[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 37 (Monday, February 25, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12750-12752]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-04167]
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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
Information Collection(s) Being Reviewed by the Federal
Communications Commission, Comments Requested
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.
3501-3520), 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 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 burden
[[Page 12751]]
for 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 April 26, 2013. 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 Judith B. Herman, Federal
Communications Commission, via the Internet at [email protected].
To submit your PRA comments by email send them to: [email protected].
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Judith B. Herman, Office of Managing
Director, (202) 418-0214.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
OMB Control Number: 3060-0986.
Title: Competitive Carrier Line Count Report and Self-Certification
as a Rural Carrier.
Form Numbers: FCC Form 525 and new FCC Form 481.
Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved collection.
Respondents: Business or other for-profit entities, not-for-profit
institutions and state, local or tribal government.
Number of Respondents: 8,690 respondents; 8,804 responses.
Estimated Time per Response: .5 hours to 100 hours.
Frequency of Response: On occasion, quarterly and annual reporting
requirements, recordkeeping requirement and third party disclosure
requirement.
Obligation To Respond: Required to obtain or retain benefits.
Statutory authority for this information collection is contained in 47
U.S.C. sections 151, 154(i) and (j), 205, 221(c), 254, 303(r), 403,
410, and 1302 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended.
Total Annual Burden: 272,017 hours.
Total Annual Cost: N/A.
Privacy Impact Assessment: N/A.
Nature and Extent of Confidentiality: We note that USAC must
preserve the confidentiality of all data obtained from respondents and
contributors to the universal service support program mechanism; 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.
Needs and Uses: The Commission will submit this information
collection after this comment period to obtain the full, three year
clearance from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The
Commission is requesting approval for a revision.
There are no changes to the existing FCC Form 525. However, the
Commission is requesting OMB approval for a new FCC Form 481, Annual
Reporting Form for High-Cost Recipients and other new and modified
information collection requirements.
In November 2011, the Commission adopted an order reforming its
high-cost universal service support mechanisms. 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; Lifeline and Link-Up; Universal
Service Reform--Mobility Fund, 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, Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 26
FCC Rcd 17663 (2011) (USF/ICC Transformation Order); see also Connect
America Fund et al., WC Docket No. 10-90 et al., Third Order on
Reconsideration, 27 FCC Rcd 5622 (2012); Connect America Fund et al.,
WC Docket No. 10-90 et al., Order, 27 FCC Rcd 605 (Wireline Comp. Bur.
2012); Connect America Fund et al., WC Docket No. 10-90 et al., Fifth
Order on Reconsideration, 27 FCC Rcd 14549 (2012).
In its March 2012 supporting statement which was submitted and
approved by OMB, the Commission implemented some of the information
collections required by this order, but also noted that at a later date
it planned to submit additional revisions or new collections for OMB
review to address other reforms adopted in the order. This revision
addresses those additional requirements.
The Order provides: (1) Requires that any carrier receiving Connect
America support to file a five-year service quality improvement plan by
July 1, 2013, and to file annually thereafter a progress report on its
plan; (2) Seeks to ensure parity between urban and rural areas for
broadband and voice rates. To accomplish this, the order adopts a rule
requiring carriers to report pricing information for both voice and
broadband offerings; (3) Requires that a support recipient report the
holding company, operating companies, affiliates, and any branding (a
``dba'' or ``doing-business-as company'' or brand designation), for
each such entity by Study Area Codes; (4) ETCs are required to submit a
self-certification that the pricing of their voice services is no more
than two standard deviations above the national average urban rate for
voice services; (5) ETCs are required to submit information and data
required by 47 CFR section 54.313(a)(1)-(7) separately broken out for
both voice and broadband service; (6) recipients of high-cost support
that serve Tribal lands must report on their Tribal engagement; (7)
Recipients of frozen high-cost support must annually certify that
increasing levels of support have been used to achieve the goal of
universal availability of voice and broadband; (8) All price cap
carriers that receive support pursuant to 47 CFR section 54.304, to
offset reductions in access charges, must use such support to build and
operate broadband-capable networks used to offer the provider's own
retail service in areas substantially unserved by an unsubsidized
competitor; (9) Within three years of the implementation of Phase II,
funding recipients must certify that the company is providing broadband
service to 85% of its supported locations at actual speeds of at least
4 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream, with latency suitable for real-
time applications, including Voice over Internet Protocol, and usage
capacity that is reasonably comparable to comparable offerings in urban
areas. Within five years of the implementation of Phase II, recipients
must certify that the company is providing broadband service to 100% of
its supported locations at actual speeds of at least 4 Mbps downstream
and 1 Mbps upstream, and a percentage of supported locations, as
specified by the Wireline Competition Bureau, at actual speeds of at
least 6 Mbps downstream and 1.5 Mbps upstream, with latency suitable
for real-time applications, including Voice over Internet Protocol, and
usage capacity that is reasonably comparable to comparable offerings in
urban areas; (10) Requires a progress report on the company's five-year
service quality plan; (11) Rate-of-return carriers are required to
provide broadband service upon reasonable request; (12) Privately held
rate-of-return carriers that receive high-cost support must submit a
various forms of financial statements. Those companies that borrow
funds from the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) must submit a
[[Page 12752]]
copy of their RUS Operating Report for Telecommunications Borrowers;
(13) Recognizes that satellite backhaul may limit the performance of
broadband networks as compared to terrestrial backhaul, thus carriers
compelled to rely exclusively on satellite backhaul in their study area
must certify that no terrestrial backhaul options exist; (14) All
incumbent local exchange carrier recipients of high-cost support must
already report all of their rates for residential local service for all
portions of their service area, as well as state fees (state subscriber
line charges, state universal service fees and mandatory extended area
service charges), to the extent the sum of those rates and fees are
below the rate floor, and the number of lines for each rate specified.
OMB Control Number: 3060-1030.
Title: Service Rules for Advance Wireless Services (AWS) in the 1.7
GHz and 2.1 GHz.
Form Number: N/A.
Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved collection.
Respondents: Business or other for-profit entities, not-for-profit
institutions, Federal Government, and state, local or tribal
government.
Number of Respondents: 979 respondents; 1,625 responses.
Estimated Time per Response: .25 hours to 5 hours.
Frequency of Response: On occasion, annual and every 10 year
reporting requirements, recordkeeping requirement and third party
disclosure requirement.
Obligation to Respond: Required to obtain or retain benefits.
Statutory authority for this information collection is contained in 47
U.S.C. sections 151, 152, 154(i), 201, 301, 302, 303(f), 303(g),
303(r), 307, 308, 309, 310, 316, 319, 324, 332, and 333 of the
Communications Act of 1934, as amended; and the Commercial Spectrum
Enhancement Act (CSEA), Public Law 108-494, 118 Stat. 3896, 3992
(2004).
Total Annual Burden: 32,384 hours.
Total Annual Cost: $581,800.
Privacy Impact Assessment: N/A.
Nature and Extent of Confidentiality: There is no need for
confidentiality except as follows: some relocators that seek
reimbursement through the FCC cost-sharing plan administered by the
clearinghouses will be required to retain records for more than three
years, as will the clearinghouses themselves.
Needs and Uses: The Commission will submit this information
collection after this comment period to obtain the full, three year
clearance from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The
Commission is requesting OMB approval for a revision.
The Commission in the revisions proposed in the AWS-4 NPRM, FCC 12-
32, which was submitted for OMB approval, proposed terrestrial service,
technical, assignment and licensing rules for the 2000-2020 MHz and
2180-2200 MHz spectrum bands. These proposed rules were designed to
provide for flexible use of this spectrum, to encourage innovation and
investment in mobile broadband, and to provide a stable regulatory
environment in which broadband deployment could develop. The AWS-4 NPRM
proposed terrestrial service rules for these spectrum bands that would
generally follow the Commission's Part 27 rules, which apply to
flexible use services (such as AWS-1), modified as necessary to account
for issues unique to the 2000-2020 MHz and 2180-2200 MHz bands. The
proposals in the AWS-4 NPRM included band-specific buildout, renewal,
and discontinuance of service criteria. Given the proximity of these
spectrum bands to spectrum bands previously identified as Advanced
Wireless Services (AWS), the NPRM referred to these spectrum bands as
``AWS-4'' or ``AWS-4 spectrum''. The AWS-4 NPRM proposed to expand
spectrum available for AWS, which the Commission first adopted in
theAWS-1 Report and Order.
For this revision, subject to OMB approval, the Commission in the
AWS-4 Report and Order, FCC 12-151, adopts flexible use rules for 40
megahertz of spectrum in the 2 GHz band (2000-2020 MHz and 2180-2200
MHz) that would increase the nation's supply of spectrum for mobile
broadband. We adopt AWS-4 terrestrial service, technical, and licensing
rules that generally follow the Commission's Part 27 flexible use
rules, modified as necessary to account for issues unique to the AWS-4
bands.
Recordkeeping, reporting and third party disclosure requirements
associated with the items listed in paragraph one of the supporting
statement that is submitted to OMB for approval, will be used by
incumbent licensees and new entrants to negotiate relocation agreements
and to coordinate operations to avoid interference. The information
will also be used by the clearinghouses to maintain a national
database, determine reimbursement obligations of entrants pursuant to
the Commission's rules, and notify such entrants of their reimbursement
obligations. Additionally, the information will be used to facilitate
dispute resolution and for FCC oversight of the clearinghouses and the
cost-sharing plan.
Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene H. Dortch,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2013-04167 Filed 2-22-13; 8:45 am]
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