[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 139 (Thursday, July 19, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42497-42498]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-17520]
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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
Information Collection(s) Being Submitted for Review and Approval
to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.
ACTION: Notice; 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: 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; the
accuracy of the Commission's burden estimates; ways to enhance the
quality, utility, and clarity of the information collected; 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 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 August 20, 2012. If you anticipate that you will
be submitting PRA comments, but find it
[[Page 42498]]
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 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
PRA@fcc.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Judith B. Herman, Office of Managing
Director, FCC, at 202-418-0214.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
OMB Control Number: 3060-0484.
Title: Sections 4.1 and 4.2, Part 4 of the Commission's Rules
Concerning Disruptions to Communications (NORS).
Form Number: N/A.
Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved collection.
Respondents: Business or other for-profit entities and not-for-
profit institutions.
Number of Respondents: 118 respondents; 15,444 responses.
Estimated Time per Response: .25 hours to 2 hours.
Frequency of Response: On occasion and annual reporting
requirements, recordkeeping requirement and third party disclosure
requirement.
Obligation to Respond: Mandatory. Statutory authority for this
information collection is contained in 47 U.S.C. 151, 152, 154(i)-(k),
154(o), 218, 219, 230, 256, 301, 302(a), 303(f), 303(g), 303(j),
303(r), 403, 615a, 621(b)(3), 621(d) and 1302(b) of the Communications
Act of 1934, as amended; and section 1704 of the Omnibus Consolidated
and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act of 1998, 44 U.S.C. 3504.
Total Annual Burden: 29,647 hours.
Total Annual Cost: N/A.
Privacy Impact Assessment: N/A.
Nature and Extent of Confidentiality: Outage reports filed pursuant
to Part 4 of the Commission's rules are presumed confidential. The
information in the filings may be shared with the Department of
Homeland Security only under appropriate confidential disclosure
provisions. Other persons seeking disclosure must follow the procedures
delineated in 47 CFR 0.457 and 0.459 of the Commission's rules for
requests for and disclosure of information.
Needs and Uses: The Commission will submit this revised information
collection to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) during this
comment period to obtain the full, three year clearance from them. The
Commission is reporting a 9,909 hour program change increase to the
Commission's previous burden estimates. The increase in the burden is
due to adoption of FCC 12-22, Report and Order, extending the Part 4
outage reporting requirements to interconnected Voice Over Internet
Protocol (VoIP) which are new respondents subject to the requirements
of this information collection.
Specifically, the Commission extended mandatory outage reporting
rules to facilities-based and non-facilities based interconnected VoIP
service providers and applied the current Part 4 definition of
``outage'' to outages of interconnected VoIP service, covering the
complete loss of service and/or connectivity to customers at least 30
minutes duration that potentially affects at least 900,000 user minutes
of interconnected VoIP services and results in complete loss of
service; or potentially affects any special offices and facilities such
as a 911 facility.
Collecting data on significant outages of interconnected VoIP
services will help the Commission to monitor compliance with the
statutory 911 obligations of interconnected VoIP service providers, as
well as help ensure the Nation's current and future 911 systems are as
reliable and resilient as possible both on a day-to-day basis and in
times of a major emergency. The Commission recognizes that consumers
are increasingly relying on Internet Protocol (IP)-based technologies
as substitutes for communications services provided by older
communications technologies, and increasingly use interconnected VoIP
services in lieu of traditional telephone service. As of December 31,
2010, 31 percent of the more than 87 million residential telephone
subscriptions in the United States were users of interconnected VoIP
providers--an increase of 21 percent (from 22.4 million to 27.1
million) from the end of 2009. Additionally, the Commission estimates
that approximately 31 percent of residential wireline 911 calls are
made using VoIP service.
The information collected is administered by the FCC's Public
Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB) which maintains an Internet
Web site portal for the electronic submission of he required outage
reports. In addition, provision is made for the submission of required
data by other than electronic means in cases where electronic
submission is not feasible. In cases where specified offices and
facilities (other than 911 offices and facilities) are submitted with
120 minutes of an outage to the Commission's duty officer (a post
staffed 24 hours a day) in the FCC's Communications and Crisis
Management Center in Washington, DC.
Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene H. Dortch,
Secretary, Office of the Secretary, Office of Managing Director.
[FR Doc. 2012-17520 Filed 7-18-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P