FCC Regulatory Fee Item Sets New Undersea Cable Tiers, Proposes $322 Million for FY 2018
An FCC regulatory fee item set new undersea cable tiers and proposed $322 million in industry payments for FY 2018. "We adopt new tiers for assessing regulatory fees for submarine cable systems," said an order and NPRM Tuesday in docket…
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18-175 Tuesday. The order creates a sliding scale of five tiers for undersea systems, with those having capacity equal to or greater than 4,000 Gbps paying "16 payment units," down to systems with capacity less than 50 Gbps paying 1 payment unit. "We also decline to adopt a new regulatory fee for international [Communications Act] section 214 authorizations and we retain the optional bulk rate calculation for determining the number of subscribers in multiple dwelling units used in the calculation of cable fees," the order said. The NPRM seeks comment on regulatory fees for FY 2018, including an incremental increase in the DBS fee rate. "We also seek comment on a new methodology for broadcast television regulatory fees for FY 2019, and a tiered rate structure for international bearer circuit fees," the item said. "The Commission previously sought comment on a proposal for tiers in the Further [NPRM] attached to the FY 2017 Report and Order, and we seek additional comment on this issue." Comments are due June 21, replies July 6.