[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