[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 237 (Tuesday, December 12, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58393-58394]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-26731]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

[OMB 3060-XXXX]


Information Collection Being Submitted for Review and Approval to 
the Office of Management and Budget

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: As part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork burdens, 
and as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, the 
Federal Communications Commission (FCC or the Commission) invites the 
general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to 
comment on the following information collection. 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 estimate; 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 Commission may not conduct or sponsor a collection of 
information unless it displays a currently valid Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) control number. No person shall be subject to any 
penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information subject 
to the PRA that does not display a valid OMB control number.

DATES: Written comments should be submitted on or before January 11, 
2018. 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 contacts listed below as soon as possible.

ADDRESSES: Direct all PRA comments to Nicholas A. Fraser, OMB, via 
email [email protected]; and to Cathy Williams, FCC, via 
email [email protected] and to [email protected]. Include in the 
comments the OMB control number as shown in the SUPPLEMENTARY 
INFORMATION below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information or copies 
of the information collection, contact Cathy Williams at (202) 418-
2918. To view a copy of this information collection request (ICR) 
submitted to OMB: (1) Go to the web page http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain, (2) look for the section of the web page called ``Currently 
Under Review,'' (3) click on the downward-pointing arrow in the 
``Select Agency'' box below the ``Currently Under Review'' heading, (4) 
select ``Federal Communications Commission'' from the list of agencies 
presented in the ``Select Agency'' box, (5) click the ``Submit'' button 
to the right of the ``Select Agency'' box, (6) when the list of FCC 
ICRs currently under review appears, look for the OMB control number of 
this ICR and then click on the ICR Reference Number. A copy of the FCC 
submission to OMB will be displayed.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: As part of its continuing effort to reduce 
paperwork burdens, and as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) 
of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), the Federal Communications Commission 
(FCC or the Commission) invites the general public and other Federal 
agencies to take this opportunity to comment on the following 
information collection. 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 estimate; 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.
    OMB Control Number: 3060-XXXX.
    Title: Mobility Fund Phase II Challenge Process.
    Form Number: N/A.
    Type of Review: New information collection.
    Respondents: Business or other for-profit entities, not-for-profit 
institutions, and state, local or tribal governments.
    Estimated Number of Respondents and Responses: 500 respondents and 
500 responses.
    Estimated Time per Response: 204 hours for challengers; 71 hours 
for challenged parties.
    Frequency of Response: One-time reporting requirement.
    Obligation To Respond: Required to obtain or retain benefits. 
Statutory authority for the currently approved information collection 
is contained in sections 154, 254, and 303(r) of the Communications 
Act, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 4, 254, 303(r).
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 78,725 hours.
    Total Annual Costs: None.
    Nature and Extent of Confidentiality: To the extent the information 
submitted pursuant to this information collection is determined to be 
confidential, it will be protected by the Commission. If a respondent 
seeks to have information collected pursuant to this information 
collection withheld from public inspection, the respondent may request

[[Page 58394]]

confidential treatment pursuant to section 0.459 of the Commission's 
rules for such information. See 47 CFR 0.459.
    Privacy Act Impact Assessment: No impact(s).
    Needs and Uses: A request for approval of this new information 
collection is being submitted to the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) to obtain the full three-year clearance from OMB. In its November 
2011 USF/ICC Transformation Order (FCC 11-161), the Commission 
established the Mobility Fund, which consists of two phases. Mobility 
Fund Phase I (MF-I) provided one-time universal service support 
payments to immediately accelerate deployment of mobile broadband 
services. MF-II will use a reverse auction to provide ongoing universal 
service support payments to continue to advance deployment of such 
services. The Commission adopted the rules and framework for MF-I in 
the USF/ICC Transformation Order, and sought comment in an accompanying 
further notice of proposed rulemaking on the proposed framework for MF-
II. In its February 2017 Mobility Fund II Report and Order and Further 
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (MF-II Report and Order and/or FNPRM) 
(FCC 17-11), the FCC adopted the rules and framework for moving forward 
expeditiously with the MF-II auction. Among other things, the 
Commission stated in the MF-II Report and Order that, prior to the 
auction, it would establish a map of areas presumptively eligible for 
MF-II support based on the most recently available FCC Form 477 mobile 
wireless coverage data, and provide a limited timeframe for parties to 
challenge those initial determinations during the pre-auction process. 
The Commission sought comment in the accompanying Mobility Fund II 
FNPRM on how to best design a robust, targeted MF-II challenge process 
that efficiently resolves disputes about the areas eligible for MF-II 
support. In August 2017, the Commission released an Order on 
Reconsideration and Second Report and Order (Challenge Process Order) 
(FCC 17-102) in which it (1) reconsidered its earlier decision to use 
FCC Form 477 data to compile the map of areas presumptively eligible 
for MF-II support and decided it would instead conduct a new, one-time 
data collection with specified data parameters tailored to MF-II to 
determine the areas in which there is deployment of qualified LTE that 
will be used (together with high-cost disbursement data available from 
the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC)) for this purpose, 
and (2) adopted a streamlined challenge process that will efficiently 
resolve disputes about areas deemed presumptively ineligible for MF-II 
support. The map of areas presumptively eligible for MF-II support will 
serve as the starting point for the challenge process pursuant to which 
an interested party (challenger) may initiate a challenge with respect 
to one or more areas initially deemed ineligible for MF-II support 
(i.e., areas not listed on the Commission's map of areas presumptively 
eligible for MF-II support and challenged parties can respond to 
challenges. A challenger seeking to initiate a challenge of one or more 
areas initially deemed ineligible in the Commission's map of areas 
presumptively eligible for MF-II support may do so via the online 
challenge portal developed by USAC for this purpose (the USAC portal). 
For each state, a challenger must (1) identify the area(s) it seeks to 
challenge, (2) submit detailed proof of a lack of unsubsidized, 
qualified 4G LTE coverage in each challenged area in the form of actual 
outdoor speed test data collected using the standardized parameters 
specified by the Commission in the Challenge Process Order and any 
other parameters the Commission or the Wireless Telecommunications 
Bureau and Wireline Competition Bureau (the Bureaus) may implement, and 
(3) certify its challenge.
    After the challenge window closes, the USAC system will use an 
automated challenge validation process developed by USAC to validate a 
challenger's evidence and will determine which challenged areas pass 
validation and which fail. Once all valid challenges have been 
identified, a challenged party that chooses to respond to any valid 
challenge(s) will have a response window within which to submit 
additional data via the online USAC portal. A challenged party may 
submit technical information that is probative regarding the validity 
of a challenger's speed tests (i.e., information demonstrating that the 
challenger's speed tests are invalid or do not accurately reflect 
network performance), including speed test data and other device-
specific data collected from transmitter monitoring software or, 
alternatively, may submit its own speed test data that conforms to the 
same standards and requirements specified by the Commission and the 
Bureaus for challengers.
    In conjunction with the qualified 4G LTE data separately collected 
pursuant to OMB 3060-1242 that will be used to create the map of areas 
presumptively eligible for MF-II support, the information collected 
under this new MF-II challenge process collection will enable the 
Commission to efficiently resolve disputes concerning the eligibility 
or ineligibility of an area initially deemed ineligible for MF-II 
support and establish the final map of areas eligible for such support, 
thereby furthering the Commission's goal of targeting MF-II support to 
areas that lack adequate mobile voice and broadband coverage absent 
subsidies through a transparent process.

Federal Communications Commission.

Marlene H. Dortch,
Secretary, Office of the Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2017-26731 Filed 12-11-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6712-01-P