[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 89 (Tuesday, May 8, 2012)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 26987-26989]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-10631]
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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
47 CFR Parts 51 and 54
[WC Docket Nos. 10-90, 07-135, 05-337, 03-109; GN Docket No. 09-51; CC
Docket Nos. 01-92, 96-45; WT Docket No. 10-208; FCC 11-161]
Connect America Fund; A National Broadband Plan for Our Future;
Establishing Just and Reasonable Rates for Local Exchange Carriers;
High-Cost Universal Service Support
AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.
ACTION: Final rule; announcement of effective date.
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SUMMARY: In this document, the Federal Communications Commission
(Commission) announces that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
has approved, for a period of three years, the information collection
associated with the Commission's Connect America Fund; A National
Broadband Plan for Our Future; Establishing Just and Reasonable Rates
for Local Exchange Carriers; High-Cost Universal Service Support,
Report and Order, (Order), released on November 18, 2011. The
Commission submitted revisions to information collections under control
number 3060-0986 to the OMB for review and approval, as required by the
Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), 77 FR
13320, March 6, 2012, which were approved by the OMB on April 16, 2012.
This notice is consistent with the Order, which stated that the
Commission would publish a document in the Federal Register announcing
the effective date of those rules once it receives OMB approval. This
document also notifies Eligible Telecommunications Carriers and other
stakeholders that information filed pursuant to Sec. 54.313(a)(2)
through (a)(6) and (h) of the Commission's rules must be filed by July
2, 2012.
DATES: Effective date: Sections 54.312(b)(3), 54.313(b), 54.313(h),
54.314 and 54.320(b), published at 76 FR 73830, November 29, 2011, are
effective May 8, 2012.
Applicability date: Sections 54.305(f), 54.307(b) and (c), and
54.313 (a)(1) through (a)(6) are applicable May 8, 2012.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Alex Minard, Wireline Competition
Bureau, (202) 418-7400.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This document announces that, on April 13,
2012, OMB approved, for a period of six months, the information
collection requirements contained in the Commission's Order, FCC 12-11,
published at 77 FR 12952, March 2, 2012. The OMB Control Number is
3060-0986. The Commission publishes this document as an announcement of
the effective date of the revision to Sec. Sec. 54.312(b)(3),
54.313(b), 54.313(h), 54.314 and 54.320(b), and an announcement of the
applicability dates of Sec. Sec. 54.305(f), 54.307(b) and (c), and
54.313 (a)(1) through (a)(6) . If you have any comments on the burden
estimates listed below, or how the Commission can improve the
collections and reduce any burdens caused thereby, please contact
Judith Boley-Herman, Federal Communications Commission, Room 1-B441,
445 12th Street SW., Washington, DC 20554. Please include the OMB
Control Number, 3060-0986, in your correspondence. The Commission also
will accept comments via email. Please send them to PRA@fcc.gov.
The Wireline Competition Bureau also recently released a Public
Notice in WC Docket Nos. 10-90, 07-135, 05-337, 03-109; GN Docket No.
09-51; CC Docket Nos. 01-92, 96-45; WT Docket No. 10-208 that notifies
Eligible Telecommunications Carriers and other stakeholders that
information filed pursuant to Sec. Sec. 54.313(a)(2) through (a)(6)
and (h) of the Commission's rules must be filed by July 2, 2012.
To request materials in accessible formats for people with
disabilities (Braille, large print, electronic files, audio format),
send an email to fcc504@fcc.gov or call the Consumer and Governmental
Affairs Bureau at (202) 418-0530 (voice), (202) 418-0432 (TTY).
Synopsis
As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C.
3507), the FCC is notifying the public that it received OMB approval on
April 16, 2012, for the information collection requirements contained
in the Commission's rules at 47 CFR 54.312(b)(3), 54.313(b), 54.313(h),
54.314 and 54.320(b), and an announcement of the applicability dates of
Sec. Sec. 54.305(f), 54.307(b) and (c), and 54.313 (a)(1) through
(a)(6).
Under 5 CFR part 1320, an agency may not conduct or sponsor a
collection
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of information unless it displays a current, 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
that does not display a current, valid OMB Control Number. The OMB
Control Number is 3060-0986.
The foregoing notice is required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of
1995, Public Law 104-13, October 1, 1995, and 44 U.S.C. 3507.
The total annual reporting burdens and costs for the respondents
are as follows:
OMB Control Number: 3060-0986.
OMB Approval Date: April 16, 2012.
OMB Expiration Date: April 30, 2015.
Title: Competitive Carrier Line Count Report and Self-Certification
as a Rural Carrier.
Form Number: Form 525.
Respondents: Business or other for-profit, not-for-profit
institutions, and state, local or Tribal Government.
Number of Respondents and Responses: 4,934 respondents; 5,048
responses.
Estimated Time per Response: .50 hours to 80 hours.
Frequency of Response: On occasion, Quarterly, Annually, Third
Party Disclosure requirements.
Obligation to Respond: Required to obtain or retain benefits.
Statutory authority for this information collection is contained in 47
U.S.C. 151-154, 201-206, 214, 218-220, 251, 252, 254, 256, 303(r), 332,
403, 405, and 410.
Total Annual Burden: 163,435 hours.
Total Annual Cost: N/A.
Nature and Extent of Confidentiality: The Commission is not
requesting that respondents submit confidential information to the
Commission. We note that the Universal Service Administrative Company
(USAC), who administers the universal service program, must preserve
the confidentiality of all data obtained from respondents and
contributors to the universal service support program mechanisms; must
not use the data except for purposes of administering the universal
service support program; and must not disclose data in company-specific
form unless directed to do so by the Commission. Also, respondents may
request materials or information submitted to the Commission be
withheld from public inspection under 47 CFR 0.459 of the Commission's
rules.
Needs and Uses: In November 2011, the Commission adopted a Report
and Order, FCC 11-161, 76 FR 73830, November 29, 2011, Connect America
Fund; A National Broadband Plan for Our Future; Establish Just and
Reasonable Rates for Local Exchange Carriers; High-Cost Universal
Service Support; Developing a Unified Intercarrier Compensation Regime;
Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service; Life-line and Link-Up;
and Universal Service Reform--Mobility Fund.
The order provides that existing high-cost support for price cap
incumbent local exchange carriers will be frozen at 2011 levels. In
addition, the order provides for up to $300 million annually in
incremental support to those carriers, to be allocated by the use of a
cost equation. Carriers accepting such incremental funding will be
required to meet defined broadband deployment obligations. Eligible
carriers will be required to notify the Commission, the universal
service fund Administrator, as well as relevant state and Tribal
authorities of the amount, if any, of funds they accept. Carriers
accepting funding must certify that (a) the locations that will be
served in satisfaction of the deployment requirement associated with
its identified funds are shown as unserved by fixed terrestrial
broadband on the then-current version of the National Broadband Map;
(b) to the best of the carrier's knowledge, its identified locations
are, in fact, unserved by fixed terrestrial broadband; (c) the
carrier's current capital improvement plan did not already include
plans to complete broadband deployment, without CAF Phase I incremental
support, within the next three years to the locations to be counted to
satisfy its deployment requirement; and (d) incremental support will
not be used to satisfy any merger commitment or similar regulatory
obligation. Carriers accepting funding will also be required to
identify, for each location to be counted toward satisfaction of the
carrier's deployment obligation, the following information: The
location's census block information based on the Federal Information
Processing Standard (FIPS) code, the carrier's NECA-assigned operating
company code (OCN), the carrier's study area code (SAC), the wire
center's eight-digit Common Language Location Identifier (CLLI) code,
the latitude (to 6 decimal places), and the longitude (to 6 decimal
places). Carriers accepting funding have the option of providing all of
the required location-identifying information at the time they file
their notice of acceptance of support, or, in the alternative, they may
elect to only identify the census blocks and wire centers where they
will deploy. Carriers electing this latter option must provide all
required information for each location no later than one year after
filing notices of acceptance for purposes of satisfying the carrier's
deployment obligation. That is, carriers electing to initially provide
only census block and wire center information must provide complete
location information for all of their locations no later than one year
after they file their notices of acceptance.
The order also adopts a rule to reduce, dollar-for-dollar, a
carrier's high-cost loop support (for rate-of-return carriers) or
Connect America Fund Phase I frozen high-cost support (for price cap
carriers) to the extent that the carrier's local end user rate plus
state regulated fees do not meet a specified urban rate floor.
Accordingly, carriers will be required to report, on an annual basis,
the local end user rates that fall below the specified urban rate
floor, and the number of lines associated with each rate so that the
universal service fund Administrator can calculate reductions in
support.
The order also modifies Sec. 54.307 of the Commission's rules, 47
CFR 54.307, (often called the ``identical support rule'') and related
rules, which provide that competitive eligible telecommunications
carriers receive the same per-line level of support as received by
incumbent LECs serving the same areas. Competitive eligible
telecommunications carriers, with limited exceptions, will not continue
to receive support pursuant to the identical support rule and will have
their support phased down over five years. (The limited exceptions
relate to certain competitive eligible telecommunications carriers
serving remote parts of Alaska and a single Tribally-owned competitive
eligible telecommunications carrier. For these carriers, the phasedown
is delayed by five years.) As a result, the Commission will be reducing
the burdens associated with a number of collections in this control
number, including line count filings for competitive ETCs and incumbent
LECs serving competitive areas, disaggregation plans (which permit
incumbent LECs to target support for the purpose of calculating per-
line support amounts), and certifications for carriers serving Tribal
lands and Alaska native regions. In addition, the Commission eliminates
the ``own costs'' exception to the interim cap for competitive ETCs.
The interim cap limited the total annual amount of high-cost support
competitive ETCs in any state could receive to the amount competitive
ETCs in that state received in March 2008 on an annualized basis. The
``own costs'' exception provided that competitive ETCs that showed that
they met the support threshold in the
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same manner as the incumbent LEC would not be subject to the cap.
Eliminating the ``own costs'' exception does not alter the content of
this information collection; it does, however, address and satisfy the
terms of clearance in the May 2009 Notice of Office of Management and
Budget Notice of Approval.
The order also revises the certifications that states (or ETCs that
are not subject to state jurisdiction) are required to file annually
with the Commission and the universal service fund Administrator to
ensure that carriers use universal service support ``only for the
provision, maintenance and upgrading of facilities and services for
which the support is intended'' consistent with section 254(e) of the
Act. Although the existing certifications are prospective only, the
revised certification will ensure that carriers not only will use
support in the next year for the intended purposes, but also have used
support in the prior year for the intended purposes.
The order also eliminates eligibility for Safety Net Additive
support for costs incurred after 2009. Accordingly, this collection is
being revised to eliminate the requirement that carriers notify the
Commission and USAC that they qualify for Safety Net Additive Support.
The order also eliminates the distinction between ``rural'' and
``non-rural'' carriers. Therefore, this collection is being revised to
eliminate the reporting requirements for self-certification as a rural
carrier.
The order also moves the recordkeeping requirement from 47 CFR
54.202(e) to new 47 CFR 54.320. It also increases the required document
retention period from five to ten years and makes clear that carriers
are subject to random compliance audits and other investigations and
must make all documents and records available to the Commission, any of
its Bureaus or Offices, the USF Administrator, and their respective
auditors.
The order extends current federal annual reporting requirements to
all ETCs, including those designated by states. Specifically, the order
requires that all ETCs must include in their annual reports the
information that is currently required by Sec. 54.209(a)(1) through
(a)(6)--specifically, a progress report on their five-year build-out
plans; data and explanatory text concerning outages; unfulfilled
requests for service; complaints received; certification of compliance
with applicable service quality and consumer protection standards; and
certification of its ability to function in emergency situations. All
ETCs that receive high-cost support will file this information with the
Commission, USAC, and the relevant state commission, relevant authority
in a U.S. Territory, or Tribal government, as appropriate.
Finally, this submission eliminates the recordkeeping requirements
from OMB Control Number 3060-0894. Upon OMB approval of this
information collection revision, the Commission will voluntarily
discontinue OMB Control Number 3060-0894.
The Commission plans to submit additional revisions or new
collections for OMB review and approval to address other reforms
adopted in the Order at a later date.
Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene H. Dortch,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2012-10631 Filed 5-7-12; 8:45 am]
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