[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 5 (Friday, January 7, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1151-1153]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-337]
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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
Notice of Public Information Collection(s) Being Reviewed by the
Federal Communications Commission; Comments Requested
December 28, 1999.
SUMMARY: The Federal Communications Commission, as part of its
continuing effort to reduce paperwork burden invites the general public
and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on the
following information collection, as required by the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13. An agency may not conduct or
sponsor a collection of information unless it displays a currently
valid 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 control
number. 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 estimate; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity
of the information collected; and (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.
DATES: Written comments should be submitted on or before March 7, 2000.
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
[[Page 1152]]
advise the contact listed below as soon as possible.
ADDRESSES: Direct all comments to Les Smith, Federal Communications
Commission, 445 12th Street, S.W., Room 1-A804, Washington, DC 20554 or
via the Internet to lesmith@fcc.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information or copies
of the information collections contact Les Smith at (202) 418-0217 or
via the Internet at lesmith@fcc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
OMB Approval Number: 3060-0463.
Title: Telecommunications Services for Individuals with Hearing and
Speech Disabilities and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990--CC
Docket No. 90-571 and Telecommunications Relay.
Form Number: N/A.
Type of Review: Extension.
Respondents: Business or other for profit; state, local or tribal
government; individuals or households.
Number of Respondents: 103 respondents.
Estimated Time Per Response: 112.6 hours per response (avg.).
Frequency of Response: On occasion, every five years.
Total Annual Burden: 21,557 hours.
Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: $0.
Needs and Uses: 47 CFR Part 64, Subpart F implements certain
provisions of the ADA of 1990. 47 CFR Section 64.605 establishes the
procedures for certifying state programs. Section 64.604 establishes
procedures for filing complaints. Information will be used to determine
whether a state's program is certifiable according to federal
requirements and to determine the merits of complaints filed. The
Commission issued a NPRM in CC Docket No. 98-76 regarding
telecommunications relay services and speech-to-speech (STS) relay
services for persons with hearing and speech disabilities. Rules
proposed in the NPRM would require that common carriers providing voice
transmission service must ensure that nationwide STS relay services are
available to users with speech disabilities throughout their service
area. Rules proposed in the NPRM also would amend the Commission's
current mandatory minimum standards for TRS service to improve the
effectiveness of those rules and their application to TRS service.
Those affected are states seeking certification of their programs and
any member of the public who wants to file a complaint against specific
carriers.
OMB Approval Number: None.
Title: Auditor's Annual Independence and Objectivity Certification.
Form Number: N/A.
Type of Review: New Collection.
Respondents: Business or other for profit.
Number of Respondents: 7 respondents.
Estimated Time Per Response: 10 hours per response (avg.).
Frequency of Response: On occasion; annually.
Total Annual Burden: 70 hours.
Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: $0.
Needs and Uses: The Responsible Accounting Officer Letter (RAO)
requires that carriers' independent auditors disclose in writing all
relationships between the auditor and its related entities and the
carrier and its related entities that in the auditor's professional
judgment may reasonably be thought to bear on independence; confirm in
writing in its professional judgment it is independent of the carrier;
and discuss the auditor's independence. The information will be used to
determine whether the independent auditor's are performing their audits
independently and unbiased of the carrier they audit.
OMB Approval Number: 3060-0774.
Title: Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service--CC Docket
No. 96-45, 47 CFR Part 54.
Form Number: N/A.
Type of Review: Extension.
Respondents: Business or other for profit; state, local or tribal
government.
Number of Respondents: 5,565,451 respondents.
Estimated Time Per Response: .32 hours per response (avg.).
Frequency of Response: On occasion; quarterly; annually;
recordkeeping.
Total Annual Burden: 1,787,278 hours.
Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: $0.
Needs and Uses: In the Ninth Report and Order and Eighteenth Order
on Reconsideration in CC Docket No. 96-45, released November 2, 1999,
the Commission modified 47 CFR Part 54 by adopting several amendments
to the current data reporting requirements to ensure that cost and lop
count data submitted by non-rural carriers under 47 CFR Part 36
conforms with loop count data submitted under Part 54 for forwarding
looking support. The amended sections containing information
collections are as follows. a. 47 CFR Section 54.307--In order to
receive support, a competitive eligible telecommunications carrier must
report to the Administrator on July 31 of each year the number of
working loops it serves in a service area as of December 31 of the
preceding year, subject to update specified in 47 CFR 54.307(c). For a
competitive eligible telecommunications carrier serving loops in the
service area of a rural telephone company, the carrier must report the
number of working loops it serves in the service area. For a
competitive eligible telecommunications carrier serving loops in the
service area of a non-rural telephone company, the carrier must report
the number of working loops it serves in the service area and the
number of working loops it serves in each wire center in the service
area. A competitive eligible telecommunications carrier serving loops
in the service area of a non-rural carrier telephone company, the
carrier must update the information submitted to the Administrator
pursuant to 47 CFR 54.307(c)(1)-(3). Because the interim hold-harmless
provision provides support based on the existing 47 CFR Part 36 support
mechanism, which relieves on book costs, non-rural incumbent LECs will
be required to file cost data, in addition to loop-count data, in order
to receive interim hold-harmless support. 47 CFR Section 54.309--Any
state may file a petition for waiver to ask the Commission distribute
support calculated to a geographic area different than the wire center.
Such petition must contain a description of the particular geographic
level to which the state desires support to be distributed, and an
explanation of how waiver will further the preservation and advancement
of universal service within the state. c. 47 CFR Section 54.311--A
state may file a petition for waiver asking the Commission to
distribute interim hold-harmless support to a geographic area different
than the wire center. Such petition must contain a description of the
particular geographic level to which the State desires interim hold-
harmless support to be distributed, and an explanation of how waiver
will further the preservation and advancement of universal service
within the state. The information will be used to show that federal
high-cost support is being provided to the carrier to assist in keeping
rates affordable in those subscribers' area. Further, the collection of
information will be used to verify that the carriers have accounted for
its receipt of federal support in its rates or otherwise used the
support for the ``provision, maintenance, and upgrading of facilities
and services for which the support is intended'' in accordance with 47
USC Section 254(e). In the Sixth Order on Reconsideration in CC Docket
No. 97-21 and the Fifteenth Order on
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Reconsideration in CC Docket No. 96-45 (released 11/1/99), the
Commission revised its rules governing the eligibility of services that
the universal service support mechanism will support. The Commission
also revised its rules to allow the Administrator to calculate the
support based upon all distance-based charges. The Commission modified
its rules to require health care providers and consortia of health care
providers to maintain documentation of the amount of support for which
each member of a consortium is eligible. The Commission modified its
rules to allow new members to be added to a consortium even after the
rural health care provider submits its application for support.
OMB Approval Number: 3060-0233.
Title: Separations--Part 36.
Form Number: N/A.
Type of Review: Extension.
Respondents: Business or other for profit.
Number of Respondents: 1500 respondents.
Estimated Time Per Response: 104.75 hours per response (avg.).
Frequency of Response: On occasion; quarterly; annually; third
party disclosures.
Total Annual Burden: 157,125 hours.
Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: $0.
Needs and Uses: Telephone companies are required to identify
investment, expenses and revenues attributable to intrastate and
interstate operations pursuant to a court decision. These procedures
are found in 47 CFR Part 36. In the Communications Act of 1934, as
amended by the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Congress codified the
Commission's historical policy of promoting universal service to ensure
that consumers in all regions of the nation have access to
telecommunications service. In 47 U.S.C. 254, Congress instructed the
Commission to establish specific, predictable, and sufficient
mechanisms to preserve and advance universal service. 47 CFR 36.601-
36.741 contain the following procedures and collections for the
Universal Service Fund Program. a. 47 CFR sections 36.611 and 36.612--
In order to allow determination of the study areas that are entitled to
an expense adjustment, and the wire centers that are entitled to
support pursuant to 47 CFR Part 54, each incumbent local exchange
carrier must provide the National Exchange Carrier Association (NECA)
with the information required by 47 CFR section 36.611 for each of its
study areas, with the exception of the information listed in subsection
(h), which must be provided for each study area and, if applicable, for
each wire center as that term is defined in 47 CFR Part 54. This
information is to be filed with NECA by July 31st of each year, and
must be updated pursuant to 47 CFR 36.612. The information filed on
July 31st of each year will be used in the jurisdictional allocations
underlying the cost support data for the access charge tariffs to be
filed the following October. b. 47 CFR 36.701-36.741--State or local
carriers must submit copies of their lifeline plans to demonstrate that
their plans meet certain minimum federal guidelines to qualify for
federal assistance. 47 CFR 36.721 requires state or local telephone
companies who want to participate in the ``Link-Up America'' Program to
file data with the Commission demonstrating eligibility pursuant to the
criteria contained in 47 CFR 36.721(a)(1)-(4). c. 47 CFR section 36.731
requires local telephone companies participating in the lifeline
programs to file information with NECA for each of their study areas,
on a yearly basis, on June 30th. Information to be filed with NECA
includes: estimate of the number of eligible households which will
receive assistance under both parts of the ``Link-Up America''
programs; estimate of the average discount on service commencement to
be provided to each subscriber; and estimate of the average deferred
interest cost for each subscriber. Carriers must submit the foregoing
information to the Commission, as well as to NECA for those study areas
in which the additional interstate expense allocation is to be in
effect for less than a full calendar year. See also 47 CFR section
36.741. d. In a NPRM issued in CC Docket No. 80-286, released 10/7/97,
the Commission sought comment on a proposed rule allowing incumbent
LECs to separate joint and common costs on an individual basis should
be contingent upon an ILECs showing that competition exists in the
local markets for which they seek relaxed separations rules. The
requirements contained herein are necessary to implement the
congressional mandate for universal service. The reporting requirements
are necessary to verify that non-rural local exchange carriers are
eligible to receive universal service support. Information filed with
NECA pursuant to 47 CFR 36.611 is used in the jurisdictional
allocations underlying the cost support data for the access charge
tariffs every April. Without this information, NECA would not be able
to prepare and file the necessary tariffs. Information submitted to the
Commission pursuant to 47 CFR 36.721 is required to maintain the
integrity of the Federal Lifeline Assistance programs. Certification is
necessary to ensure that the targeted group is the beneficiary of the
program.
OMB Control Number: None.
Title: Amendment of Part 95 of the Commission's Rules to Provide
Regulatory Flexibility in the 218-219 MHz Service.
Form Number: N/A.
Type of Review: New collection.
Respondents: Business or other for-profit entities.
Number of Respondents: 140.
Estimate Time Per Response: 12.6 hrs. (avg.).
Frequency of Response: Recordkeeping; On occasion reporting
requirements.
Total Annual Burden: 1,766 hours.
Total Annual Costs: None.
Needs and Uses: The Report and Order and Memorandum Opinion and
Order, in WT Docket No. 98-169, adopted September 7, 1999 and released
September 10, 1999, 64 FR 59656 (November 3, 1999), as codified at 47
CFR 1.2105(a)(2)(xi) and 95.816(b), offers various financial
restructuring options to the 218-219 MHz licensees regarding their
existing installment payment obligations and permits eligible licensees
to choose (i) reamortization and resumption of installment payments on
their licenses; (ii) an amnesty option wherein eligible licensees
surrender any licenses they choose to the Commission for subsequent
auction and, in return, have all of the outstanding debt on those
licenses forgiven; or (iii) a prepayment option whereupon licensees may
retain or return as many licenses as they desire; however, licensees
electing the prepayment option must prepay the outstanding principal of
any license they wish to retain. The information requested provides the
FCC with the data to implement the restructuring option(s) chosen by
current and former 218-219 MHz licensees. The staff will use this
information to maintain data on current licensees, new installment
payment terms, refunds to licensees, and spectrum returned to the FCC
for auction. The information collection is necessary in order to enable
the licensees to meet their financial obligations to the Commission
that will help ensure rapid provision of 218-219 MHz service to the
public.
Federal Communications Commission.
Magalie Roman Salas,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 00-337 Filed 1-6-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-U
