It is the BLM's objective to authorize and administer communications uses under Title V of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 and the regulations in this part to qualified individuals or business or governmental entities and to direct and control communications uses on public lands in a manner that:
(a) Protects the natural resources associated with public lands and adjacent lands, whether private or administered by a governmental entity;
(b) Facilitates the orderly development of communications uses on BLM-administered lands and provides for a safe and high-quality communications environment for the public;
(c) Prevents unnecessary or undue degradation to public lands;
(d) Collects fair market value for communications uses that occupy BLM-administered lands through the collection of annual rental fees;
(e) Promotes the expansion of communications uses in rural America and use of rights-of-way in common wherever practical, considering engineering and technological compatibility, national security, and land use plans; and
(f) Coordinates, to the fullest extent possible, all BLM actions under the regulations in this part with State and local governments, Tribes, interested individuals, and appropriate quasi-public entities.
In addition to the acronyms and terms listed in this section, the acronyms and terms listed in part 2800 of this chapter apply to this part. As used in this part:
RMA means the Ranally Metro Area Population Ranking as published in the most recent edition of the Rand McNally Commercial Atlas and Marketing Guide.
Annual inventory certification means a report that the holder of a grant submits to the BLM each year to report the uses within or on their facilities (see § 2866.31(c)).
Base rent means the dollar amount required from an authorization holder on BLM managed lands based on the communications uses with the highest value in the associated facility or facilities, as calculated according to the communications uses rent schedule. If a facility manager's or facility owner's scheduled rent is equal to the highest rent charged a tenant in the facility or facilities, then the facility manager's or facility owner's use determines the dollar amount of the base rent. Otherwise, the facility owner's, facility manager's, customer's, or tenant's use with the highest value, and which is not otherwise excluded from rent, determines the base rent.
Communications facility has the same meaning as facility under § 2801.5(b) of this chapter. Communications site means an area of public land designated for wireless communications uses that may be limited to a single communications facility, but most often encompasses more than one, and is identified by name, usually featuring a local prominent landmark.
Communications site management plans means implementation-level plans that provide direction to the users for the day-to-day operations of the communications site. Communications uses means any uses associated with the transmission of data, voice, or video, or any other transmission or reception uses authorized by 43 U.S.C. 1761(a)(5). Communications uses may occur in or on a communications facility or a linear facility, such as a telephone line or fiber optic cable line.
Communications uses rent schedule is a schedule of rents for the following types of communications uses, including related technologies, located in a facility associated with a particular grant. All use categories include ancillary communications equipment, such as internal microwave or internal one- or two-way radio, that are directly related to operating, maintaining, and monitoring the primary uses listed below. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) may or may not license the primary uses. The type of use and community served, identified on an FCC license, if one has been issued, do not supersede either the definitions in this subpart or the procedures in § 2866.30 for calculating rent for communications facilities and uses located on public land:
(i) Television broadcast means a use that broadcasts UHF and VHF audio and video signals for general public reception. This category does not include low-power television (LPTV) or rebroadcast devices, such as translators, or transmitting devices, such as microwave relays serving broadcast translators;
(ii) AM and FM radio broadcast means a use that broadcasts amplitude modulation (AM) or frequency modulation (FM) audio signals for general public reception. This category does not include low-power FM radio; rebroadcast devices, such as translators; or boosters or microwave relays serving broadcast translators;
(iii) Cable television means a use that transmits video programming to multiple subscribers in a community over a wired or wireless network. This category does not include rebroadcast devices that retransmit television signals of one or more television broadcast stations, or personal or internal antenna systems, such as private systems serving hotels and residences;
(iv) Broadcast translator, low-power television, and low-power FM radio means a use of translators, LPTV, or low-power FM radio (LPFM). Translators receive a television or FM radio broadcast signal and rebroadcast it on a different channel or frequency for local reception. In some cases, the translator relays the true signal to an amplifier or another translator. LPTV and LPFM are broadcast translators that originate programming. This category also includes translators associated with public telecommunication services;
(v) Commercial mobile radio service (CMRS) means commercial mobile radio uses that provide mobile communication service to individual customers. Examples of CMRS include: Community repeaters, trunked radio (specialized mobile radio), two-way radio voice dispatch, public switched network (telephone/data) interconnect service, microwave communications link equipment, and other two-way voice and paging services;
(vi) Facility managers are grant holders that lease building, tower, and related facility space to a variety of tenants and customers as part of the holder's business enterprise, but do not own or operate communication equipment in the facility for their own uses;
(vii) Cellular telephone means a system of mobile or fixed communication devices that uses a combination of radio and telephone switching technology and provides public switched network services to fixed or mobile users, or both, within a defined geographic area. The system consists of one or more cell sites containing transmitting and receiving antennas, cellular base station radio, telephone equipment, or microwave communications link equipment. Examples include: Personal Communication Service, Enhanced Specialized Mobile Radio, Improved Mobile Telephone Service, Air-to-Ground, Offshore Radio Telephone Service, Cell Site Extenders, and Local Multipoint Distribution Service;
(viii) Private mobile radio service (PMRS) means uses supporting private mobile radio systems primarily for a single entity for mobile internal communications. PMRS service is not sold and is exclusively limited to the user in support of business, community activities, or other organizational communication needs. Examples include: Private local radio dispatch, private paging services, and ancillary microwave communications equipment for controlling mobile facilities;
(ix) Microwave means communications uses that:
(A) Provide long-line intrastate and interstate public telephone, television, and data transmissions; or
(B) Support the primary business of pipeline and power companies, railroads, land resource management companies, or wireless internet service provider (ISP) companies;
(x) Internet service provider (ISP) refers to a holder who utilizes wireless technology to connect subscribers to the internet;
(xi) Passive reflector means various types of non-powered reflector devices used to bend or ricochet electronic signals between active relay stations or between an active relay station and a terminal. A passive reflector commonly serves a microwave communication system. The reflector requires point-to-point line-of-sight with the connecting relay stations, but does not require electric power;
(xii) Local exchange network means radio service that provides basic telephone service, primarily to rural communities; and
(xiii) Other communications uses means private communications uses, such as amateur radio, personal/private receive-only antennas, natural resource and environmental monitoring equipment, and other small, low-power devices used to monitor or control remote activities.
Customer means an occupant who is paying a facility manager, facility owner, or tenant for using all or any part of the space in the facility, or for communication services, and is not selling communication services or broadcasting to others. The BLM considers persons or entities benefitting from private or internal communications uses located in a holder's facility as customers for purposes of calculating rent. Customer uses are not included in calculating the amount of rent owed by a facility owner, facility manager, or tenant, except as noted in §§ 2806.34(b)(4) of this chapter and 2866.42. Examples of customers include: Users of PMRS, users in the microwave category when the microwave use is limited to internal communications, and all users in the category of “Other communications uses” (see paragraph (xiii) of the definition of communications uses rent schedule in this section).
Duly filed application means an application which includes all the elements required by § 2864.25.
Facility means an improvement or structure, whether existing or planned, that is or would be owned and controlled by the authorization holder. For purposes of communications site rights-of-way, facility means the building, tower, cabinet, and related incidental structures or improvements authorized under the terms of the authorization.
Facility manager means a person or entity that leases space in a facility to communications users and:
(i) Holds a communication use grant;
(ii) Owns a communications facility on lands covered by that grant; and
(iii) Does not own or operate communications equipment in the facility for personal or commercial purposes.
Facility owner means a person or entity that may or may not lease space in a facility to communications users and:
(i) Holds a communications uses grant;
(ii) Owns a communications facility on lands covered by that grant; and
(iii) Owns and operates their own communications equipment in the facility for personal, Federal, or commercial purposes.
Grant means an authorization or instrument (e.g., lease) the BLM issues under Title V of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, 43 U.S.C. 1761 et seq., and those authorizations and instruments the BLM and its predecessors issued for like purposes before October 21, 1976, under then existing statutory authority.
Occupant means an entity who uses any portion of a facility owned by a grant holder.
Site means an area, such as a mountaintop, where a holder locates one or more communication or other right-of-way facilities.
Tenant means an occupant who is paying a facility manager, facility owner, or other entity for occupying and using all or any part of a facility. A tenant operates communication equipment in the facility for profit by broadcasting to others or selling communication services. For purposes of calculating the amount of rent that the BLM charges, a tenant's use does not include:
(i) Private mobile radio or internal microwave use that is not being sold; or
(ii) A use in the category of “Other Communications Uses” (see paragraph (xiii) of the definition of Communications uses rent schedule in this section).