[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 174 (Tuesday, September 8, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55453-55454]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-19684]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

[OMB 3060-1139; FRS 17044]


Information Collection Being Reviewed by the Federal 
Communications Commission

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 of 1995 (PRA), the 
Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) invites the 
general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to 
comment on the following information collections. 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 FCC 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 PRA comments should be submitted on or before November 
9, 2020. 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 PRA comments to Nicole Ongele, FCC, via email 
[email protected] and to [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information about the 
information collection, contact Nicole Ongele, (202) 418-2991.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    OMB Control Number: 3060-1139.
    Title: FCC Consumer Broadband Services Testing and Measurement.
    Form Number: N/A.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.
    Respondents: Businesses or other for-profit and individuals or 
households.
    Number of Respondents and Responses: 501,020 respondents and 
501,020 responses.
    Estimated Time per Response: 1 hour-200 hours.
    Frequency of Response: Biennial reporting requirement and third-
party disclosure requirement.
    Obligation to Respond: Voluntary. Statutory authority for this 
information collection is contained in the Broadband Data Improvement 
Act of 2008, Public Law 110-385, Stat 4096, 103(c)(1).
    Total Annual Burden: 46,667 hours.
    Total Annual Costs: No Cost.
    Nature and Extent of Confidentiality: All participation in the 
Measuring Broadband America Program is voluntary and any participant 
can decline to participate at any time. No volunteers' personally 
identifying information (PII) such as name, phone number, or street 
addresses will be transmitted to the Commission from the contractor as 
a matter of vendor policy and agency privacy policy. SamKnows maintains 
a series of administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to 
protect against the transmission of PII. At point of registration, 
individuals will be given full disclosure in a ``privacy statement'' 
highlighting what information will be collected. Fixed Broadband ISP 
Partners receive PII about volunteers to confirm the validity of the 
information against their subscription records, but will be bound by a 
non-disclosure agreement that will maintain various administrative, 
technical and physical safeguards to protect the information and limit 
its use. Mobile Broadband ISP Partners have access to five kinds of 
information, including location and time of data collection, device 
type and operating system version, cellular performance and 
characteristics, and download, upload speed and other broadband 
performance, also restricted by a non-disclosure agreement that will 
maintain various administrative, technical and physical safeguards to 
protect the information and limit its use. ISP Partners providing 
support to the testing program will likewise be bound to the same 
series of administrative, technical and physical safeguards developed 
by SamKnows. In addition, all third parties supporting the program 
directly will be bound by a ``Code of Conduct'' to ensure all 
participate and act in good faith and with other legally enforceable 
documents such as non-disclosure agreements.
    Privacy Act Impact Assessment: This information collection effects 
individuals or households. However, personally identifiable information 
(PII) such as name, phone number, or street addresses is not being 
collected by, made available to or made accessible by the Commission 
but instead by third parties including SamKnows, a third party 
contractor, and internet Service Provider (ISP) Partners.
    Needs and Uses: The Commission will submit this expiring collection 
after this 60-day comment period to the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) to obtain the full three-year clearance.
    This study's collection of information on actual speeds and 
performance of fixed and mobile broadband connections delivered to 
consumers by ISPs has been reported to be of great value to academic 
researchers, manufacturers and technology providers, broadband 
providers, public interest groups and other diverse stakeholders. 
Validation of fixed broadband subscribed speeds as opposed to actual 
speeds by participating ISPs remains unique to this program and 
provides a context for measured speeds. Mobile broadband performance 
information is measured using the FCC Speed Test app for Android and 
iOS devices to test the upload and download speeds, latency and packet 
loss, as well as the wireless

[[Page 55454]]

performance characteristics of the broadband connection and the kind of 
handsets and versions of operating systems tested. Information the FCC 
Speed Test App (``Application'') collects is limited to information 
used to measure volunteers' mobile broadband service and no personally 
identifiable information, such as subscribers' name, phone number or 
unique identifiers associated with a device is collected. Software-
based tools and online tools exist that can test consumer's broadband 
connections, including a set of consumer tools launched by the FCC in 
conjunction with the National Broadband Plan. However, these tools 
track speeds experienced by consumers, rather than speeds delivered 
directly to a consumer by an ISP. The distinction is important for 
supporting Agency broadband policy analysis, as ISPs advertise speeds 
and performance delivered rather than speeds experienced, which suffers 
from degradation outside of an ISP's control.
    No other dedicated panel of direct fixed and mobile broadband 
performance measurement using publicly documented methodologies using 
free and add-free technologies exists today in the country. The program 
will continue to support existing software-based tools and online tools 
but the focus of the program will remain the direct measurement of 
broadband performance delivered to the consumer. The collection effort 
also has specific elements focused on further network performance 
statistics, time of day parameters, and other elements affecting 
consumers' broadband experience that are not tracked elsewhere. The 
information to be confirmed by ISP Partners about their subscribers or 
technical and market data regarding the broadband services they provide 
is unavailable from other sources.

Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene Dortch,
Secretary, Office of the Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2020-19684 Filed 9-4-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P