[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 139 (Thursday, July 19, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42497-42498]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-17520]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION


Information Collection(s) Being Submitted for Review and Approval 
to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: As part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork burden 
and as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 
3502-3520), the Federal Communications Commission invites the general 
public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment 
on the following information collection(s). Comments are requested 
concerning: 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; the 
accuracy of the Commission's burden estimates; ways to enhance the 
quality, utility, and clarity of the information collected; 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; and ways to further reduce the 
information collection burden on small business concerns with fewer 
than 25 employees.
    The FCC may not conduct or sponsor a collection of information 
unless it displays a currently valid OMB 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 OMB control number.

DATES: Written Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) comments should be 
submitted on or before August 20, 2012. If you anticipate that you will 
be submitting PRA comments, but find it

[[Page 42498]]

difficult to do so within the period of time allowed by this notice, 
you should advise the FCC contact listed below as soon as possible.

ADDRESSES: Submit your PRA comments to Nicholas A. Fraser, Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB), via fax at 202-395-5167 or via Internet at 
[email protected] [email protected] and to Judith B. Herman, Federal 
Communications Commission, via the Internet at [email protected]. 
To submit your PRA comments by email send them to: [email protected] 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Judith B. Herman, Office of Managing 
Director, FCC, at 202-418-0214.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    OMB Control Number: 3060-0484.
    Title: Sections 4.1 and 4.2, Part 4 of the Commission's Rules 
Concerning Disruptions to Communications (NORS).
    Form Number: N/A.
    Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Respondents: Business or other for-profit entities and not-for-
profit institutions.
    Number of Respondents: 118 respondents; 15,444 responses.
    Estimated Time per Response: .25 hours to 2 hours.
    Frequency of Response: On occasion and annual reporting 
requirements, recordkeeping requirement and third party disclosure 
requirement.
    Obligation to Respond: Mandatory. Statutory authority for this 
information collection is contained in 47 U.S.C. 151, 152, 154(i)-(k), 
154(o), 218, 219, 230, 256, 301, 302(a), 303(f), 303(g), 303(j), 
303(r), 403, 615a, 621(b)(3), 621(d) and 1302(b) of the Communications 
Act of 1934, as amended; and section 1704 of the Omnibus Consolidated 
and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act of 1998, 44 U.S.C. 3504.
    Total Annual Burden: 29,647 hours.
    Total Annual Cost: N/A.
    Privacy Impact Assessment: N/A.
    Nature and Extent of Confidentiality: Outage reports filed pursuant 
to Part 4 of the Commission's rules are presumed confidential. The 
information in the filings may be shared with the Department of 
Homeland Security only under appropriate confidential disclosure 
provisions. Other persons seeking disclosure must follow the procedures 
delineated in 47 CFR 0.457 and 0.459 of the Commission's rules for 
requests for and disclosure of information.
    Needs and Uses: The Commission will submit this revised information 
collection to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) during this 
comment period to obtain the full, three year clearance from them. The 
Commission is reporting a 9,909 hour program change increase to the 
Commission's previous burden estimates. The increase in the burden is 
due to adoption of FCC 12-22, Report and Order, extending the Part 4 
outage reporting requirements to interconnected Voice Over Internet 
Protocol (VoIP) which are new respondents subject to the requirements 
of this information collection.
    Specifically, the Commission extended mandatory outage reporting 
rules to facilities-based and non-facilities based interconnected VoIP 
service providers and applied the current Part 4 definition of 
``outage'' to outages of interconnected VoIP service, covering the 
complete loss of service and/or connectivity to customers at least 30 
minutes duration that potentially affects at least 900,000 user minutes 
of interconnected VoIP services and results in complete loss of 
service; or potentially affects any special offices and facilities such 
as a 911 facility.
    Collecting data on significant outages of interconnected VoIP 
services will help the Commission to monitor compliance with the 
statutory 911 obligations of interconnected VoIP service providers, as 
well as help ensure the Nation's current and future 911 systems are as 
reliable and resilient as possible both on a day-to-day basis and in 
times of a major emergency. The Commission recognizes that consumers 
are increasingly relying on Internet Protocol (IP)-based technologies 
as substitutes for communications services provided by older 
communications technologies, and increasingly use interconnected VoIP 
services in lieu of traditional telephone service. As of December 31, 
2010, 31 percent of the more than 87 million residential telephone 
subscriptions in the United States were users of interconnected VoIP 
providers--an increase of 21 percent (from 22.4 million to 27.1 
million) from the end of 2009. Additionally, the Commission estimates 
that approximately 31 percent of residential wireline 911 calls are 
made using VoIP service.
    The information collected is administered by the FCC's Public 
Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB) which maintains an Internet 
Web site portal for the electronic submission of he required outage 
reports. In addition, provision is made for the submission of required 
data by other than electronic means in cases where electronic 
submission is not feasible. In cases where specified offices and 
facilities (other than 911 offices and facilities) are submitted with 
120 minutes of an outage to the Commission's duty officer (a post 
staffed 24 hours a day) in the FCC's Communications and Crisis 
Management Center in Washington, DC.

    Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene H. Dortch,
Secretary, Office of the Secretary, Office of Managing Director.
[FR Doc. 2012-17520 Filed 7-18-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P