Distribution Services have been defined within the broad economic census category of Wired
Telecommunications Carriers; that category is defined as follows: "This industry comprises
establishments primarily engaged in operating and/or providing access to transmission facilities and
infrastructure that they own and/or lease for the transmission of voice, data, text, sound, and video using
wired telecommunications networks. Transmission facilities may be based on a single technology or a
combination of technologies."8" For these services, the Commission uses the SBA small business size
standard for the category "Wireless Telecommunications Carriers (except satellite)," which is 1,500 or
fewer employees."9 To gauge small business prevalence for these cable services we must, however, use
the most current census data. Census data for 2007 show that there were 1,383 firms that operated that
year." Of those 1,383, 1,368 had fewer than 100 employees, and 15 firms had more than 100 employees.
Thus under this category and the associated small business size standard, the majority of firms can be
considered small.
27.    Government Transfer Bands. The Commission adopted small business size standards for
the unpaired 1390-1392 MHz, 1670-1675 MHz, and the paired 1392-1395 MHz and 1432-1435 MHz
bands.9' Specifically, with respect to these bands, the Commission defined an entity with average annual
gross revenues for the three preceding years not exceeding $40 million as a "small business," and an
entity with average annual gross revenues for the three preceding years not exceeding $15 million as a
"very small business."92 SBA has approved these small business size standards for the aforementioned
bands.93 Correspondingly, the Commission adopted a bidding credit of 15 percent for "small businesses"
and a bidding credit of 25 percent for "very small businesses."4 This bidding credit structure was found
to have been consistent with the Commission's schedule of bidding credits, which may be found at
88 U.S. Census Bureau, 2007 NAICS Definitions, "517110 Wired Telecommunications Carriers," (partial
definition), www.census.gov/naics/2007/def/ND517110.HTM#N517110.
89 13 C.F.R.  121.201, NAICS code 517210.
9 U.S. Census Bureau, 2007 Economic Census, Sector 51, 2007 NAICS code 517210 (rel. Oct. 20, 2009),
http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/IBQTable?bm=y&-geo id=&-fds_name=ECO700Al &-_skip=700&-
ds_name=EC0751 SSSZS&-_lang=en.
91 See Amendments to Parts 1, 2, 27 and 90 of the Commission's Rules to License Services in the 216-220 MHz,
1390-1395 MHz, 1427-1429 MHz, 1429-1432 MHz, 1432-1435 MHz, 1670-1675 MHz, and 2385-2390 MHz
Government Transfer Bands, 17 FCC Rcd 9980 (2002) (Government Transfer Bands Service Rules Report and
Order).
92 See Reallocation of the 216-220 MHz, 1390-1395 MHz, 1427-1429 MHz, 1429-1432 MHz, 1432-1435 MHz,
1670-1675 MHz, and 2385-2390 MHz Government Transfer Bands, WT Docket No. 02-8, Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking. 17 FCC Rcd 2500, 2550-51    144-146 (2002). To be consistent with the size standard of"very small
business" proposed for the 1427-1432 MHz band for those entities with average gross revenues for the three
preceding years not exceeding $3 million, the Service Rules Notice proposed to use the terms "entrepreneur" and
"small business" to define entities with average gross revenues for the three preceding years not exceeding $40
million and $15 million, respectively. Because the Commission did not adopt small business size standards for the
1427-1432 MHz band, it instead uses the terms "small business" and "very small business" to define entities with
average gross revenues for the three preceding years not exceeding $40 million and $15 million, respectively.
93 See Letter from Hector V. Barreto, Administrator, Small Business Administration, to Margaret W. Wiener, Chief,
Auctions and Industry Analysis Division, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, Federal Communications
Commission, dated Jan. 18, 2002.
4 Such bidding credits are codified for the unpaired 1390-1392 MHz, paired 1392-1395 MHz, and the paired 1432-
1435 MHz bands in 47 C.F.R.  27.807. Such bidding credits are codified for the unpaired 1670-1675 Milz band in
47 C.F.R.  27.906.

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Federal Communications Commission

DA 12-550