[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 50 (Monday, March 16, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12804-12807]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-6666]
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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
Public Information Collections Approved by Office of Management
and Budget
March 6, 1998.
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.: 3060-0736.
Expiration Date: 09/30/98.
Title: Implementation of the Non-Accounting Safeguards of Sections
271 and 272 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, CC Docket
No. 96-149.
Form No.: N/A.
Respondents: Business or other for-profit.
Estimated Annual Burden: 5 respondents; 60.6 hours per response
(avg.); 303 total annual burden hours for all collections.
Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: $0.
Frequency of Response: On occasion.
Description: Section 272 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996
requires that BOCs make information available to third parties if it
makes that information available to its section 272(a) affiliates. In
an Order released February 6, 1998, the Commission's Common Carrier
Bureau resolved questions regarding the application of sections 10 and
272 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, (Act) to the
provision of E911 services by the Bell Operating Companies (BOCs). Bell
Operating Companies, Petitions for Forbearance from the Application of
Section 272 of the Communications Act of 1934, As Amended, to Certain
Activities, CC Docket No. 96-149, DA 98-220, Memorandum Opinion and
Order (Com. Car. Bur. Feb. 6, 1998) (February 6 Order). E911 services
enable emergency service personnel to identify the location of the
party calling 911, and are essential to the safety of many Americans.
In the February 6 Order, the Bureau determined that the BOCs' E911
services are interLATA information services. One consequence of this
determination was that each BOC had an obligation under section
272(a)(2)(C) of the Act to provide E911 services only through a
separate affiliate. In the February 6 Order, the Bureau forbore from
the application of this separate affiliate requirement pursuant to the
forbearance authority in section 10 of the Act, thus permitting the
BOCs to provide E911 services on an integrated basis. The Bureau
determined that requiring the BOCs to provide E911 services only
through separate affiliates would have increased the cost, but not the
quality, of those services. In the February 6 Order, the Bureau
maintained the substance of the statutory nondiscrimination requirement
by requiring each BOC to provide unaffiliated entities with all listing
information, including unlisted and unpublished numbers as well as the
numbers of other local exchange carriers' customers, that the BOC uses
to provide E911 services, even though that Order was permitting the
BOCs to provide those services on an integrated basis. The Bureau
required that this listing information be provided at the same rates,
terms, and conditions, if any, the BOC charges or imposes on its own
E911 services. The BOCs are already required to account for their
[[Page 12805]]
E911 services on the books of account that they maintain in accordance
with Part 32 of the Commissions rules. The Commission requires that the
BOCs treat their E911 serves as nonregulated activities for federal
accounting purposes to the extent they involve storage and retrieval
functions included within the statutory definition of information
service. The BOCs shall record any charges they impute for their E911
services in their revenue accounts. The BOCs shall account for any
imputed charges by debiting their nonregulated operating revenue
accounts and crediting their regulated revenue accounts by the amounts
of the imputed charges. The BOCs shall make any changes to their cost
allocation manuals necessary to reflect this account. The BOCs'
independent auditors shall include this accounting in their review of
the BOCs compliance with their cost allocation manuals. The
requirements will be used to ensure that BOCs comply with the
nondiscrimination requirements under the 1996 Act. Obligation to
comply: mandatory.
OMB Control No: 3060-0785.
Expiration Date: 08/31/98.
Title: Changes to the Board of Directors of the National Exchange
Carrier Association and the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal
Service, CC Docket Nos. 97-21 and 96-45.
Form No.: FCC Form 457.
Respondents: Business or other for-profit.
Estimated Annual Burden: 5000 respondents; 11.13 hours per response
(avg.); 55,650 total annual burden hours for all collections.
Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden:
$4,903,000.
Frequency of Response: On occasion.
Description: The Telecommunications Act of 1996 directed the
Commission to initiate a rulemaking to reform our system of universal
service so that universal service is preserved and advanced as markets
move toward competition. On May 8, 1997, the Commission released the
Report and Order on Universal Service (Universal Service Order) in CC
Docket 96-45 that established new federal universal service support
mechanisms consistent with the universal service provisions of section
254. In the Fourth Order on Reconsideration in CC Docket No. 96-45,
Report and Order in CC Docket Nos. 96-45, 96-262, 94-1, 91-213, 95-72
(adopted December 30, 1997, released December 30, 1997), the Commission
reconsidered certain aspects of the Universal Service Order and
exempted additional entities from universal service contribution and
reporting requirements. Broadcasters and schools, colleges,
universities, rural health care providers, and systems integrators that
derive de minimis amounts of revenue from the resale of
telecommunications will not be required to contribute to universal
service. Entities whose annual contribution would be less than $10,000
will not be required to contribute to universal service or comply with
universal service reporting requirements. Contributors exempt from
filing and contributing because of de minimis revenues must complete
and retain the FCC 457 worksheet and make it available to the
Commission or to the Universal Service Administrator upon request.
Underlying carriers should include revenues derived from providing
telecommunications to entities qualifying for the de minimis exemption
in line 34-47, where appropriate of their Universal Service Worksheet.
The Universal Service Worksheet, FCC Form 457 has been revised to make
it consistent with recent actions taken by the Commission in the
universal service proceeding. We have revised the Worksheet and
instructions to the Worksheet. Specifically, we revised the
instructions to clarify that quarterly contributions will be paid in
monthly installments and further clarify the method by which the
administrator of the universal service support mechanisms calculates
the individual quarterly contributions of universal service
contributors. We revised the instructions to provide a list of entities
that are excluded from federal universal service contribution
requirements. The instructions direct entities preparing Worksheets to
include on Line 27 amounts associated with waived presubscribed
interexchange carrier charges for Lifeline customers who have toll
blocking and clarify that revenues derived from the lease of bare
transponder capacity should not be included in Lines 32 or 46. In
addition, we revised Line 4, ``Principal communications business,'' to
include a new category, ``SMR (dispatch)'' and clarify that, where
possible, contributors should list billed revenues that are based on
books of account. Finally, we added a new Line 51. Contributors that
wish to request Commission nondisclosure of information contained in
the Worksheet may check a box in Line 51 to do so. Contributors are
required to file the Worksheet by March 31, 1998. The information will
be used by the Commission and the Administrator or Temporary
Administrator to calculate contributions to the universal service
support mechanisms. Copies of the Universal Service Worksheet may be
obtained from USAC by calling (973) 560-4400 or from the Commission's
website (www.fcc.gov/formpage.html) and from the Commission's fax-on-
demand line at (202) 418-2830 and selecting document number 6730
system. Respondents obligation to comply: Mandatory.
OMB Control No.: 3060-0818.
Expiration Date: 09/30/98.
Title: Geocode Data Request.
Form No.: N/A.
Respondents: Business or other for-profit.
Estimated Annual Burden: 19 respondents; 37 hours per response
(avg.); 703 total annual burden hours for all collections.
Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: $0.
Frequency of Response: One-time requirement.
Description: Pursuant to Congress's directive in the
Telecommunications Act of 1996 that the Commission establish support
mechanisms to ensure the delivery of affordable telecommunications
service to all Americans, the Commission determined on May 8, 1997 that
universal service support for rural, insular, and high cost areas
(collectively referred to as high cost areas) should be based on
forward-looking economic costs. The Commission stated that it would
select a federal mechanism for high cost support to non-rural carriers
by August 1998. That federal mechanism will determine high cost support
for non-rural carriers beginning on January 1, 1999. Nineteen non-rural
telecommunications common carriers were requested to voluntarily submit
data relating to extent of their use of geocoded data to locate
customers. The Commission will use the information collected in the
data request in its determination of whether geocode data should be
used as inputs to a federal mechanism that will estimate the forward-
looking economic costs that non-rural carriers will incur to provide
universal service in rural, insular, and high cost areas. Obligation to
comply: voluntary.
OMB Control No.: 3060-0536.
Expiration Date: 08/31/98.
Title: Rules and Requirements for Telecommunications Relay Services
(TRS) Interstate Cost Recovery.
Form No: FCC Form 431.
Respondents: Business or other for-profit.
Estimated Annual Burden: 5000 respondents; 3.11 hours per response
(avg.); 15,593 total annual burden hours for all collections.
Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: $0.
[[Page 12806]]
Frequency of Response: On occasion.
Description: Title IV of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Pub.
L. No. 101-336, Section 401, 104 Stat. 327, 366-69 (codified at 47
U.S.C. Section 225) requires the Federal Communications Commission to
ensure that telecommunications relay services are available to persons
with hearing and speech disabilities in the United States. Among other
things, the Commission is required by 47 U.S.C. Section 225(d)(3) to
enact and oversee a shared-funding mechanism (TRS Fund) for recovering
the costs of providing interstate TRS. The Commission's regulations
concerning the TRS Fund are codified at 47 CFR Section 64.604(c)(4).
Pursuant to these regulations, the National Exchange Carrier
Association (NECA) has been appointed Administrator of the TRS Fund.
The Commission's rules require all carriers providing interstate
telecommunications services to contribute to the TRS Fund on an annual
basis. Contributions are the product of the carrier's gross interstate
revenues for the previous year and a contribution factor determined
annually by the Commission. The collected contributions are used to
compensate TRS providers for the costs of providing interstate TRS
service. The Commission releases an order each year approving the
contribution factor, payment rate and TRS Fund Worksheet for the
following year. Accordingly, on December 22, 1997, the Commission's
Common Carrier Bureau, acting under delegated authority, released an
order approving the contribution factor for the April 1998 through
March 1999 contribution period and the 1998 TRS Fund Worksheet (FCC
Form 431) and also making several revisions to the form. The data in
the report will be used to ensure that carriers properly fund
interstate TRS. All carriers providing interstate telecommunications
service must file this worksheet. Other telecommunications carriers may
voluntarily file this worksheet. The requested information is used to
administer the TRS Fund. Information is used to calculate a national
average to recover the total interstate TRS revenue requirements and to
determine the appropriate payment due to the TRS providers
participating in the shared-funding plan. Obligation to comply:
required to obtain benefit. A public notice will be issued to announce
the availability of the revised FCC Form 431.
OMB Control No: 3060-0816.
Expiration Date: 08/31/98.
Title: Local Competition in the Local Exchange Telecommunications
Services Report.
Form No.: N/A.
Respondents: Business or other for-profit.
Estimated Annual Burden: 9 respondents; 18 responses; 310 hours per
response (avg.); 5580 total annual burden hours for all collections.
Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: $0.
Frequency of Response: Quarterly.
Description: The Telecommunications Act of 1996 (1996 Act), Pub.
Law No. 104-104, 110 Stat 56, codified 47 U.S.C. Secs. 151 et seq.,
imposes obligations and responsibilities on telecommunications
carriers, particularly incumbent local exchange carriers (LECs), that
are primarily designed to open telecommunications markets to
competitive entry, to promote universal service, and to lessen the need
for government regulation of telecommunications. Pursuant to these
overall goals, the statute directed the Commission to adopt regulations
to implement specific statutory requirements, including regulations
governing the provision of interconnection of incumbent LEC facilities
with new local exchange service competitors, and the competitive entry
of Bell Operating Companies (BOCs) into previously prohibited
interexchange and other services markets. As part of its
responsibilities toward achieving the intent of the statute, the
Commission must have adequate data at hand to evaluate the success of
these efforts. The Commission has asked certain carriers to complete a
two page survey questionnaire. The questions are limited to technical
queries about the nature and extent of carrier-provided access
facilities; switch ports and non-switched service lines; number of
customers purchasing specific services; state operations data; total
carrier-handled switched local, intrastate toll, and interstate toll
minutes; and number of local telephone numbers ported as of end-of-year
1997. The data request is necessary to evaluate the status of
developing competition in local exchange telecommunications markets.
This information will be used by Commission economists and carrier
analysts to advise the Commission about the efficacy of Commission
rules and policies adopted to implement the Telecommunications Act of
1996. Obligation to respond: voluntary.
OMB Control No.: 3060-0814.
Expiration Date: 06/30/98.
Title: Section 54.301 Local Switching Support and Local Switching
Support Data Collection Form and Instructions.
Form No: N/A.
Respondents: Business or other for-profit.
Estimated Annual Burden: 192 respondents; 21.55 hours per response
(avg.); 4138 total annual burden hours for all collections.
Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: $0.
Frequency of Response: On occasion; annually.
Description: The Telecommunications Act of 1996 directed the
Commission to initiate a rulemaking to reform our system of universal
service so that universal service is preserved and advanced as markets
move toward competition. On May 8, 1997, the Commission released the
Report and Order on Universal Service (Universal Service Order) in CC
Docket 96-45 that established new federal universal service support
mechanisms consistent with the universal service provisions of section
254. In the Fourth Order on Reconsideration in CC Docket No. 96-45,
Report and Order in CC Docket Nos. 96-45, 96-262, 94-1, 91-213, 95-72
(adopted December 30, 1997, released December 30, 1997), the Commission
reconsiders certain aspects of the Universal Service Order. Among other
things, the Fourth Order on Reconsideration adopts a precise
methodology for the universal service administrator to use in
calculating the average unseparated local switching revenue
requirement. Although this rule generally requires carriers to submit
data on October 1 of each year, the universal service administrator
must collect data from carriers that do not participate in the NECA
common line pool immediately to prepare for the 1998 year. Each
incumbent local exchange carrier that is not a member of the NECA
Common Line tariff, that has been designated an eligible
telecommunications carrier, and that serves a study area with 50,000 or
fewer access lines shall, for each study area, provide the
Administrator with the projected total unseparated dollar amount
assigned to each account in Section 54.301(b) for 1998. Of the carriers
that do not participate in the NECA common line pool, 20 of these
carriers are ``average schedule'' companies as defined in Part
69.605(c) of the Commission's rules. Each incumbent local exchange
carrier that is not a member of the NECA Common Line tariff, that is an
average schedule company, that has been designated an eligible
telecommunications carrier, and that serves a study area with 50,000 or
[[Page 12807]]
fewer access lines shall, for each study area, provide the
Administrator with their total number of access lines, total number of
central offices, and projected access minutes for 1998. These companies
receive local switching support calculated pursuant to section
54.301(f), whereas the remaining companies receive support calculated
pursuant to section 54.301(b). This data request is necessary to
calculate the average unseparated local switching revenue requirement.
This revenue requirement calculation is necessary to calculate the
amount of local switching support that carriers will receive. This data
request is necessary to calculate the average unseparated local
switching revenue requirement. Obligation to comply: mandatory.
OMB Control No.: 3060-0809.
Expiration Date: 02/28/2001.
Title: Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act--CC Docket
No. 97-213 (Proposed rule).
Form No: N/A.
Respondents: Business or other for-profit.
Estimated Annual Burden: 14,000 respondents; 3.3 hours per response
(avg.); 46,725 total annual burden hours for all collections.
Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: $0.
Frequency of Response: On occasion.
Description: On October 25, 1994, Congress passed and the President
signed the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA),
Pub. L. No. 103-414, 108 Stat. 4279 (1994). The Act was designed to
respond to rapid advances in telecommunications technology and
eliminate obstacles faced by law enforcement personnel in conducting
electronic surveillance. Section 301 of CALEA also requires the
Commission to prescribe and enforce the procedures and record keeping
that entities subject to CALEA must follow after receiving lawful
electronic surveillance requests from law enforcement entities. To
accomplish this statutory objective, the NPRM issued in CC Docket No.
97-213 proposed the creation of a subpart to Part 64 of the
Commission's rules, that would require each telecommunications carrier:
file a CALEA compliance statement with the Commission (47 CFR
Sec. 64.1705(a) (no. of respondents: 3500; hours per response: 1 hours;
total annual burden: 3500 hours)); have responsible employees sign
affidavits that the electronic surveillance was conducted lawfully (47
CFR Sec. 64.1704(c) no. of respondents: 3500; hours per response: 2.45;
total annual hours: 8575)); and maintain records of electronic
surveillance activity (47 CFR Sec. 64.1704(a) (no. of respondents:
3500; hours per response: 4.9; total annual hours: 17,510)). The
Commission also proposed to waive the compliance statement filing
requirement for telecommunications carriers with annual revenues below
an indexed threshold (currently $109 million), in order to reduce the
paperwork burden on small and rural telecommunications carriers (47 CFR
Sec. 1705(b)). We also proposed a requirement for carriers to maintain
a list of all persons authorized to process lawful requests for
electronic surveillance from law enforcement officials (no. of
respondents: 3500; hours per response: 5 hours; total annual hours:
17,500 hours). If adopted, the information submitted to the Commission
by telecommunications carriers will be used to determine whether or not
the telecommunications carriers are in conformance with CALEA's
requirements and the Commission's rules. The information maintained by
telecommunications carriers will be used by law enforcement officials
to determine the accountability and accuracy of telecommunications
carriers' compliance with lawful electronic surveillance orders.
Obligation to respond: mandatory, if adopted.
OMB Control No: 3060-0819.
Expiration Date: 09/30/98.
Title: Lifeline Assistance (Lifeline), Lifeline Connection
Assistance (Link Up) Reporting Worksheet and Instructions (47 CFR
Sections 54.400-54.417).
Form No: FCC Form 497.
Respondents: Business or other for-profit.
Estimated Annual Burden: 1500 respondents; 18,000 responses; 3
hours per response (avg.); 42,000 total annual burden hours for all
collections.
Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: $0.
Frequency of Response: On occasion; monthly; quarterly; semi-
annually.
Description: The Telecommunications Act of 1996 directed the
Commission to initiate a rulemaking to reform our system of universal
service so that universal service is preserved and advanced as markets
move toward competition. On May 8, 1997, the Commission released a
Report and Order on Universal Service (Universal Service Order) in CC
Docket 96-45 that established new federal universal service support
mechanisms consistent with section 254. In the Universal Service Order,
the Commission expanded and made competitively neutral its programs for
low-income consumers, Lifeline and Link Up. On December 30, 1997, the
Commission released a Fourth Order on Reconsideration that amended some
of the Lifeline and Link Up rules. The following describes the
universal service support reimbursement available to eligible
telecommunications carriers for providing Lifeline and Link Up programs
to qualifying low-income customers: Eligible telecommunications
carriers are permitted to receive universal service support
reimbursement for offering Lifeline service to qualifying low-income
customers; eligible telecommunications carriers may receive universal
service support reimbursement for the revenue they forego in reducing
their customary charge for commencing telecommunications service and
for providing a deferred schedule for payment of the charges assessed
for commencing service for which the consumer does not pay interest, in
conformity with 47 CFR Section 54.411; eligible telecommunications
carriers providing toll-limitation services (TLS) for qualifying low-
income subscribers will be compensated from universal service
mechanisms for the incremental cost of providing either toll blocking
or toll control; and eligible telecommunications carriers that serve
qualifying low-income consumers who have toll blocking shall receive
universal service support reimbursement for waiving the Presubscribed
Interexchange Carriers Charge (PICC) for Lifeline customers. FCC Form
497 implements the Lifeline and Link Up reimbursement programs.
Obligation to respond: required to obtain benefits. This information is
necessary in order for eligible telecommunications carriers to receive
universal service support reimbursement for providing Lifeline and Link
Up. Copies of the form may be obtained by calling USAC at (973) 884-
8027.
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.
Magalie Roman Salas,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 98-6666 Filed 3-13-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P