On June 9, 2025, the FCC released a Third Report and Order outlining the methodology for the assessment and collection of space and earth station regulatory fees for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025.
As applied to earth station fees, the FCC adopts the following:
- Fee Assessment on Authorized Stations:
- Regulatory fees will be assessed when earth stations are authorized (i.e., licensed), rather than when they become operational.
- The FCC rejected proposals to exempt pre-operational or non-revenue-generating earth stations, affirming that licensing itself confers regulatory benefits and requires FCC resources that justify fee assessment.
- No New Subcategories for Earth Stations:
- The FCC declined to create new subcategories of earth station regulatory fees for FY 2025.
- Blanket-Licensed Earth Stations:
- The FCC declined to establish a separate fee category for blanket-licensed earth stations, finding that, based on the record, it could not reasonably allocate the FTE burden attributable to blanket-licensed stations compared to non-blanket-licensed stations. The FCC may revisit the issue in the future if a more complete record is developed.
- Receive-Only Earth Stations:
- The FCC declined to assess regulatory fees on registered receive-only earth stations, which are currently not subject to fees.
- Fee Application Date:
- The amendments adopted in this Order will be effective for FY 2025 (which appears to have more of an impact on space stations rather than earth stations).
- Regulatory fees for FY 2025 will continue to apply to all earth stations authorized as of October 1, 2024. The FCC declined to implement pro-rated or mid-year assessments, citing administrative complexity.
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