Rule2025-14506
Revising Spectrum Sharing Rules for Non-Geostationary Orbit, Fixed-Satellite Service Systems
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
July 31, 2025
Effective
July 31, 2025
Issuing agencies
Federal Communications Commission
Abstract
In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) announces that the Office of Management and Budget has approved new information collection requirements under OMB Control Number 3060-0678, as adopted in the Commission's Report and Order, FCC 23-29, and revised in the Commission's Second Report and Order, FCC 24- 117.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 145 (Thursday, July 31, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 145 (Thursday, July 31, 2025)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 35990-35991]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-14506]
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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
47 CFR Part 25
[IB Docket No. 21-456; FCC 23-29 and FCC 24-117; FR ID 306277]
Revising Spectrum Sharing Rules for Non-Geostationary Orbit,
Fixed-Satellite Service Systems
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 has
approved new information collection requirements under OMB Control
Number 3060-0678, as adopted in the Commission's Report and Order, FCC
23-29, and revised in the Commission's Second Report and Order, FCC 24-
117.
DATES: Amendatory instruction 3 (47 CFR 25.261), published at 90 FR
7651 on January 22, 2025, is effective July 31, 2025.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cathy Williams, Office of the Managing
Director, Federal Communications Commission, at (202) 418-2918 or
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#7d3e1c091504532a141111141c100e3d1b1e1e531a120b"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="145775607c6d3a437d78787d757967547277773a737b62">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This document announces that the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) approved the information collection
requirements in 47 CFR 25.261 on July 17, 2025. The Commission
publishes this document as an announcement of the effective date for
this amended rule.
Synopsis
As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C.
3507), the Commission is notifying the public that it received final
OMB approval on July 17, 2025, for the information collection
requirements contained in 47 CFR 25.261. 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 OMB
Control Number for the information collection that includes the
requirements in 47 CFR 25.261 is 3060-0678.
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: 3060-0678.
Title: Part 25 of the Federal Communications Commission's Rules
Governing the Licensing of, and Spectrum Usage by, Commercial Earth
Stations and Space Stations.
OMB Approval Date: July 17, 2025.
OMB Expiration Date: July 31, 2028.
Form Numbers: FCC Form 312, FCC Form 312-EZ, FCC Form 312-R and
Schedules A, B and S.
Respondents: Business or other for-profit entities and not-for-
profit institutions.
Number of Respondents and Responses: 3,539 respondents; 3,591
responses.
Estimated Hours per Response: 0.5-80 hours per response.
Frequency of Response: On occasion, one time, and annual reporting
requirements; third-party disclosure requirements; recordkeeping
requirement.
Total Annual Burden: 27,748 hours.
Total Annual Cost: $4,154,267.
Obligation to Respond: Required to obtain or retain benefits. The
Commission has statutory authority for the information collection
requirements under 47 U.S.C. 154, 301, 302, 303, 307, 309, 310, 319,
332, 605, and 721.
Needs and Uses: On April 21, 2023, the Commission released a Report
and Order, FCC 23-29, IB Docket No. 21-456, titled ``Revising Spectrum
Sharing Rules for Non-Geostationary Orbit, Fixed-Satellite Service
Systems.'' In this Report and Ordrghrer, the Commission revised its
rules governing spectrum sharing among a new generation of broadband
satellite constellations to promote market entry, regulatory certainty,
and spectrum efficiency through good-faith coordination. As relevant to
this information collection, the Commission adopted rules clarifying
protection obligations between non-geostationary satellite orbit,
fixed-satellite service (NGSO FSS) systems authorized through different
processing rounds by using a degraded throughput methodology.
Specifically, the Commission required that, prior to commencing
operations, an NGSO FSS licensee or market access recipient must either
certify that it has completed a coordination agreement with any
operational NGSO FSS system licensed or granted U.S. market access in
an earlier processing round, or submit for Commission approval a
compatibility showing which demonstrates by use of a degraded
throughput methodology that it will not cause harmful interference to
any such system with which coordination has not been completed. If an
earlier-round system becomes operational after a later-round system has
commenced operations, the later-round licensee or market access
recipient must submit a certification of coordination or a
compatibility showing with respect to the earlier-round system no later
than 60 days after the earlier-round system commences operations.
Further, on November 15, 2024, the Commission released a Second
Report and Order in the same rulemaking proceeding, FCC 24-117, IB
Docket No. 21-456, titled ``Revising Spectrum Sharing Rules for Non-
Geostationary Orbit, Fixed-Satellite Service Systems.'' In this Second
Report and Order, the Commission revised the NGSO FSS sharing rules to
clarify certain details of
[[Page 35991]]
the degraded throughput methodology that, in the absence of a
coordination agreement, must be used in compatibility analyses by NGSO
FSS system grantees authorized through later processing rounds to show
they can operate compatibly with, and protect, NGSO FSS systems
authorized through earlier processing rounds. The Commission adopted a
3% time-weighted average throughput degradation as a long-term
interference protection criterion and a 0.4% absolute increase in link
unavailability as a short-term interference protection criterion.
The relevant rule for purposes of this revised information
collection is 47 CFR 25.261(d).
The new information collection requirements in this collection are
needed to determine the technical qualifications of licensees and
market access grantees to operate an NGSO FSS space station and to
determine whether operations under an NGSO FSS authorization serve the
public interest, convenience and necessity. Without such information,
the Commission could not determine whether to permit respondents to
provide communications services in the United States because it could
not assure that incumbent NGSO FSS licensees and market access grantees
are adequately protected from radiofrequency interference that could be
caused by NGSO FSS satellite systems authorized through a later
processing round. Therefore, the Commission would not be able to
fulfill its statutory responsibilities in accordance with the
Communications Act of 1934, as amended, and the obligations imposed on
parties to the World Trade Organization Basic Telecommunications
Agreement.
Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene Dortch,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2025-14506 Filed 7-30-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P
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