[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 119 (Monday, June 22, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33930-33931]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-16419]
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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
Public Information Collections Approved by Office of Management
and Budget
June 12, 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.: 3060-0789.
Expiration Date: 06/30/2001.
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: 35 respondents; 13.48 hour per response
(avg.); 472 total annual burden hours for all collections.
Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: $0.
Frequency of Response: On occasion.
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-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 an Order issued in
Telecommunications Relay Services, and the Americans with Disabilities
Act of 1990, CC Docket No. 90-571 (adopted August 20, 1997; released
August 21, 1997), 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 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 Order.
The 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 burden: 4 hours); (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 minutes; 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 hours; 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); and, (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). 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. Obligation to respond:
Required.
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.
[[Page 33931]]
Federal Communications Commission.
WIlliam F. Caton,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 98-16419 Filed 6-19-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-F