2016-04839. Information Collection Being Reviewed by the Federal Communications Commission Under Delegated Authority

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) of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), 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 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 PRA comments should be submitted on or before May 3, 2016. 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 contact listed below as soon as possible.

ADDRESSES:

Direct all PRA comments to Nicole Ongele, FCC, via email to [e-mail] and to [e-mail].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

For additional information about the information collection, contact Nicole Ongele at [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

OMB Control Number: 3060-0942.

Title: Access Charge Reform, Price Cap Performance Review for Local Exchange Carriers, Low-Volume Long Distance Users, Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service.

Form Number: N/A.

Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.

Respondents: Business or other for-profit.

Number of Respondents and Responses: 20 respondents; 20 responses.

Estimated Time per Response: 2-15 hours.

Frequency of Response: Annual reporting requirements, third party disclosure requirements and recordkeeping requirement.

Obligation to Respond: Required to obtain or retain benefits. Statutory authority for this information collection is contained in 47 U.S.C. 1, 4(i), and (j), 201-209, 218-222, 254 and 403.

Total Annual Burden: 56 hours.

Total Annual Cost: No cost.

Privacy Act Impact Assessment: No impact(s).

Nature and Extent of Confidentiality: The Commission is not requesting respondents to submit confidential information to the Commission. If the Commission requests respondents to submit information to the Commission that the respondents believe are confidential, respondents may wish request confidential treatment of such information pursuant to 47 CFR 0.459 of the Commission's rules.

Needs and Uses: The Commission is requesting an extension of a currently approved collection from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). There is no change in the reporting, recordkeeping and/or third party disclosure requirements.

The Report and Order, FCC 00-193, required the Commission to take action to further accelerate the development of competition in the local and long-distance telecommunications markets, and to further establish explicit universal service support that will be sustainable in an increasingly competitive marketplace, pursuant to the mandate of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The Order required price cap local exchange carriers (LECs) to modify their annual access tariff filings by: (1) Subtracting from their July 2000 tariff filings the estimated universal service support that they were to receive from Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) over that year; (2) consolidating the access revenues that they examined to determine whether to charge the subscriber line charge (SLC) cap or the actual cost of their access lines; (3) if they choose to deaverage their SLC, adding up the components of their averaged traffic sensitive charges to test whether the charges have reached the target rate; and (4) calculating their SLC rates by Unbundled Network Element Zone. See 47 CFR 61.45-61.49. The Commission requires price cap LECs who choose not to follow the voluntary portions of the CALLS Proposal to submit cost support information, which the Commission would use to set their access rate levels.

Federal Communications Commission.

Gloria J. Miles,

Federal Register Liaison Officer, Office of the Secretary.