Service provider levels are determined by which of the following?

Service provider levels are determined primarily by payment brands or acquirers because these entities establish the criteria for categorizing service providers based on their transactions and the scope of services they provide. Each payment brand, such as Visa or MasterCard, has specific regulations and risk assessments that help determine how a service provider is classified.

The classification is crucial because it dictates the requirements that service providers must meet in order to comply with PCI DSS standards. Higher levels of transaction volume typically correspond with stricter compliance requirements, which are assigned by the payment brands or acquirers. This ensures that as a service provider handles more sensitive payment data and a larger number of transactions, they adhere to more rigorous security measures to protect cardholder information.

In contrast, transaction fees, type of facility, and business size may influence operational decisions or business models but do not directly establish the service provider levels under PCI DSS regulations. Therefore, they are not the determining factors for classification within the PCI DSS framework.