[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 189 (Tuesday, September 30, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51109-51110]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-25787]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION


Public Information Collections Approved by Office of Management 
and Budget

September 19, 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, Pub. L. 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.: 3060-0292.
    Expiration Date: 09/30/2000.
    Title: Access Charges--Part 69.
    Form No.: N/A.
    Respondents: Business or other for profit.
    Estimated Annual Burden: 1458 respondents; 23.19 hours per response 
(avg.); 33,825 total annual burden hours for all collections.
    Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: $0.
    Frequency of Response: On occasion; semi-annually; monthly; one-
time requirement.
    Description: Part 69 of the Commission's rules and regulations 
establishes the rules for access charges for interstate or foreign 
access provided by telephone companies on or after January 1, 1984. 
Part 69 essentially consists of rules or the procedures for the 
computation of access charges. Section 69.3 requires the annual 
submission of access charge tariffs. Section 69.116(c) and 69.117(c) 
require local exchange carriers to file information with NECA semi-
annually pertaining to the number of lines in their study areas and the 
interexchange carriers to which such lines are presubscribed. This 
information will be used by NECA to assess revenue requirements needed 
to fund the Universal Service Fund and Lifeline Assistance programs. 
(No. of respondents: 1458; hours per response: 5 hrs.; total annual 
hours: 14,580 hrs.). Section 69.104(k)(1) requires that a state or 
local telephone company wishing to implement an end user common line 
reduction or waiver for its subscribers file information with the 
Commission demonstrating that its state lifeline assistance plan meets 
certain criteria. This is an one-time filing requirement. (No. of 
respondents: 50; hours per response: 20 hrs.; total annual burden 1000 
hrs.). Section 69.104(1) requires local telephone carriers to calculate 
for NECA their projected revenue requirements for the lifeline 
assistance program. (No. of respondents: 1459; hours per response: 3.5 
hrs; total annual burden: 5103 hrs). Section 69.605 requires carriers 
who are participating in the pool to report access revenues and cost 
data so that NECA may compute monthly pool revenues distributions. (No. 
of respondents: 1548; hours per response: .75 hrs; total annual burden: 
13,122 hrs). The information is used to compute charges in tariffs for 
access service (or origination and termination) and to compute revenue 
pool distributions. Neither process could be implemented without the 
information. You are required to respond.
    OMB Control No.: 3060-0577.
    Expiration Date: 09/30/2000.
    Title: Expanded Interconnection with Local Telephone Company 
Facilities.
    Form No.: N/A.
    Respondents: Business or other for profit.
    Estimated Annual Burden: 16 respondents; 15 hours per response 
(avg.); 240 total annual burden hours for all collections.
    Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: $10,000.
    Frequency of Response: On occasion.
    Description: In September 1992, the Commission adopted an order 
requiring Tier 1 local exchange carriers (LECs), excluding NECA pool 
members, to offer expanded interconnection for special access to all 
interested parties, permitting competitors and high volume users to 
terminate their own transmission facilities at LEC central offices. 
(Special Access Order, CC Docket No. 91-141, Expanded Interconnection 
with Local Telephone Company Facilities). Under the rules adopted in 
the Special Access Order, Tier 1 LECs (those with over $100 million in 
annual regulated revenues for a sustained period of time), except for 
NECA pool members, are required to provide physical collocation to all 
interconnectors that request it, with exemptions for LEC offices that 
do not have enough space for physical collocation, and, under certain 
circumstances, for states with regulatory policies favoring virtual 
collocation or LEC choice of the form of collocation. Interconnectors 
and LECs will be free to negotiate virtual collocation arrangements if 
both parties prefer such arrangements over physical collocation. In the 
Second Memorandum Opinion and Order on Reconsideration in CC Docket No. 
91-141 (Reconsideration Order), the Commission reconsidered some of the 
particularly time-sensitive requirements of the Special Access Order. 
In particular, the Reconsideration Order reconsiders de novo the fresh 
look issues addressed in the Special Access Order, clarifies and 
expands the Commission's requirements concerning the application of 
nonrecurring charges, modifies the requirement for tariffing virtual 
collocation arrangements, and specifies certain standards that must be 
met for a connection charge rate structure to be considered reasonable. 
In order to comply with these requirements, Tier 1 LECs will have to 
make certain tariff revisions. In addition, LECs must make tariff 
filings to provide public notice of the start of the ``fresh look'' 
period at each of their

[[Page 51110]]

offices where expanded interconnection is implemented. Sections 201, 
202, 203, 204, and 205 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 
47 U.S.C. 201, 202, 203, 204, and 205, require that common carriers 
establish just and reasonable charges, practices, and regulations for 
the services they provide, and prohibit any unjust or unreasonable 
discrimination, preference, or advantage. The LEC schedules containing 
these charges, practices, and regulations must be filed with the 
Commission. The tariff filings required by the Reconsideration Order 
are necessary to ensure the effectiveness of the fresh look opportunity 
that the Commission adopted in order to allow eligible customers to 
assess the new alternatives available in a more competitive market. The 
tariff filings that will be needed to comply with the Commission's 
rules on nonrecurring charges and connection charges are necessary to 
ensure that the rates charged to all LEC customers are just, 
reasonable, and nondiscriminatory. Without this information, the FCC 
would be unable to determine whether the tariffs for these services are 
just, reasonable, nondiscriminatory, and otherwise in accordance with 
the law and its rules. Obligation to respond is mandatory.
    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 S. Suggs,
Chief, Publications Branch.
[FR Doc. 97-25787 Filed 9-29-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P