[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 52 (Monday, March 18, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12013-12014]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-6378]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION


Notice of Public Information Collection(s) Being Reviewed by the 
Federal Communications Commission, Comments Requested

March 11, 2002.
SUMMARY: The Federal Communications Commission, as part of its 
continuing effort to reduce paperwork burden invites the general public 
and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on the 
following collection(s), as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995, Public Law 104-13. An agency may not conduct or sponsor a 
collection of information unless it displays a currently valid control 
number. No person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply 
with a collection of information subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act 
(PRA) that does not display a valid control number. Comments are 
requested concerning (a) whether the proposed collection of information 
is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the 
Commission, including whether the information shall have practical 
utility; (b) the accuracy of the Commission's burden estimate; (c) ways 
to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information 
collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of 
information on the respondents, including the use of automated 
collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

DATES: Written comments should be submitted on or before May 17, 2002. 
If you anticipate that you will be submitting comments, but find it 
difficult to do so within the period of time allowed by this notice, 
you should advise the contact listed below as soon as possible.

ADDRESSES Direct all comments to Judy Boley Herman or Leslie Smith, 
Federal Communications Commission, Room 1-C804 or Room 1-A804, 445 12th 
Street, SW., Washington, DC 20554 or via the Internet to 
[email protected] or [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information or copies 
of the information collection(s), contact Judy Boley Herman at 202-418-
0214 or via the Internet at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    OMB Control No.: 3060-0463.
    Title: Telecommunications Services for Individuals with Hearing and 
Speech Disabilities and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 47 
CFR Part 64 (Sections 64.601-64.605.
    Form No.: N/A.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.
    Respondents: Business or other for-profit, state, local or tribal 
government.
    Number of Respondents: 5,052.
    Estimated Time Per Response: 5.31 hours (average hour per 
response).
    Frequency of Response: On occasion, annual and every five year 
reporting requirements; third party disclosure requirement, and 
recordkeeping requirement.
    Total Annual Burden: 26,831 hours.
    Total Annual Cost: N/A.
    Needs and Uses: The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), 
Public Law 101-336, 104 Stat. 327, 366-69, was enacted on July 26, 
1990. The purpose of the ADA is to provide a clear and comprehensive 
national mandate to end discrimination against individuals with 
disabilities and to bring persons with disabilities into the economic 
and social mainstream of American life; to provide enforceable 
standards addressing discrimination against individuals with 
disabilities; and to ensure that the Federal government play a central 
role in enforcing these standards on behalf of individuals with 
disabilities. Title IV of the ADA adds section 225 to the 
Communications Act of 1934. Section 225 requires the Commission to 
promulgate regulations that require all domestic telephone common 
carriers to provide telecommunications relay services (TRS). 47 CFR 
part 64, subpart F implements certain provisions of the ADA. It 
contains the operational technical, and functional standards required 
of all TRS providers and the procedures for state certification. In a 
Memorandum Opinion and Order (MO&O) issued in CC Docket No. 98-67, 
released December 21, 2001, the Commission adopted cost-recovery 
guidelines to telecommunications relay services (TRS), speech-to-speech 
relay services (STS), and video relay services (VRS). These guidelines 
are based, in part, on the recommendation of the Interstate TRS 
Advisory Council and the TRS Fund Administrator. Among other things, 
the Commission expanded TRS Data Request to capture separately STS 
costs and minutes include specific sections to capture separately VRS 
costs and minutes for this service. Other requirements approved under 
this control number and unaffected by the MO&O follow. Section 64.605 
describes the state certification procedures by which states may apply 
to assert jurisdiction over the provisions of intrastate TRS. Section 
64.604(c)(1) requires states to maintain a log of consumer complaints 
including all complaints about TRS in the state, whether filed with the 
TRS provider or the State, and must retain the log until the next 
application for certification is granted. Pursuant to section 
64.604(c)(2) states must submit to the Commission a contact person or 
office for TRS consumer information and complaints about intrastate 
TRS. Pursuant to 47 CFR 64.604(b)(2), TRS providers must answer 85% of 
all relay calls within 10 seconds by a CA prepared to place the TRS 
call at the time. The calculation of whether a provider is in 
compliance with the ``85-10 rule'' must be performed on at least a 
daily basis.
    Pursuant to 47 CFR 64.604(a)(2), STS CAs may retain information 
from a particular call in order to facilitate the completion of 
consecutive calls, at the request of the user. Pursuant to section 
64.604(b)(6), relay providers shall electronically capture recorded 
messages and retain them for the length of the call. See 47 CFR0 
64.604(b)(6). Section 64.604(c)(3) requires carriers, through 
publications in their directories, periodic billing inserts, placement 
of TRS instructions in telephone directories, through directory 
assistance services, and incorporation of TTY numbers in telephone 
directories, shall assure that callers in their service areas are aware 
of the availability and use of all forms of TRS. Pursuant to section 
64.604(c)(5)(B) carriers must complete and submit a Telecommunications 
Reporting Worksheet. Section 64.604(c)(iii)(5)(C) requires TRS 
providers to provide the

[[Page 12014]]

administrator with true and adequate data necessary to determine TRS 
fund revenue requirements and payments. Pursuant to section 
64.604(c)(iii)(5)(E), in addition to the data required under paragraph 
(c)(5)(ii)(C) all TRS providers, including providers who are not 
interexchange carriers, local exchange carriers, or certified state 
relay providers, must submit reports of interstate TRS minutes of use 
to the administrator in order to receive payments. Section 
64.604(c)(iii)(5)(F) lists TRS providers who are eligible for receiving 
payments from the TRS fund. These providers must notify the 
administrator of their intent to participate in the TRS Fund thirty 
days prior to submitting reports of TRS interstate minutes of use in 
order to receive payment settlements for interstate TRS. Section 
64.604(c)(6)(v)(3) requires TRS providers to file with the Commission a 
statement designating an agent or agents whose principal responsibility 
will be to receive all complaints, inquiries, orders, decisions, and 
notices and other pronouncements forwarded by the Commission. Section 
64.604(c)(7) requires that all future contracts between the TRS 
administrator and the TRS vendor shall provide for the transfer of TRS 
customer profile data from the outgoing TRS vendor to the incoming TRS 
vendor. Such data must be disclosed in usable form at least 60 days 
prior to the provider's last day of service provision. Section 
64.604(c)(6) establishes complaint procedures for TRS. All the 
collections of information are promulgated pursuant to section 225 of 
the ADA which requires that the Commission ensures that 
telecommunications relay services are available to persons with hearing 
and speech disabilities in the United States.

    OMB Control No.: 3060-0972.
    Title: Multi-Association Group (MAG) Plan for Regulation of 
Interstate Services of Non-Price Cap Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers 
and Interexchange Carriers.
    Form No.: N/A.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.
    Respondents: Business or other for-profit, state, local or tribal 
government.
    Number of Respondents: 8,059.
    Estimated Time Per Response: 4.81 hours (average hours per 
response), burden hour range per response is .13 hours to 93 hours.
    Frequency of Response: On occasion, quarterly, annual and one-time 
reporting requirements; and third party disclosure requirement.
    Total Annual Burden: 38,760 hours.
    Total Annual Cost: $228,000.
    Needs and Uses: In the Second Report and Order and Further Notice 
of Proposed Rulemaking in CC Docket No. 00-256, Fifteenth Reportl and 
Order in CC Docket No. 96-45, and Report and Order in CC Docket Nos. 
98-77 and 98-166, the Commission modified its rules to reform the 
interstate access charge and universal service support system for 
incumbent local exchange carriers subject to rate-of-return regulation 
(non-price cap or rate of return carriers). Following are brief 
summaries of the collections imposed on telecommunications carriers 
based on rules adopted in the Report and Order. Certain carriers are 
required to file projected common line revenue requirements for each 
study area they operate; rate of return carriers will be required to 
submit interstate common line cost data annually and updated cost data 
on a quarterly basis; rate of return carriers will be required to file 
line counts by disaggregation zone and customer class; competitive 
eligible telecommunication carriers will file their line counts by 
disaggregation zone and customer class on a quarterly basis; rate of 
return carriers that elect to disaggregate and target support will be 
required to submit maps; carriers electing Path One must submit a copy 
of certifications to a state commission or appropriate regulatory 
authority that they will not disaggregate and target support; carriers 
selecting Path Two must submit a copy of the order by the state 
commission or appropriate regulatory authority approving the 
disaggregation plan submitted, along with a copy of the disaggregation 
plan itself; carriers receiving Interstate Common Line Support and LTS 
must file a certification annually indicating that they will use that 
support in a manner consistent with section 254(e); all rate of return 
carriers are required to modify their access tariffs to comply with the 
new Subscriber Line Charge caps; rate of return carriers must also file 
tariffs to recover through a separate end-user charge the costs of ISDN 
line ports and line ports associated with other services that exceed 
the costs of a line port used for basis analog service; rate of return 
carriers may use 30 percent of local switching costs as a proxy in 
shifting line port costs to the common line category, or may conduct a 
cost study; each carrier that was not in the NECA pool during the 
tariff year ending on June 30, 2001 must determine its TIC limit and 
report it to NECA; rate-of-return carriers may, at their option, 
establish the following local switching and transport rate elements: A 
flat charge for dedicated trunk port costs, a flat charge for the costs 
of DS1/voice grade multiplexers associated with terminating dedicated 
trunks at analog switches, a per-minute charge for shared trunk ports 
and any associated DS1/voice grade multiplexer costs, a flat charge for 
the costs of trunk ports used to terminate dedicated trunks on the 
serving wire center side of the tandem switch; individual charges for 
multiplexer costs associated with tandem switches, and a per-message 
call setup charge; and, rate-of-return carriers that use general 
purpose computers to provide non-regulated billing and collection 
services are required to allocate a portion of their general purpose 
computer costs to the billing and collection category, which will 
require them to determine general purpose computer investment. The 
Commission will use the information collected to determine whether and 
to what extent non-price cap or rate-of-return carriers providing the 
data are eligible to receive universal service support. The Commission 
will use the tariff data to make sure that rates are just and 
reasonable, as required by section 201(b) of the Act.

Federal Communications Commission.
William F. Caton,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 02-6378 Filed 3-15-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-M