Calendar Year 2025 Communications Uses Rental Fee Schedule and Listing of Cities by Population Strata

The BLM realty staff will use the attached CY25 Communications Site Rental Fee Schedule (rent schedule) and CY25 Listing of Cities by Population Strata to determine the rent for communications uses under 43 CFR 2866.30(a)(1) and 2866.31.

Regulations governing rental calculation can be found at 43 CFR 2866.23 through 2866.44. Under those regulations, the realty staff will calculate the initial rent by determining the population served, and the type of communications use or uses initially identified on the ROW grant or communications use lease document. Subsequent rental determinations will be determined based on the holder’s annual inventory certification submission. If the authorization is less than 12 months, then the realty staff will prorate the rent using a part-year factor. Uses not covered by the schedule are identified at 43 CFR 2866.30(b). If the authorization is issued between October 1 and December 31, the realty staff will calculate rent for the first partial year, calculate the subsequent year’s rent using the subsequent year’s schedule, and collect for both years in the offer letter. If the authorization is issued between January 1 and September 30, the realty staff will calculate rent for the first partial year only.

The BLM must document in the case file a description of how the rent was determined and should clearly explain how rent was established in decisions issued to the holder.  Realty staff must enter the rent determination in the Mineral and Lands Records System (MLRS) by using Action Code “Rental Rate Determined or Adjusted.” The decision for the rental rate determined date is the same date as the authorization issued for the action date. In the action remarks column, the rent amount must be entered (i.e., $375.64;) and the term must be entered after the semi-colon (i.e., 6MOS). The BLM State Offices provide guidance on how to generate the initial Courtesy Statement for the initial rent and generate Accounts Receivable for subsequent bills.

Delegated authority to waive or reduce rent resides with the BLM State Director. Field offices shall provide guidance consistent with 43 CFR 2866.15(b)(3) to any ROW holder seeking relief from hardship caused by zone reassignments or zone value change.

This rent schedule is publicly available. Field offices will reproduce the schedule locally and make copies available to ROW and Land Use Permit applicants and other interested parties as appropriate or as requested. The current schedule can be found at www.blm.gov.

This schedule is not applicable to linear communications use facilities, for which rent is calculated as provided in 43 CFR 2806.23.

A ROW holder has the right to appeal a rental decision in accordance with 43 CFR 4.