[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 201 (Wednesday, October 17, 2012)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 63757-63758]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-25201]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

47 CFR Part 4

[PS Docket No. 11-82; FCC 12-22]


Extension of the Commission's Rules Regarding Outage Reporting to 
Interconnected Voice Over Internet Protocol Service Providers and 
Broadband Internet Service Providers

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Final rule; announcement of effective date.

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SUMMARY: In this document, the Commission announces that the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) has approved, for a period that expires on 
September 30, 2015, the information collection associated with the 
Commission's rules in the Extension of the Commission's Rules Regarding 
Outage Reporting to Interconnected Voice Over Internet Protocol Service 
Providers and Broadband Internet Service Providers Report and Order 
(Order). This notice is consistent with the Order, which stated that 
the Commission would publish a document in the Federal Register 
announcing the effective date of those rules.

DATES: The amendments to 47 CFR 4.3, 4.7, and 4.9 published at 77 FR 
25088, April 27, 2012, are effective December 16, 2012.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gregory F. Intoccia, Cybersecurity and 
Communications Reliability Division, Public Safety and Homeland 
Security Bureau, at (202) 418-1470, or email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This document announces that, on September 
17, 2012, OMB approved, for a period that expires on September 30, 
2015, the information collection requirements contained in the 
Commission's Order, FCC 12-22, regarding Interconnected Voice over 
Internet Protocol (VoIP) outage reporting rules, published at 77 FR, 
25088, April 27, 2012.

Synopsis

    As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 
3507), the Commission is notifying the public that it received OMB 
approval on September 17, 2012, for the information collection 
requirements contained in the modifications to the Commission's rules 
in 47 CFR Part 4. OMB approved the Order under the PRA Submission, Form 
OMB 83i, dated July 24, 2012, titled Section 4.1 and 4.2 and Part 4 of 
the Commission's rules Concerning Disruptions to Communications. Under 
5 CFR 1320, an agency may not conduct or sponsor a collection of 
information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. 
The OMB control number is 3060-0484. The foregoing notice is required 
by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Pub. L. 104-13, October 1, 
1995, and 44 U.S.C. 3507.
    The total annual reporting burdens and costs for the respondents 
are as follows:
    OMB Control Number: 3060-0484.
    OMB Approval Date: September 17, 2012.
    Expiration Date: September 30, 2015.
    Title: Extension of the Commission's Rules Regarding Outage 
Reporting to Interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol Service 
Providers and Broadband Internet Service Providers
    Form Number: N/A.
    Estimated Time per Response: 1.25 to 2 hours.
    Total Annual Burden: 29,647 hours.
    Total Annual Cost: N/A.
    Obligation to Respond: The number of respondents/responses is 118 
respondents 15,444 responses. The 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-l, 621(b)(3), 621(d), 1302(a) 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.
    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.
    Privacy Act: No impact(s).
    Needs and Uses: 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

[[Page 63758]]

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 
the 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.
    First, Respondents must submit electronically via the Network 
Outage Reporting System (NORS) (See http://transition.fcc.gov/pshsb/services/cip/nors/nors.html) notification to the Federal Communications 
Commission within: (a) 240 minutes of discovering that they have 
experienced on any facilities that they own, operate, lease, or 
otherwise utilize, an outage of at least 30 minutes duration that 
potentially affects a 9-1-1 special facility, in which case they also 
shall notify, as soon as possible by telephone or other electronic 
means, any official who has been designated by the management of the 
affected 9-1-1 facility as the provider's contact person for 
communications outages at that facility; in this case, the provider 
shall convey to that person all available information that may be 
useful to the management of the affected facility in mitigating the 
effects of the outage on efforts to communicate with that facility; or 
(b) 24 hours of discovering that these providers have experienced on 
any facilities that they own, operate, lease, or otherwise utilize, an 
outage of at least 30 minutes duration that: Potentially affects at 
least 900,000 user minutes of interconnected VoIP service and results 
in complete loss of service; or potentially affects any special offices 
and facilities. Second, Respondents must submit electronically via NORS 
a Final Communications Outage Report to the Commission not later than 
thirty days after discovering the outage.

Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene H. Dortch,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2012-25201 Filed 10-16-12; 8:45 am]
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