[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 193 (Friday, October 6, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46809-46810]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-21515]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
[OMB 3060-XXXX]
Information Collection Being Reviewed by the Federal
Communications Commission
AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: As part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork burdens,
and as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) invites the general
public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment
on the following information collections. 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 estimate; 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 Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) control number. No person shall be subject to any penalty for
failing to comply with a collection of information subject to the PRA
that does not display a valid OMB control number.
DATES: Written comments should be submitted on or before December 5,
2017. If you anticipate that you will be submitting comments, but find
it difficult to do so within the period of time allowed by this notice,
you should advise the contacts below as soon as possible.
ADDRESSES: Direct all PRA comments to Cathy Williams, FCC, via email
[email protected] and to [email protected].
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information about the
information collection, contact Cathy Williams at (202) 418-2918.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: As part of its continuing effort to reduce
paperwork burdens, and as required by the PRA of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501-
3520), the FCC invites the general public and other Federal agencies to
take this opportunity to comment on the following information
collections. 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
estimate; 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.
OMB Control Number: 3060-XXXX.
Title: Mobility Fund Phase II Challenge Process.
Form Number: N/A.
Type of Review: New information collection.
Respondents: Business or other for-profit entities, not-for-profit
institutions, and state, local or tribal governments.
Estimated Number of Respondents and Responses: 500 respondents and
500 responses.
Estimated Time per Response: 204 hours for challengers; 71 hours
for challenged parties.
Frequency of Response: One-time reporting requirement.
Obligation to Respond: Required to obtain or retain benefits.
Statutory authority for the currently approved information collection
is contained in sections 154, 254, and 303(r) of the Communications
Act, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 4, 254, 303(r).
Estimated Total Annual Burden: 78,725 hours.
Total Annual Costs: None.
Nature and Extent of Confidentiality: To the extent the information
submitted pursuant to this information collection is determined to be
confidential, it will be protected by the Commission. If a respondent
seeks to have information collected pursuant to this information
collection withheld from public inspection, the respondent may request
confidential treatment pursuant to section 0.459 of the Commission's
rules for such information. See 47 CFR 0.459.
Privacy Act Impact Assessment: No impact(s).
Needs and Uses: A request for approval of this new information
collection will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) after this 60-day comment period in order to obtain the full
three-year
[[Page 46810]]
clearance from OMB. In its November 2011 USF/ICC Transformation Order
(FCC 11-161), the Commission established the Mobility Fund, which
consists of two phases. Mobility Fund Phase I (MF-I) provided one-time
universal service support payments to immediately accelerate deployment
of mobile broadband services. MF-II will use a reverse auction to
provide ongoing universal service support payments to continue to
advance deployment of such services. The Commission adopted the rules
and framework for MF-I in the USF/ICC Transformation Order, and sought
comment in an accompanying further notice of proposed rulemaking on the
proposed framework for MF-II. In its February 2017 Mobility Fund II
Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (MF-II
Report and Order and/or FNPRM) (FCC 17-11), the FCC adopted the rules
and framework for moving forward expeditiously with the MF-II auction.
Among other things, the Commission stated in the MF-II Report and Order
that, prior to the auction, it would establish a map of areas
presumptively eligible for MF-II support based on the most recently
available FCC Form 477 mobile wireless coverage data, and provide a
limited timeframe for parties to challenge those initial determinations
during the pre-auction process. The Commission sought comment in the
accompanying Mobility Fund II FNPRM on how to best design a robust,
targeted MF-II challenge process that efficiently resolves disputes
about the areas eligible for MF-II support.
In August 2017, the Commission released an Order on Reconsideration
and Second Report and Order (Challenge Process Order) (FCC 17-102) in
which it (1) reconsidered its earlier decision to use FCC Form 477 data
to compile the map of areas presumptively eligible for MF-II support
and decided it would instead conduct a new, one-time data collection
with specified data parameters tailored to MF-II to determine the areas
in which there is deployment of qualified LTE that will be used
(together with high-cost disbursement data available from the Universal
Service Administrative Company (USAC)) for this purpose, and (2)
adopted a streamlined challenge process that will efficiently resolve
disputes about areas deemed presumptively ineligible for MF-II support.
The map of areas presumptively eligible for MF-II support will serve as
the starting point for the challenge process pursuant to which an
interested party (challenger) may initiate a challenge with respect to
one or more areas initially deemed ineligible for MF-II support (i.e.,
areas not listed on the Commission's map of areas presumptively
eligible for MF-II support and challenged parties can respond to
challenges.
A challenger seeking to initiate a challenge of one or more areas
initially deemed ineligible in the Commission's map of areas
presumptively eligible for MF-II support may do so via the online
challenge portal developed by USAC for this purpose (the USAC portal).
For each state, a challenger must (1) identify the area(s) it seeks to
challenge, (2) submit detailed proof of a lack of unsubsidized,
qualified 4G LTE coverage in each challenged area in the form of actual
outdoor speed test data collected using the standardized parameters
specified by the Commission in the Challenge Process Order and any
other parameters the Commission or the Wireless Telecommunications
Bureau and Wireline Competition Bureau (the Bureaus) may implement, and
(3) certify its challenge.
After the challenge window closes, the USAC system will use an
automated challenge validation process developed by USAC to validate a
challenger's evidence and will determine which challenged areas pass
validation and which fail. Once all valid challenges have been
identified, a challenged party that chooses to respond to any valid
challenge(s) will have a response window within which to submit
additional data via the online USAC portal. A challenged party may
submit technical information that is probative regarding the validity
of a challenger's speed tests (i.e., information demonstrating that the
challenger's speed tests are invalid or do not accurately reflect
network performance), including speed test data and other device-
specific data collected from transmitter monitoring software or,
alternatively, may submit its own speed test data that conforms to the
same standards and requirements specified by the Commission and the
Bureaus for challengers.
In conjunction with the qualified 4G LTE data separately collected
pursuant to OMB 3060-1242 that will be used to create the map of areas
presumptively eligible for MF-II support, the information collected
under this new MF-II challenge process collection will enable the
Commission to efficiently resolve disputes concerning the eligibility
or ineligibility of an area initially deemed ineligible for MF-II
support and establish the final map of areas eligible for such support,
thereby furthering the Commission's goal of targeting MF-II support to
areas that lack adequate mobile voice and broadband coverage absent
subsidies through a transparent process.
Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene H. Dortch,
Secretary, Office of the Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2017-21515 Filed 10-5-17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P