[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 66 (Thursday, April 5, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20629-20632]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-8203]
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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
Information Collection Being Submitted for Review and Approval to
the Office of Management and Budget
AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: As part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork burden
and as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995 (44 U.S.C.
3502-3520), the Federal Communications Commission invites the general
public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment
on the following information collection(s). Comments are requested
concerning: (a) Whether the proposed collection of information is
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the
Commission, including whether the information shall have practical
utility; (b) the accuracy of the Commission's burden estimates; (c)
ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information
collected; (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of
information on the respondents, including the use of automated
collection techniques or other forms of information technology; and (e)
ways to further reduce the information collection burden on small
business concerns with fewer than 25 employees.
The FCC may not conduct or sponsor a collection of information
unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. No person
shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection
of information subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) that does
not display a valid OMB control number.
DATES: Written Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) comments should be
submitted on or before May 7, 2012. If you anticipate that you will be
submitting PRA comments, but find it difficult to do so within the
period of time allowed by this notice, you should advise the FCC
contact listed below as soon as possible.
ADDRESSES: Submit your PRA comments to Nicholas A. Fraser, Office of
Management and Budget (OMB), via fax at 202-395-5167 or via Internet at
Nicholas_A._Fraser@omb.eop.gov and to Judith B. Herman, Federal
Communications Commission, via the Internet at Judith-b.herman@fcc.gov.
To submit your PRA comments by email send them to: PRA@fcc.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Judith B. Herman, Office of Managing
Director, FCC, at 202-418-0214.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
OMB Control Number: 3060-1147.
Title: Wireless E911 Phase II Location Accuracy Requirements, Third
Report and Order, FCC 11-107.
Form Number: N/A.
Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved collection.
Respondents: Individuals and households; business or other for-
profit entities; Not-for-profit institutions and State, Local, or
Tribal Government.
Number of Respondents: 4,898 respondents; 9,514 responses.
Estimated Time per Response: 5.5867143 hours (average).
Frequency of Response: On occasion reporting requirement and third
party disclosure requirement.
Obligation to Respond: Mandatory. Statutory authority for this
information collection is contained in 47 U.S.C. Sections 151, 154 and
332 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended.
Total Annual Burden: 53,152 hours.
Total Annual Cost: N/A.
Privacy Impact Assessment: N/A.
Nature and Extent of Confidentiality: No questions of a
confidential nature are asked.
Needs and Uses: The Commission obtained OMB approval for this new
collection in March 2011. The Commission is now seeking OMB approval
for another revision to this information collection. The Commission
will submit this information collection to the OMB after publication of
this 30 day notice.
The Commission adopted and released a Third Report and Order, FCC
11-107, PS Docket No. 07-114, which provides that new Commercial Mobile
Radio Service (CMRS) providers, meeting the definition of covered CMRS
providers in Section 20.18 and deploying networks subsequent to the
effective date of the Third Report and Order that are not an expansion
or upgrade of an existing CMRS network, must meet the handset-based
location accuracy standard from the start. Consequently, the rule
requires new CMRS providers launching new stand-alone networks during
the eight-year implementation period for handset-based CMRS wireless
licensees to meet the applicable handset-based location accuracy
standard in effect of the time of deployment. Therefore, new rule
section 20.18(h)(2)(iv) specifies that new CMRS providers must comply
with paragraphs (h)(2)((i-iii) of Section 20.18, which are the location
accuracy requirements for handset-based carriers. OMB approved the
information collection for those rule paragraphs, which the Second
Report and Order adopted, on March 30, 2011, under OMB Control No.
3060-1147. The Commission announced OMB's approval and the effective
date in 76 FR 23713 of the Federal Register.
As a result, under the new rule section adopted by Third Report and
Order, all new CMRS providers, in delivering emergency calls for
Enhanced 911 service, must satisfy the handset-based location accuracy
standard at either a county-based or Public Safety Answering Point
(PSAP)-based geographic level. Similarly, in accordance with the new
rule and under the paragraph provision of Section 20.18(h)(2)(ii), new
CMRS providers may exclude up to 15 percent of the counties or PSAP
areas they serve due to heavy forestation that limits handset-based
technology accuracy in those counties or areas.
Therefore, new CMRS providers will be required to file a list of
the specific counties where they are utilizing their respective
exclusions. In its September 2010 Second Report and Order, 75 FR 70604,
the Commission found that permitting this exclusion properly but
narrowly accounts for the known technical limitations of handset-based
location accuracy technologies, while ensuring that the public safety
community and the public at large are sufficiently informed of these
limitations.
When they have begun deploying their new networks, the new CMRS
providers must submit initial reports, as the Commission will announce
after OMB approval of this revised information collection, with a list
of the
[[Page 20630]]
areas that they are permitted to exclude from the handset-based
location accuracy requirements. Accordingly, the Commission will
specify the procedures for electronic filing into PS Docket No. 07-114,
consistent with the current OMB approved information collection for
handset-based carriers, and new CMRS providers must send copies of the
exclusion reports to the National Emergency Number Association, the
Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials-International,
and the National Association of State 9-1-1 Administrators.
Further, the rules adopted by the Commission's September 2010
Second Report and Order, 75 FR 70604, also require that, two years
after January 18, 2011, wireless carriers provide confidence and
uncertainty data on a per call basis to PSAPs. Because the new rule
adopted by the Third Report and Order considers new CMRS providers as
providers covered under the definition of CMR providers pursuant to
section 20.18 of the Commission's rules, new CMRS providers will also
be subject to the information collection requirement to provide this
confidence and uncertainty data.
Additionally, in view of the amended location accuracy requirements
and the timeframes and benchmarks for handset-based wireless carriers
to comply with them, in its September 2010 Second Report and Order, 75
FR 70604, the Commission recognized that the waiver process is suitable
to address individual or unique problems, where the Commission can
analyze the particular circumstances and the potential impact to public
safety. Thus, similarly, the supporting statement for this information
collection revision recognizes that new CMRS providers might file
waiver requests and, therefore, be subject to a collection and
reporting requirement.
The Third Report and Order found that requiring all new CMRS
network providers to comply with the Commission's handset-based
location accuracy standard is consistent with the regulatory principle
of ensuring technological neutrality. Providers deploying new CMRS
networks are free to use network-based location techniques, or to
combine network and handset-based techniques, to provide 911 location
information, provided that they meet the accuracy criteria applicable
to handset-based providers. Given the long-term goal of universal
support for one location accuracy standard, the Commission believed
that such a mandate allows appropriate planning and ensures that new
technology will comply with the most stringent location accuracy
standard that applies to existing technology.
Section 47 CFR 20.18(h)(2)(iv) requires that providers of new CMRS
networks that meet the definition of covered CMRS providers under
paragraph (a) of this section must comply with the requirements of
paragraphs (h)(2)(i)-(iii) of this section. For this purpose, a ``new
CMRS network'' is a CMRS network that is newly deployed subsequent to
the effective date of the Third Report and Order in PS Docket No. 07-
114 and that is not an expansion or upgrade of an existing CMRS
network.
The information provided by wireless carriers deploying new CMRS
networks to report the counties or PSAP service areas where the
carriers cannot provide E911 location accuracy at either the county or
the PSAP level will furnish the Commission, affected PSAPs, state and
local emergency agencies, public safety organizations and other
interested stakeholders the supplementary data necessary for public
safety awareness of those areas where it is most difficult to measure
location accuracy during the benchmark periods for handset-based
wireless carriers.
The provision of confidence and uncertainty data to PSAPs by the
new CMRS providers and the SSPs responsible for transporting that data
between them and PSAPs will enhance the PSAPs' ability to efficiently
direct first responders to the correct location of emergencies to
achieve the emergency response goals of the nation in responding
expeditiously to emergency crisis situations and in ensuring homeland
security.
OMB Control Number: 3060-0400.
Title: Part 61, Tariff Review Plan (TRP).
Form Number: N/A.
Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved collection.
Respondents: Business or other for-profit entities.
Number of Respondents: 2,840 respondents; 8,554 responses.
Estimated Time per Response: .5 hours to 53 hours.
Frequency of Response: On occasion, annual, biennial, and one time
reporting requirements.
Obligation to Respond: Required to obtain or retain benefits.
Statutory authority for this information collection is contained in 47
U.S.C. Sections 201, 202, 203, and 251(b)(5) of the Communications Act
of 1934, as amended.
Total Annual Burden: 121,656 hours.
Total Annual Cost: N/A.
Privacy Impact Assessment: N/A.
Nature and Extent of Confidentiality: Respondents are not being
asked to submit confidential information to the Commission. If the
Commission requests respondents to submit information which respondents
believe are confidential, respondents may request confidential
treatment of such information under 47 CFR 0.459 of the Commission's
rules.
Needs and Uses: The Commission will submit this revised information
collection to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) during this 30
day comment period to obtain the full three year approval from them.
The hourly burden has increased by 117,056 hours which is due to an
Order that was adopted and released requiring or permitting incumbent
and competitive local exchange carriers, as part of transitioning
regulation of interstate and intrastate switched access rates and
reciprocal compensation rates to bill-and-keep under section 251(b)(5),
to file tariffs with state commissions and the FCC. This transition
affects different switched access rates at specified timeframes and
establishes an Access Recovery Charge by which carriers will be able to
assess end users a monthly charge to recover some or all of the
revenues they are permitted to recover resulting from reductions in
intercarrier compensation rates. Price cap LECs must remove the rate
elements in the traffic-sensitive and trunking baskets from price cap
regulation on July 1, 2012. There interstate tariff filings will
require cost support that generally is encompassed in the existing
support burdens and, in many cases, may be satisfied through the data
collection encompassed by a new information collection entitled
``Intercarrier Compensation and Universal Service Compliance and
Monitoring'' which will also be submitted to the OMB for approval and
assigned an OMB control number (see description of new information
collection below). The intrastate tariff filings may, depending on
state requirements, require supporting materials to be filed that may
also largely be satisfied by submitting the new information collection
referenced above.
As of November 2010, there are 92 total incumbent LECs that file
interstate tariffs. Of them, there are 39 ILECs that file pursuant to
price cap regulation under Sections 61.41-61.49 of the Commission's
rules. Outside of the National Exchange Carrier Association (NECA),
there are 12 ILECs filing their own tariffs pursuant to rate-of-return
regulation under Section 61.38 of the Commission's rules. The remaining
40 ILECs file their own tariffs pursuant to
[[Page 20631]]
section 61.39 of the Commission's rules. NECA files one Tariff Review
Plan for approximately 1,000 Sections 61.38 and 61.39 ILECs. Therefore,
we estimate 51 + 40 +1 (NECA) = 92 filing entities.
We also estimate that 330 competitive and incumbent LECs will have
to make a one-time interstate tariff filing to permit them to assess
access charges on Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls. We
estimate that 2,840 competitive and incumbent LECs will have to file
intrastate tariffs annually which may require supporting materials to
be filed. We also estimate that 2,840 competitive and incumbent LECs
will have to make a one-time intrastate tariff filing to establish VoIP
rates at interstate rate levels that may require supporting materials
to be filed. Finally, we estimate that 1,340 incumbent LECs annually
will certify, as part of their tariff filings to the Commission and to
the relevant state commission, that they are not seeking duplicative
recovery in the state jurisdiction for an Eligible Recovery subject to
the recovery mechanism.
For those services still requiring cost support, TRPs assist the
Commission in determining whether ILEC access charges are just and
reasonable as required under the Communications Act of 1934, as
amended.
OMB Control Number: 3060-0298.
Title: Part 61, Tariffs (Other than the Tariff Review Plan).
Form Number: N/A.
Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved collection.
Respondents: Business or other for-profit entities.
Number of Respondents: 3,210 respondents; 7,350 responses.
Estimated Time per Response: 20 hours to 50 hours.
Frequency of Response: On occasion, annual, biennial and one time
reporting requirements.
Obligation to Respond: Required to obtain or retain benefits.
Statutory authority for this information collection is contained in 47
U.S.C. Sections 151-155, 201-205, 208, 251-271, 403, 502 and 503 of the
Communications Act of 1934, as amended.
Total Annual Burden: 215,500 hours.
Total Annual Cost: $1,410,150.
Privacy Impact Assessment: N/A.
Nature and Extent of Confidentiality: Respondents are not being
asked to submit confidential information to the Commission. If the
Commission requests respondents to submit information which respondents
believe are confidential, respondents may request confidential
treatment of such information under 47 CFR 0.459 of the Commission's
rules.
Needs and Uses: The Commission is seeking OMB approval for this
revised collection. The Commission will submit this information
collection to the OMB after publication of this 30 day notice.
On November 18, 2011, the Commission adopted the USF/ICC
Transformation Order, FCC 11-161, that requires or permits incumbent
and competitive local exchange carriers as part of transitioning
regulation of interstate and intrastate switched access rates and
reciprocal compensation rates to bill-and-keep under section 251(b)(5)
of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, to file tariffs with
state commissions and the FCC. This transition affects different
switched access rates at specified timeframes and establishes an Access
Recovery Charge by which carriers will be able to assess end uses a
monthly charge to recover some or all of the revenues they are
permitted to recover resulting from reductions in intercarrier
compensation rates. We estimate that 40 rate-of-return LECs will need
to make an additional interstate access tariff filing annually and that
330 competitive and incumbent LECs will have to make a one-time filing
to allow them to assess charges for Voice over Internet Protocol
(VoIP). We also estimate that an additional 2,840 competitive and
incumbent LECs will have to file intrastate tariffs annually. Finally,
we estimate that 2,840 competitive and incumbent LECs will have to make
a one-time intrastate tariff filing to establish VoIP rates of
interstate rate levels.
The information collected through a carrier's tariff is used by the
Commission and state commissions to determine whether services offered
are just and reasonable as the Act requires. The tariffs and any
supporting documentation are examined in order to determine if the
services are offered in a just and reasonable manner.
OMB Control Number: 3060-1122.
Title: Preparation of Annual Reports to Congress for the Collection
and Expenditures of Fees or Charges for Enhanced 911 (E911) Services
Under the NET 911 Improvement Act of 2008.
Form Number: N/A.
Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved collection.
Respondents: State, local or tribal governments.
Number of Respondents: 56 respondents; 56 responses.
Estimated Time per Response: 50 hours.
Frequency of Response: Annual reporting requirement and
recordkeeping requirement.
Obligation to Respond: Voluntary. Statutory authority for this
information collection is contained in 47 U.S.C. Sections 201(b),
219(b) and 220 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended.
Total Annual Burden: 2,800 hours.
Total Annual Cost: N/A.
Privacy Impact Assessment: N/A.
Nature and Extent of Confidentiality: There are no assurances of
confidentiality provided to respondents. The Commission's rules address
the issue of confidentiality at 47 CFR 0.457, 0.459 and 0.461. These
rules address access to records that are not routinely available to the
public, requests and requirements that materials submitted to the
Commission be withheld from public inspection, and requests for
inspection of materials not routinely available for public inspection.
Needs and Uses: The Commission is seeking OMB approval for this
revised information collection in order to obtain the full three year
clearance from them. There is no change in the Commission's previous
burden estimates. The Commission will submit this information
collection to the OMB after publication of this 30 day notice.
The Commission proposes to ask the following information:
1. A statement as to whether or not your State, or any political
subdivision, Indian tribe, village or regional corporation therein as
defined by Section 6(f)(1) of the NET 911 Act, has established a
funding mechanism designated for or imposed for the purposes of 911 or
E911 support or implementation (including a citation to the legal
authority for such mechanism).
2. The amount of the fees or charges imposed for the implementation
and support of 911 or E911 services and the total amount collected
pursuant to the assessed fees or charges, for the annual period ending
December 31, 20XX.
3. A statement describing how the funds collected are made
available to localities, and whether your state has established written
criteria regarding the allowable uses of the collected funds, including
the legal citation to such criteria.
4. A statement identifying any entity in your State that has the
authority to approve the expenditure of funds collected for 911 or E911
purposes; a description of any oversight procedures established to
determine that collected funds have been made available or used for the
purposes designated by the funding mechanism or otherwise used to
implement or support 911; and a statement describing enforcement or
other corrective actions undertaken in connection with such oversight,
for the annual period ending December 31, 20XX.
[[Page 20632]]
5. A statement whether all the funds collected for 911 or E911
purposes have been made available or used for the purposes designated
by the funding mechanism, or otherwise used for the implementation or
support of 911 or E911.
6. A statement identifying what amount of funds collected for 911
or E911 purposes were made available or used for any purposes other
than the ones designated by the funding mechanism or used for purposes
otherwise unrelated to 911 or E911 implementation or support, including
a statement identifying the unrelated purposes for which the funds
collected for 911 or E911 purposes were made available or used.
7. A statement identifying which specificity all activities,
programs, and organizations for whose benefit your State, or political
subdivision thereof, has obligated or expended funds collected for 911
or E911 purposes and how these activities, programs, and organizations
support 911 or E911 services or enhancements of such services.
8. A statement regarding whether your State classifies expenditures
on Next Generation 911 as within the scope of permissible expenditures
of funds for 911 or E911 purposes, whether your State has expended such
funds on Next Generation 911 programs, and if so, how much your State
has expended in the annual period ending December 31, 20XX on Next
Generation 911 programs.
9. Any other comments you may wish to provide regarding the
applicable funding mechanism for 911 or E911.
The purpose of this information collection is to meet the
Commission's ongoing statutory obligations under the New and Emerging
Technologies 911 Improvement Act of 2008, Public Law 110-283, 122 Stat.
2620 (2008) (NET 911 Act), which requires the Commission to submit an
annual report to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of
Representatives, ``detailing the status in each State of the collection
and distribution of such fees or charges, and including findings on the
amount of revenues obligated or expended by each State or political
subdivision thereof for any purposes other than the purpose for which
any such fees or charges are specified.''
Federal Communications Commission.
Bulah P. Wheeler,
Deputy Manager, Office of the Secretary, Office of Managing Director.
[FR Doc. 2012-8203 Filed 4-4-12; 8:45 am]
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