the Public in response to the IRFA: No comments were submitted in response to the IRFA.

4. Description and Estimate of Number of Small Businesses to Which the Modifications of the Schedule of Fees Will Apply: The Regulatory Flexibility Act generally defines the term "small business" as having the same meaning as the term "small business concern" under the Small Business Act, 15 U.S.C. 632. A small business concern is one which (1) is independently owned and operated; (2) is not dominant in its field of operations; and satisfies additional criteria established by the Small Business Administration (SBA). Id. According to the SBA's regulations, entities engaged in the provision of communications services may have maximum revenues of $11 million in order to qualify as a small business concern. 13 C.F.R. 121.201. Therefore, this standard also applies in determining whether an entity is a small business for purposes of the Regulatory Flexibility Act.

5. The Report and Order creates a Commercial Mobile Radio Services (CMRS) category of fees which replaces the Cellular/Public Mobile category in our FY 1995 Schedule of Regulatory Fees. Creation of the new category does not affect any fees payable by licensees nor the manner in which these fees are paid. Cellular and Public Mobile Service licensees representing an estimated 30 million assessable units will continue to pay an annual fee as they have in the past. Business Radio, Special Mobile Radio Services and 220-222 Land Mobile Systems, which are regulated under Part 90 of the Rules, and Public Coast Stations, which are regulated under Part 80, currently pay small fees in advance for the full period of their license terms, when filing their initial, reinstatement or renewal application. Certain of these licensees may now elect to become CMRS licensees. However, they are not required to make that choice before August 10, 1996. When and if they do, those licensees which have converted from the Private Mobile Radio Services (PMRS) to CMRS will be required to pay annual regulatory fees predicated on the number of units they have in service. Based on survey responses from licensees, we estimate that roughly 120,000 stations will be eligible for conversion from PMRS to CMRS. Although we know that many entities hold licenses for multiple stations and not all licensees are small entities, we estimate the number of small entities that will be affected in the future to be approximately 20,000. However, because these conversions will not occur until the end of FY 1996 and were not effective on our established date for fee liability, no annual fee is being imposed on them for FY 1996.

6. With certain exceptions not relevant here, the Commission's Regulatory Fee Schedule applies to all Commission licensee and regulatees. The only other changes in the fee schedule, consist of adjustments in the assessments for various entities necessitated by the Congressionally mandated increase in the amount of fees to be recovered and new fees for Low Earth Orbit Satellite Systems, and Intelsat and Inmarsat Signatory Fees. There is only one Low Earth Orbit System, and Comsat is the sole Intelsat and Inmarsat Signatory. They are dominant carriers. Thus, we certify that these new fees are not subject to the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980, as amended, because they do not apply to small entities as defined by Section 601(3) of the Regulatory Flexibility Act. We further certify that the changes in the amounts of the other regulatory fees to be collected are not subject to the Act because they are relatively small and not likely to have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. Moreover, the Commission's policy is to waive the regulatory fee for licensees which can establish that payment of the regulatory fees would create a compelling case of financial hardship.

7. Description of Projected Reporting, Record Keeping and Other Compliance Requirements: Compliance with the fee schedule requires CMRS licensees to tabulate the number of units they have in service, complete and file a form FCC 159, and pay an annual regulatory fee based on the number of units in service. Licensees ordinarily will keep a list of the number of units they have in service as part of their normal business practices. No outside professional skills are required to complete the form FCC 159, and it can be completed by the employees responsible for an entity's business records. The Commission estimates that it will take each licensee about 5-15 minutes to fill in and file a form FCC 159 after computing the number of units subject to the fee. As an option, licensees are permitted to file electronically or on computer diskette to ease the burden of filing information which would require multiple forms FCC 159. Although not mandatory, the latter may require additional professional skills. For Cellular and Public Mobile Services licensees there is no change to these requirements. Licensees who paid small fees in advance supplied fee information as part of their application and did not use form FCC 159. When and if they convert to CMRS, they must use the form FCC 159, but the impact would be minimal since the basic information is the same as was on the application form.

8. Minimizing the Impact on Small Entities and Consistent with Stated Objectives: Although no comments were submitted on the IRFA, we have amended our procedures in a manner calculated to minimize the impact on small entities. The fee schedule will assess the fees to be paid by those who choose to convert from PMRS to CMRS in the future, and require that the fees be paid on an annual basis. These new CMRS licensees will also be required to make annual fee payments, since single advance payments would no longer be practicable because of fluctuations in the numbers of units a licensee may have in service over the length of its license term. Additionally, the economic burden of annual fee payments would be substantially less than would be the burden of requiring advance payment of larger fees. Moreover, the conversion is voluntary, and any licensee can avoid the burden by remaining a private carrier. In addition, because the conversion of existing stations will not take effect until August 10, 1996, licensees who have not converted will be exempt from the fee for FY 1996. Finally, in order to ease the burden on small entities, licensees with fee obligations of less than $10 will be exempt from the fees.

Appendix B

SOURCES OF PAYMENT UNIT ESTIMATES FOR FY 1996

In order to calculate individual service fees for FY 1996, we adjusted FY 1995 payment units for each service to more accurately reflect expected FY 1996 payment liabilities. We obtained our updated estimates through a variety of means. For example, we used Commission licensee data bases, actual prior year payment records and industry and trade association projections when available. We tried to obtain verification for these estimates from multiple sources and, in all cases, we compared FY 1996 estimates with actual FY 1995 payment units to ensure that our revised estimates were reasonable. Where it made sense, we adjusted and/or rounded our final estimates to take into consideration the fact that certain variables that impact on the number of payment units yet cannot be estimated exactly. These include an unknown number of waivers and/or exemptions that may occur in FY 1996 and the fact that, in many services, the number of actual licensees or station operators fluctuates from time to time due to economic, technical or other reasons. Therefore, when we note, for example, that our estimated FY 1996 payment units are based on FY 1995 actual payment units, it does not necessarily mean that our FY 1996 projection is exactly the same number as FY 1995. It means that we have either rounded the FY 1995 number or adjusted it slightly to account for these variables.

FEE CATEGORY	SOURCES OF PAYMENT UNIT ESTIMATES
Land Mobile (All), Microwave, IVDS, Marine (Ship & Coast), Aviation (Aircraft & Ground), GMRS, Amateur Vanity Call Signs, Domestic Public Fixed	Based on Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) projections of new applications and renewals taking into consideration existing Commission licensee data bases. Aviation (Aircraft) and Marine (Ship) estimates have been adjusted to take into consideration proposals to license portions of these services on a voluntary basis.
CMRS Mobile Services (incl. Cellular/Public Mobile Radio Services and Two Way Paging Services)	Based on actual FY 1995 payment units adjusted to take into consideration industry estimates of growth between FY 1995 and FY 1996 and Wireless Telecommunications Bureau projections of new applications and average number of mobile units associated with each application.
CMRS One Way Paging Services	Based on industry estimates of the number of pager units in operation.
AM/FM Radio Stations	Based on actual FY 1995 payment units.
UHF/VHF Television Stations	Based on actual FY 1995 payment units.
AM/FM/TV Construction Permits	Based on actual FY 1995 payment units.
LPTV, Translators and Boosters	Based on actual FY 1995 payment units.
Auxiliaries	Based on actual FY 1995 payment units.
MDS/MMDS	Based on actual FY 1995 payment units.
Cable Antenna Relay System (CARS)	Based on actual FY 1995 payment units.
Cable Television System Subscribers	Based on Cable Services Bureau and industry estimates of subscribership.
IXCs/LECs,CAPs, Other Service Providers	Based on actual FY 1995 interstate revenues associated with contributions to the Telecommunications Relay System (TRS) Fund adjusted to take into consideration FY 1996 revenue growth in this industry as estimated by the Common Carrier Bureau.
Earth Stations	Based on actual FY 1995 payment units.
Space Stations & LEOs	Based on International Bureau licensee data bases.
International Bearer Circuits	Based on actual FY 1995 payment units.
International HF Broadcast Stations, International Public Fixed Radio Service	Based on actual FY 1995 payment units.

Appendix C

FY 1996 Regulatory Fees-Calculation of Mandatory Adjustments

	FY 1996	(times) Adj.	(times)	(equals) Computed	Pro-Rated	Recalculated	Rounded	New FY 1996
Fee Category	Payment Units	FY 1995 Fee	Applicable Years	FY 1996 Revenue	Revenue**	Fee	Fee	Revenue
LM (220 MHz, >470 MHZ-Base, SMRS)	1,350	6	5	$40,500	45,125	7	7	47,250
Microwave	7,025	6	10	421,500	469,635	7	7	491,750
IVDS	10	6	5	300	334	7	7	350
Marine (Ship)	24,650	3	10	739,500	823,951	3	3	739,500
GMRS	1,025	3	5	15,375	17,131	3	3	15,375
LM (Other)	75,000	3	5	1,125,000	1,253,475	3	3	1,125,000
Aviation (Aircraft)	12,050	3	10	361,500	402,783	3	3	361,500
Marine (Coast)	1,800	3	5	27,000	30,083	3	3	27,000
Aviation (Ground)	1,700	3	5	25,500	28,412	3	3	25,500
Amateur Vanity Call Signs	20,000	3	10	600,000	668,520	3	3	600,000
AM Class A	110	1,120	1	123,200	137,269	1,248	1,250	137,500
AM Class B	1,350	620	1	837,000	932,585	691	690	931,500
AM Class C	1,080	250	1	270,000	300,834	279	280	302,400
AM Class D	1,450	310	1	449,500	500,833	345	345	500,250
AM Construction Permits	35	125	1	4,375	4,875	139	140	4,900
FM Classes C,C1,C2,B	2,220	1,120	1	2,486,400	2,770,347	1,248	1,250	2,775,000
FM Classes A,B1,C3	2,200	745	1	1,639,000	1,826,174	830	830	1,826,000
FM Construction Permits	350	620	1	217,000	241,781	691	690	241,500
TV Satellites	90	620	1	55,800	62,172	691	690	62,100
VHF Construction Permits	10	4,975	1	49,750	55,431	5,543	5,550	55,500
UHF Construction Permits	60	3,975	1	238,500	265,737	4,429	4,425	265,500
Auxilliaries	20,000	30	1	600,000	668,520	33	35	700,000
International HF Broadcast	4	250	1	1,000	1,114	279	280	1,120
LPTV/Translators/Boosters	2,000	170	1	340,000	378,828	189	190	380,000
Satellite TV Construction Permit	5	225	1	1,125	1,253	251	250	1,250
CARS	2,200	290	1	638,000	710,860	323	325	715,000
Cable Systems	62,000,000	0.49	1	30,380,000	33,849,396	0.55	0.55	34,100,000
IXC, LECs, CAPS, Others	56,467,000,000	0.00088	1	49,690,960	55,365,668	0.00098	0.00098	55,337,660
CMRS Mobile Services (Cellular/Public Mobile)	30,000,000	0.15	1	4,500,000	5,013,900	0.17	0.17	5,100,000
CMRS - One Way Paging	24,500,000	0.02	1	490,000	545,958	0.02	0.02	490,000
Domestic Public Fixed	16,000	140	1	2,240,000	2,495,808	156	155	2,480,000
MDS/MMDS	1,130	140	1	158,200	176,266	156	155	175,150
International Circuits	228,000	4	1	912,000	1,016,150	4	4	912,000
International Public Fixed	15	200	1	3,000	3,343	223	225	3,375
Earth Stations	5,700	330	1	1,881,000	2,095,810	368	370	2,109,000
Space Stations (Geosynchronous)	38	75,000	1	2,850,000	3,175,470	83,565	83,575	3,175,850
****** Total Estimated Revenue Collected				$104,411,985	$116,335,834			$116,215,780
****** Total Revenue Requirement				$116,340,000	$116,340,000			$116,340,000
Difference				($11,928,015)	($4,166)			($124,220)
** 1.1142 factor applied to other than TV
				1.114239903
	FY 1996	(times) Adj.	(times)	(equals) Computed			Rounded	New FY 1996
Television Stations	Payment Units	FY 1995 Fee	Applicable Years	FY 1996 Revenue			Fee	Revenue
VHF Markets 1-10	40	32,000	1	1,280,000			32,000	1,280,000
VHF Markets 11-25	45	26,000	1	1,170,000			26,000	1,170,000
VHF Markets 26-50	80	17,000	1	1,360,000			17,000	1,360,000
VHF Markets 51-100	110	9,000	1	990,000			9,000	990,000
VHF Remaining Markets	200	2,500	1	500,000			2,500	500,000
UHF Markets 1-10	65	25,000	1	1,625,000			25,000	1,625,000
UHF Markets 11-25	60	20,000	1	1,200,000			20,000	1,200,000
UHF Markets 26-50	65	13,000	1	845,000			13,000	845,000
UHF Markets 51-100	110	7,000	1	770,000			7,000	770,000
UHF Remaining Markets	160	2,000	1	320,000			2,000	320,000
****Total Estimated Revenue-Television (less Sat. TV)				$10,060,000				$10,060,000
Total Estimated Fee Revenue								$126,275,780
Total Revenue Requirement								$126,400,000
Difference								($124,220)

Appendix D

FY 1996 SCHEDULE OF REGULATORY FEES

Fee Category	Annual Regulatory Fee
Land Mobile (per license) (220-222 Mhz, above 470 Mhz, Base Station and SMRS) (47 CFR Part 90)	7
Microwave (per license) (47 CFR Part 101)	7
Interactive Video Data Service (per license) (47 CFR Part 95)	7
Marine (Ship) (per station) (47 CFR Part 80)	3
Marine (Coast) (per license) (47 CFR Part 80)	3
General Mobile Radio Service (per license) (47 CFR Part 95)	3
Land Mobile (per license) (all stations not covered above)	3
Aviation (Aircraft) (per station) (47 CFR Part 87)	3
Aviation (Ground) (per license) (47 CFR Part 87)	3
Amateur Vanity Call Signs (per call sign) (47 CFR Part 97)	3
CMRS Mobile Services (per unit) (47 CFR Parts 20, 22, 80 and 90)	.17
CMRS One-Way Paging (per unit) (47 CFR Parts 20, 22 and 90)	.02
Domestic Public Fixed Radio & Multipoint Distribution Services (per call sign) (47 CFR Part 21)	155
AM Radio (47 CFR Part 73)
Class A	1,250
Class B	690
Class C	280
Class D	345
Construction Permits	140
Fee Category	Annual Regulatory Fee
FM Radio (47 CFR Part 73)
Classes C, C1, C2, B	1,250
Classes A, B1, C3	830
Construction Permits	690
TV (47 CFR Part 73) VHF Commercial
Markets 1-10	32,000
Markets 11-25	26,000
Markets 26-50	17,000
Markets 51-100	9,000
Remaining Markets	2,500
Construction Permits	5,550
TV (47 CFR Part 73) UHF Commercial
Markets 1-10	25,000
Markets 11-25	20,000
Markets 26-50	13,000
Markets 51-100	7,000
Remaining Markets	2,000
Construction Permits	4,425
Satellite Television Stations (All Markets)	690
Construction Permits - Satellite Television Stations	250
Low Power TV, TV/FM Translators & Boosters (47 CFR Part 74)	190
Broadcast Auxiliary (47 CFR Part 74)	35
Cable Antenna Relay Service (47 CFR Part 78)	325
Cable Television Systems (per subscriber) (47 CFR Part 76)	.55
Interstate Telephone Service Providers (per revenue dollar)	.00098
Fee Category	Annual Regulatory Fee
Earth Stations (47 CFR Part 25)	370
Space Stations (per operational station in geosynchronous orbit) (47 CFR Part 25) also includes Direct Broadcast Satellite Service (per operational station) (47 CFR Part 100)	70,575
Low Earth Orbit Satellite (per operational system) (47 CFR Part 25)	97,725
INMARSAT/INTELSAT Signatory (per signatory)	233,425
International Circuits (per active 64KB circuit)	4
International Public Fixed (per call sign) (47 CFR Part 23)	225
International (HF) Broadcast (47 CFR Part 73)	280

Appendix E

COMPARISON BETWEEN FY 1995, FY 1996 PROPOSED AND FY 1996 FINAL REGULATORY FEES

Fee Category	Annual Regulatory Fee FY 1995	NPRM Proposed Fee FY 1996	Annual Regulatory Fee FY 1996
Land Mobile (per license) (220-222 Mhz, above 470 Mhz, Base Station and SMRS) (47 CFR Part 90)	6	6	7
Microwave (per license) (47 CFR Part 101)	6	6	7
Interactive Video Data Service (per license) (47 CFR Part 95)	6	6	7
Marine (Ship) (per station) (47 CFR Part 80)	3	3	3
Marine (Coast) (per license) (47 CFR Part 80)	3	3	3
General Mobile Radio Service (per license) (47 CFR Part 95)	3	3	3
Land Mobile (per license) (all stations not covered above)	3	3	3
Aviation (Aircraft) (per station) (47 CFR Part 87)	3	3	3
Aviation (Ground) (per license) (47 CFR Part 87)	3	3	3
Amateur Vanity Call Signs (per call sign) (47 CFR Part 97)	3	3	3
CMRS Mobile Services (per unit) (47 CFR Parts 20, 22, 80 and 90)	.15	.15	.17
CMRS One-Way Paging (per unit) (47 CFR Parts 20, 22, and 90)	.02	.02	.02
Domestic Public Fixed Radio & Multipoint Distribution Services (per call sign) (47 CFR Part 21)	140	140	155
AM Radio (47 CFR Part 73)
Class A	1,120	1,125	1,250
Class B	620	630	690
Class C	250	255	280
Class D	310	315	345
Fee Category	Annual Regulatory Fee FY 1995	NPRM Proposed Fee FY 1996	Annual Regulatory Fee FY 1996
Construction Permits	125	125	140
FM Radio (47 CFR Part 73)
Classes C, C1, C2, B	1,120	1,125	1,250
Classes A, B1, C3	745	755	830
Construction Permits	620	625	690
TV (47 CFR Part 73) VHF Commercial
Markets 1-10	22,420	22,700	32,000
Markets 11-25	19,925	20,175	26,000
Markets 26-50	14,950	15,125	17,000
Markets 51-100	9,975	10,100	9,000
Remaining Markets	6,225	6,300	2,500
Construction Permits	4,975	5,025	5,550
TV (47 CFR Part 73) UHF Commercial
Markets 1-10	17,925	18,150	25,000
Markets 11-25	15,950	16,150	20,000
Markets 26-50	11,950	12,100	13,000
Markets 51-100	7,975	8,075	7,000
Remaining Markets	4,975	5,025	2,000
Construction Permits	3,975	4,025	4,425
Satellite Television Stations (All Markets)	620	625	690
Construction Permits - Satellite Television Stations	225	230	250
Low Power TV, TV/FM Translators & Boosters (47 CFR Part 74)	170	170	190
Broadcast Auxiliary (47 CFR Part 74)	30	30	35
Cable Antenna Relay Service (47 CFR Part 78)	290	295	325
Earth Stations (47 CFR Part 25)	330	335	370
Fee Category	Annual Regulatory Fee FY 1995	NPRM Proposed Fee FY 1996	Annual Regulatory Fee FY 1996
Cable Television Systems (per subscriber) (47 CFR Part 76)	.49	.50	.55
Interstate Telephone Service Providers (per revenue dollar)	.00088	.00089	.00098
Space Stations (per operational station in geosynchronous orbit) (47 CFR Part 25) also includes Direct Broadcast Satellite Service (per operational station) ( 47 CFR Part 100)	75,000 n/a	63,500 63,500	70,575 70,575
Low Earth Orbit Satellite (per operational system) (47 CFR Part 25)	n/a	87,725	97,725
INMARSAT/INTELSAT Signatory (per signatory)	n/a	217,575	233,425
International Circuits (per active 64KB circuit)	4	4	4
International Public Fixed (per call sign) (47 CFR Part 23)	200	200	225
International (HF) Broadcast (47 CFR Part 73)	250	255	280

Appendix F

1. The guidelines below provide an explanation of regulatory fee categories established by the Schedule of Regulatory Fees in section 9 (g) of the Communications Act, 47 U.S.C. 159(g) as modified in the instant Report and Order. Where regulatory fee categories need interpretation or clarification, we have relied on the legislative history of section 9, our own experience in establishing and regulating the Schedule of Regulatory Fees for Fiscal Years (FY) 1994 and 1995 and the services subject to the fee schedule, and the comments of the parties in our proceeding to adopt fees for FY 1995. The categories and amounts set out in the schedule have been modified to reflect changes in the number of payment units, additions and changes in the services subject to the fee requirement and the benefits derived from the Commission's regulatory activities, and to simplify the structure of the schedule. The schedule may be similarly modified or adjusted in future years to reflect changes in the Commission's budget and in the services regulated by the Commission. See 47 U.S.C. 159(b)(2), (3).

2. Exemptions. Most licensees and other entities regulated by the Commission must pay regulatory fees in 1996. However, governments and nonprofit (exempt under Section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code) entities are exempt from paying regulatory fees and should not submit payment, but may be asked to submit a current IRS Determination Letter documenting its nonprofit status, a certification of governmental authority, or certification from a governmental entity attesting to its exempt status. The governmental exemption applies even where the government-owned or community-owned facility is in direct competition with commercial stations. Other specific exemptions are discussed below in association with a particular service category or group.

1. Private Wireless Radio Services

3. Two levels of statutory fees were established for the Private Wireless Radio Services -- exclusive use services and shared use services. Thus, licensees who generally receive a higher quality communication channel due to exclusive or lightly shared frequency assignments, will pay a higher fee than those who share marginal quality assignments. This dichotomy is consistent with the directive of section 9 that the regulatory fees reflect the benefits provided to the licensees. See 47 U.S.C. 159(b)(1)(A). In addition, because of the generally small amount of the fees assessed against Private Wireless Radio Service licensees, applicants for new licenses and reinstatements and for renewal of existing licenses are required to pay a regulatory fee covering the entire license term, with only a percentage of all licensees paying a regulatory fee in any one year. Applications for modification or assignment of existing authorizations do not require the payment of regulatory fees. The expiration date of those authorizations will reflect only the unexpired term of the underlying license rather than a new license term.

a. Exclusive Use Services

4. Land Mobile Services: Regulatees in this category include those authorized under Part 90 of the Commission's Rules to provide limited access Wireless Radio service that allows high quality voice or digital communications between vehicles or to fixed stations to further the business activities of the licensee. These services, using the 220-222 MHz band and frequencies at 470 MHz and above, may be offered on a private carrier basis in the Specialized Mobile Radio Services (SMRS).⁽²²⁾ For FY 1996, Land Mobile licensees will pay a $7 annual regulatory fee per license, payable for an entire five or ten year license term at the time of application for a new, renewal or reinstatement license.⁽²³⁾ The total regulatory fee due is either $35 for a license with a five year term or $70 for a license with a 10 year term.

5. Microwave Services: These services include private microwave systems and private carrier systems authorized under Part 101 of the Commission's Rules to provide telecommunications services between fixed points on a high quality channel of communications. Microwave systems are often used to relay data and to control railroad, pipeline and utility equipment. For FY 1996, Microwave licensees will pay a $7 annual regulatory fee per license, payable for an entire ten year license term at the time of application for a new, renewal or reinstatement license. The total regulatory fee due is $70 for the ten year license term.

6. Interactive Video Data Service (IVDS): The IVDS is a two-way point-to-multi-point radio service allocated high quality channels of communications and authorized under Part 95 of the Commission's Rules. The IVDS provides information, products and services, and also the capability to obtain responses from subscribers in a specific service area. The IVDS is offered on a private carrier basis. For FY 1996, IVDS licensees will pay a $7 annual regulatory fee per license, payable for an entire five year license term at the time of application for a new, renewal, or reinstatement license. The total regulatory fee due is $35 for the five year term of the license.

b. Shared Use Services

7. Marine (Ship) Service: This service is a shipboard radio service authorized under Part 80 of the Commission's Rules to provide telecommunications between watercraft or between watercraft and shore-based stations. Radio installations are required by domestic and international law for large passenger or cargo vessels. Radio equipment may be voluntarily installed on smaller vessels, such as recreational boats. The recently enacted Telecommunications Act of 1996 gave the Commission the authority to license certain ship stations by rule rather than by individual license. Private boat operators sailing entirely within domestic U.S. waters and who are not otherwise required by treaty or agreement to carry a radio, may no longer be required to hold a marine license if the Commission enacts rules to that effect, and they will not be required to pay a regulatory fee. For FY 1996, parties required to be licensed and those choosing to be licensed for Marine (Ship) Stations will pay a $3 annual regulatory fee per station, payable for an entire ten year license term at the time of application for a new, renewal or reinstatement license. The total regulatory fee due is $30 for the ten year license term.

8. Marine (Coast) Service: This service includes land-based stations in the maritime services, authorized under Part 80 of the Commission's Rules, to provide communications services to ships and other watercraft in coastal and inland waterways. For FY 1996, licensees of Marine (Coast) Stations will pay a $3 annual regulatory fee per call sign, payable for the entire five year license term at the time of application for a new, renewal or reinstatement license. The total regulatory fee due is $15 per call sign for the five year license term.

9. Private Land Mobile (Other) Services: These services include Land Mobile Radio Services operating under Parts 90 and 95 of the Commission's Rules. Services in this category provide one or two way communications between vehicles, persons or to fixed stations on a shared basis and include radiolocation services, industrial radio services and land transportation radio services. For FY 1996, licensees of services in this category will pay a $3 annual regulatory fee per call sign, payable for an entire five year license term at the time of application for a new, renewal or reinstatement license. The total regulatory fee due is $15 for the five year license term.

10. Aviation (Aircraft) Service: These services include stations authorized to provide communications between aircraft and from aircraft to ground stations and includes frequencies used to communicate with air traffic control facilities pursuant to Part 87 of the Commission's Rules. The recently enacted Telecommunications Act of 1996 gave the Commission the authority to license certain aircraft radio stations by rule rather than by individual license. Private aircraft operators flying entirely within domestic U.S. airspace and who are not otherwise required by treaty or agreement to carry a radio, may no longer be required to hold an aircraft license if the Commission enacts rules to that effect, and they will not be required to pay a regulatory fee. For FY 1996, parties required to be licensed and those choosing to be licensed for Aviation (Aircraft) Stations will pay a $3 annual regulatory fee per station, payable for the entire ten year license term at the time of application for a new, renewal or reinstatement license. The total regulatory fee due is $30 per station for the ten year license term.

11. Aviation (Ground) Service: This service includes stations authorized to provide ground-based communications to aircraft for weather or landing information, or for logistical support pursuant to Part 87 of the Commission's Rules. Certain ground-based stations which only serve itinerant traffic; i.e., possess no actual units on which to assess a fee, are exempt from payment of regulatory fees. For FY 1996, licensees of Aviation (Ground) Stations will pay a $3 annual regulatory fee per license, payable for the entire five year license term at the time of application for a new, renewal or reinstatement license. The total regulatory fee is $15 per call sign for the five year license term.

12. General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS): These services include Land Mobile Radio licensees providing personal and limited business communications between vehicles or to fixed stations for short-range, two-way communications pursuant to Part 95 of the Commission's Rules. For FY 1996, GMRS licensees will pay a $3 annual regulatory fee per license, payable for an entire five year license term at the time of application for a new, renewal or reinstatement license. The total regulatory fee due is $15 per license for the five year license term.

c. Amateur Radio Vanity Call Signs

13. Amateur Vanity Call Signs: This fee covers voluntary requests for specific call signs in the Amateur Radio Service authorized under part 97 of the Commission's Rules. For FY 1996, applicants for Amateur Vanity Call-Signs will pay a $3 annual regulatory fee per call sign, payable for an entire ten year license term at the time of application for a vanity call sign. The total regulatory fee due would be $30 per license for the ten year license term.⁽²⁴⁾

d. Commercial Wireless Radio Services

14. Commercial Mobile Radio Services (CMRS) Mobile Services: The Commercial Mobile Radio Service (CMRS) is a new "umbrella" descriptive term attributed to various existing services authorized to provide interconnected mobile radio services for profit to the public, or to such classes of eligible users as to be effectively available to a substantial portion of the public. CMRS Mobile Services include certain licensees which formerly were licensed as part of the Private Radio Services (e.g., Specialized Mobile Radio Services) and others formerly licensed as part of the Common Carrier Radio Services (e.g., Public Mobile Services and Cellular Radio Service). While specific rules pertaining to each covered service remain in separate Parts 22, 80 and 90; general rules for CMRS are contained in Part 20. We have replaced the Public Mobile/Cellular Radio regulatory fee category with a CMRS Mobile Services category for regulatory fee collection purposes. CMRS Mobile Services will include: qualifying Business Radio Services, 220-222 MHz Land Mobile Systems, Specialized Mobile Radio Services (Part 90);⁽²⁵⁾ Public Coast Stations (Part 80); Public Mobile Radio, Cellular, 800 MHz Air-Ground Radiotelephone, and Offshore Radio Services (Part 22). Licensees who have not elected to convert from private to commercial operations will be exempt from payment of the annual CMRS Mobile Services fee for FY 1996. Existing commercial licensees and those who converted prior to December 31, 1995, must pay the annual CMRS Mobile Services fee for FY 1996. Each licensee in this group will pay an annual regulatory fee for each mobile or cellular unit (mobile or cellular call sign or telephone number), including two-way paging units, assigned to its customers, including resellers of its services. For FY 1996, the regulatory fee is $.17 per unit.

15. Personal Communications Service (PCS): For FY 1996, the Personal Communications Service (PCS) covered by Part 24 of the rules is exempt from payment of regulatory fees.

16. Commercial Mobile Radio Services (CMRS) One-Way Paging Services: The Commercial Mobile Radio Service (CMRS) is a new "umbrella" descriptive term attributed to various existing services authorized to provide interconnected mobile radio services for profit to the public, or to such classes of eligible users as to be effectively available to a substantial portion of the public. CMRS One-Way Paging Services include certain licensees which formerly were licensed as part of the Private Radio Services (e.g., Private Paging) and others formerly licensed as part of the Common Carrier Radio Services (e.g., Public Mobile One-Way Paging). While specific rules pertaining to each covered service remain in separate Parts 22 and 90; general rules for CMRS are contained in Part 20. We have replaced the Public Mobile One-Way Paging regulatory fee category with a CMRS One-Way Paging Services category for regulatory fee collection purposes. Licensees who have not elected to convert from private to commercial operations will be exempt from payment of the annual CMRS One-Way Paging Services fee for FY 1996. Existing commercial licensees and th