Single Network Future: Supplemental Coverage From Space; Space Innovation, 95136-95138 [2024-28172]

Agencies

• FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 231 (Monday, December 2, 2024)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 95136-95138]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-28172]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

47 CFR Part 1

[GN Docket No. 23-65, IB Docket No. 22-271, FCC 24-28; FR ID 264974]


Single Network Future: Supplemental Coverage From Space; Space 
Innovation

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Final rule; announcement of effective date.

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SUMMARY: In this document, the Federal Communications Commission 
(Commission) announces that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
has approved, for a period of three years, information collections 
associated with certain rules adopted in the 2024 Single Network 
Future: Supplemental Coverage from Space; Space Innovation Report and 
Order and Further Notice of

[[Page 95137]]

Proposed Rulemaking (Report and Order), FCC 24-28. The Commission also 
announces the effective date for these rules.

DATES: The amendments to 47 CFR 1.9047(d)(2), published at 89 FR 34148 
on April 30, 2024, are effective on December 5, 2024.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information, please 
contact Christine Parola, Attorney Advisor, Mobility Division, Wireless 
Telecommunications Bureau at (202) 418-7851 or 
[email protected]. For additional information concerning the 
Paperwork Reduction Act information collection requirements, contact 
Cathy Williams at (202) 418-2918.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This document announces that OMB approved, 
for a period of three years, the information collection requirements in 
47 CFR 1.9047(d)(2) on October 30, 2024.
    To request materials in accessible formats for people with 
disabilities (Braille, large print, electronic files, audio format), 
send an email to [email protected] or call the Consumer and Governmental 
Affairs Bureau at (202) 418-0530 (voice).

Synopsis

    As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 
3507), the FCC is notifying the public that it received OMB approval on 
October 30, 2024, for the information collection requirements contained 
in the Commission's rules at 47 CFR 1.9047(d)(2) under OMB control 
number 3060-1058.
    Under 5 CFR part 1320, an agency may not conduct or sponsor a 
collection of information unless it displays a current, valid OMB 
Control Number.
    No person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply 
with a collection of information subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act 
that does not display a current, valid OMB Control Number.
    The foregoing notice is required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995, Public Law 104-13, October 1, 1995, and 44 U.S.C. 3507.
    The total annual reporting burdens and costs for the respondents 
are as follows:
    OMB Control Number: 3060-1058.
    OMB Approval Date: October 30, 2024.
    OMB Expiration Date: October 31, 2027.
    Title: FCC Application or Notification for Spectrum Leasing 
Arrangement or Private Commons Arrangement: WTB and PSHS Bureaus.
    Form Number: FCC Form 608.
    Respondents: Individual and households; Businesses or other for-
profit entities; State, local, or tribal government, and Not for profit 
institutions.
    Number of Respondents: 1,697 respondents; 1,697 responses.
    Estimated Time per Response: 0.05 hours-3 hours.
    Frequency of Response: Recordkeeping requirement, third party 
disclosure requirement, on occasion reporting requirement, one-time 
reporting requirement and periodic reporting requirement.
    Obligation to Respond: Required to obtain or retain benefits. 
Statutory authority for this information collection is contained in 47 
U.S.C. 1, 4(i), 157, 301, 303, 307, 308, 309, and 310 of the 
Communications Act of 1934, as amended.
    Total Annual Burden: 2,878 hours.
    Total Annual Cost: $1,763,375.
    Needs and Uses: FCC Form 608 is a multi-purpose form. It is used to 
provide notification or request approval for any spectrum leasing 
arrangement (``Lease'') entered into between an existing licensee in 
certain Wireless and/or Public Safety Radio Services and a spectrum 
lessee. This form also is required to notify or request approval for 
any spectrum subleasing arrangement (``Sublease''). The data collected 
on the form is used by the FCC to determine whether the public interest 
would be served by the Lease or Sublease. The form is also used to 
provide notification for any Private Commons Arrangement entered into 
between a licensee, lessee, or sublessee and a class of third-party 
users (as defined in section 1.9080 of the Commission's Rules).
    The Commission is revising this form to collect information in 
order to confirm that satellite service operators and terrestrial 
service providers who seek to enter lease agreements in order to offer 
supplemental coverage from space (SCS) do so in compliance with the 
rules that govern SCS operations. On March 15, 2024, the Commission 
released the Report and Order, which adds new Sec.  1.9047(d)(2) to the 
Commission's rules requiring the spectrum lessee or sublessee seeking 
to engage in spectrum leasing under this section to provide certain 
information within the Commission Form 608 when seeking a leasing 
agreement to provide SCS. Applicants will file Form 608 into the 
Commission's Universal Licensing System (ULS) database.
    The Commission anticipates that SCS will enable consumers in areas 
not covered by terrestrial networks to be connected using their 
existing devices via satellite-based communications. SCS is a crucial 
component of the Commission's vision for a ``single network future,'' 
in which satellite and terrestrial networks work seamlessly together to 
provide coverage that neither network can achieve on its own. In order 
to ensure that prospective SCS operators will be able to comply with 
the applicable rules, that the public interest will be served by 
granting their applications, and that harmful interference will be 
avoided to the greatest extent possible thereafter, the Commission 
seeks to collect the following information from prospective SCS 
spectrum lessees.
    The Commission has adopted new requirements in its part 1 rules 
that obligate lessees to provide the following on FCC Form 608: a 
certification that they are entering a leasing agreement in order to 
provide SCS; a description of the type of permitted arrangement the 
parties will enter (e.g., is there a single terrestrial licensee or 
multiple terrestrial licensees that together hold the required 
licenses); and, if there are multiple terrestrial licensees, a further 
description of the leasing arrangement and explanation of how those 
licensees together hold all of the relevant licenses in a particular 
geographically independent area (GIA). Entities completing FCC Form 608 
for the purposes of providing SCS must also indicate that the 
application is for SCS by checking a box on Form 608.
    This information collection is designed to allow Commission staff 
to carry out its statutory duties to regulate satellite communications 
in the public interest; namely, to ensure that prospective providers of 
SCS will operate in compliance with the applicable regulatory 
framework. This process utilizes an existing Commission form, which 
will remove confusion by employing the procedures that are already in 
place. The modifications for Form 608 covered herein will enable the 
Commission to more accurately track filings related to the provision of 
SCS, a critical component of application review given the interplay 
between part 1 lease filings and part 25 license applications inherent 
in the SCS framework. This is especially crucial where multiple 
entities together hold all co-channel licenses in a particular band 
throughout a geographically independent area (GIA) and wish to deploy a 
leasing agreement with a satellite operator to provide SCS. Such 
arrangements are only permitted in the circumstances described in Sec.  
1.9047(d)(1)(ii)(A) through (B); specifically, the Commission must be

[[Page 95138]]

able to confirm that the multiple licensees in fact cover the entirety 
of the GIA in question and that, when reviewing related part 25 license 
applications, the entire area of the proposed service is covered by the 
associated leases. This collection will thereby enable the Commission 
to monitor and enforce the entry criteria that SCS providers must 
satisfy, and which are designed to minimize the possibility of harmful 
interference. Finally, the collection will play a critical role in the 
Commission's effort to review and track leasing arrangements that will 
result in entities providing SCS.

Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene Dortch,
Secretary, Office of the Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2024-28172 Filed 11-29-24; 8:45 am]
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