[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 182 (Friday, September 19, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49241-49242]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-24857]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION


Public Information Collections Approved by Office of Management 
and Budget

September 11, 1997.
    The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has received Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) approval for the following public 
information collections pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995, Public Law 104-13. An agency may not conduct or sponsor and a 
person is not required to respond to a collection of information unless 
it displays a currently valid control number. For further information 
contact Shoko B. Hair, Federal Communications Commission, (202) 418-
1379.

Federal Communications Commission

    OMB Control No.: 3060-0789.
    Expiration Date: 03/31/98.
    Title: Modified Alternative Plan, CC Docket No. 90-571, Order (1997 
Suspension Order).
    Form No.: N/A.
    Respondents: Business or other for profit.
    Estimated Annual Burden: 36 respondents; 13 hours per response 
(avg.); 468 total annual burden hours for all collections.
    Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: $0.
    Frequency of Response: On occasion; one-time requirement.
    Description: Title IV of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 
1990 (``ADA'') requires each common carrier providing voice 
transmission services to provide Telecommunications Relay Services 
(``TRS'') throughout the area it serves to individuals with hearing and 
speech disabilities by 1993. The TRS enables customers with hearing or 
speech disabilities to use the telephone network in ways that are 
``functionally equivalent'' to those used by customers using 
traditional telephone service. Under the Commission's rules, the TRS 
must be able to handle all calls normally provided by common carriers, 
unless those carriers demonstrate the infeasibility of doing so. 47 CFR 
64.604(a)(3). The Commission has interpreted ``all calls'' to include 
coin sent-paid calls, which are calls made by depositing coins in a 
standard coin-

[[Page 49242]]

operated public payphone. The Bureau has suspended enforcement of the 
requirement that carriers provide coin sent-paid calls through the TRS 
centers since 1993 based on common carriers' representations that it 
has been technically infeasible to provide the coin sent-paid service 
through the TRS centers (``coin sent-paid rule''). Since 1995, carriers 
have made payphones accessible to TRS users through an Alternative Plan 
(``Alternative Plan''). The Alternative Plan enables TRS users to make 
local relay calls for free and to make toll calls from payphones using 
calling or prepaid cards at or below the coin call rates. The 
Alternative Plan also requires carriers to educate TRS users about the 
alternative payment methods for the TRS users to make relay calls from 
payphones. In Telecommunications Relay Services, and the Americans with 
Disabilities Act of 1990, Order, (released 8/21/97), (1997 Suspension 
Order), the Common Carrier Bureau (``Bureau'') suspended the 
enforcement of the requirement that the TRS be capable of handling coin 
sent-paid calls for one year until August 26, 1998 because the only 
technological solution that can provide the coin sent-paid calls 
through the TRS centers, coin signalling interface (``CSI''), has 
serious deficiencies and no new technological solution appears 
imminent. In the 1997 Suspension Order, the Bureau recommends that 
during the one year suspension, the Commission conduct a rulemaking on 
coin sent-paid issues to gather information sufficient to ensure that 
the Commission's final decision on whether the TRS must be capable of 
handling coin sent-paid calls is based on a complete and fresh record. 
In addition, the Bureau directed the industry to continue to make 
payphones accessible to TRS users under the terms of the Alternative 
Plan, as set forth in Telecommunications Relay Services, and the 
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Memorandum Opinion and Order, 
10 FCC Rcd 10927 (1995) (``1995 Suspension Order''), and as modified by 
the 1997 Suspension Order. The 1997 Suspension Order modifies the 
Alternative Plan by requiring industry to: (1) Send a consumer 
education letter to TRS centers (no. of respondents: 1; hour burden per 
respondent: 4 hours; total annual hour burden: 4); (2) inform 
organizations representing the hearing and speech disability community 
before attending their regional and national meetings who will be 
present at the meeting, where the industry booth will be located, and 
at what times the booth will be in operation (no. of respondents: 1; 
hour burden per respondent: 15 mins; total annual burden: 1.5 hours); 
(3) publish an article in Consumer Action Network (``CAN's'') 
respective organizations magazines or newsletters (no. of respondents: 
1; hour burden per respondent: 8 hrs; total annual hour burden: 8 
hours); (4) send a letter directly to all CAN's members (no. of 
respondents: 1; hour burden per respondent: 4 hours; total annual 
burden 4 hours); (5) create laminated cards with visual characters that 
will provide a pictorial explanation to accompany the text describing 
access to TRS centers from payphones to be distributed to TRS users 
(no. of respondents: 30; hour burden per respondent: 15 hours; total 
annual hour burden: 450 hours); and (6) work jointly with affected 
communities to draft and submit a report within two months of the 
publications of a summary of the 1997 Suspension Order in the Federal 
Register (no. of respondents: 1; hour burden per respondent: 7 hours; 
total annual hour burden: 7 hours). The Commission has imposed these 
third party disclosure requirements to educate TRS users about their 
ability to make relay calls from payphones, the payment methods 
available and the rates for the payphone calls. The report will help 
the Commission assess the effectiveness of the current consumer 
education programs and determine whether further requirements to 
educate TRS users about their ability to make relay calls from 
payphones are warranted. You are required to respond.
    OMB Control No.: 3060-0681.
    Expiration Date: 09/30/2000.
    Title: Toll-Free Service Access Codes--CC Docket No. 95-155, 47 CFR 
part 52, subpart D, Sections 52.101-52.111.
    Form No.: N/A.
    Respondents: Business or other for profit.
    Estimated Annual Burden: 168 respondents; 15 hours per response 
(avg.); 2,520 total annual burden hours for all collections.
    Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: $0.
    Frequency of Response: On occasion.
    Description: In Toll Free Service Access Codes, CC Docket No. 95-
155, Second Report and Order, (released 4/11/97), the Commission 
requires written requests for toll free numbers to be placed in 
unavailable status. RespOrgs requesting that specific toll free numbers 
be placed in unavailable status will be required to submit written 
requests, with appropriate documentation, to the toll free database 
administrator, Database Services Management, Inc. (DSMI). See 47 CFR 
52.103(f). This requirement will hold those RespOrgs more accountable 
and will decrease abuses of the lag time process. It will prevent 
numbers from being held in unavailable status without demonstrated 
reasons, and will make more numbers available for subscribers who need 
and want them. The Order states that, if DSMI is uncertain whether a 
number should be placed in unavailable status, it should seek guidance 
from the Commission's Common Carrier Bureau. Current industry 
guidelines already require that RespOrgs requesting that a toll free 
number be made unavailable submit written requests to DSMI with 
appropriate documentation. The Second Report and Order simply codifies 
the existing industry guidelines. DSMI (and, if necessary, the Common 
Carrier Bureau) will continue to use the information collected to 
determine if a particular toll free number appropriately can be placed 
in ``unavailable'' status. This will prevent the fraudulent use of toll 
free numbers.
    Public reporting burden for the collections of information is as 
noted above. Send comments regarding the burden estimate or any other 
aspect of the collections of information, including suggestions for 
reducing the burden to Performance Evaluation and Records Management, 
Washington, D.C. 20554.


Federal Communications Commission.
Shirley Suggs,
Chief, Publications Branch.
[FR Doc. 97-24857 Filed 9-18-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P