[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 39 (Tuesday, February 27, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14491-14492]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-04019]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

[OMB 3060-1151; FR ID 204394]


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 (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.

DATES: Written PRA comments should be submitted on or before April 29, 
2024. 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: The FCC 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 PRA that does not 
display a valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number.
    OMB Control Number: 3060-1151.
    Title: Sections 1.1411, 1.1412, 1.1415, and 1.1416 Pole Attachment 
Access and Dispute Resolution Requirements.
    Form Number: FCC Form 5653.
    Type of Review: Revision of a currently-approved collection.
    Respondents: Business or other for-profit.
    Number of Respondents and Responses: 1,380 respondents; 165,009 
responses.
    Estimated Time per Response: 0.25-5 hours.
    Frequency of Response: On-occasion reporting requirement, 
recordkeeping requirement, and third-party disclosure requirement.
    Obligation to Respond: Mandatory or required to obtain or retain 
benefits. Statutory authority for this information collection is 
contained in 47 U.S.C. 224.
    Total Annual Burden: 120,980 hours.
    Total Annual Cost: $1,800.
    Needs and Uses: The Commission is requesting Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) approval for a revision to a currently approved 
information collection. In Accelerating Wireline Broadband Deployment 
by Removing Barriers to Infrastructure Investment, WC Docket No. 17-84, 
Fourth Report and Order, FCC 23-109 (rel. December 15, 2023) (Order), 
the Commission adopted rules that implement the pole attachment 
requirements in section 224 of the Communications Act of 1934, as 
amended. The Order substantially revised 47 CFR 1.1411, redesignated 
existing 47 CFR 1.1415 as 47 CFR 1.1416, and added a new 47 CFR 1.1415.
    Section 1.1411. In the Order, the Commission adopted regulations 
requiring utilities to share information about their poles with 
prospective telecommunications and cable attachers. The Commission 
created this requirement to help improve the attachment process and 
potentially reduce disputes, thus facilitating broadband deployment. 
Specifically, the Order requires utilities to provide to potential 
attachers, upon request, the information contained in their most recent 
cyclical pole inspection reports, or any intervening, periodic reports 
created before the next cyclical inspection, for the poles covered by a 
submitted attachment application, including whether any of the affected 
poles have been ``red tagged'' by the utility for replacement and the 
scheduled replacement date or timeframe (if any). For the purposes of 
this new transparency requirement, a cyclical pole inspection report is 
any report that a utility creates in the normal course of its business 
that sets forth the results of the routine inspection of its poles 
during the utility's normal pole inspection cycle, while a periodic 
pole inspection report is any report that a utility creates in the 
normal course of its business that sets forth the results of the 
inspection of any of its poles outside the utility's normal pole 
inspection cycle.
    When asking for information about the status of a utility's poles 
for a planned buildout, the attacher must submit its information 
request no earlier than contemporaneously with an attachment 
application. The utility will have ten business days to respond to the 
request. Where an attacher amends its application based on the 
information it receives from the utility, the utility will have the 
option to restart the 45-day period for responding to the application 
on the merits and conducting the required make-ready survey. Regardless 
of whether the utility elects to restart the 45-day response period, 
any additional survey costs necessitated by the amended application, 
such as a second survey after a survey for the original application has 
been completed, will be borne by the new attacher consistent with the 
new attacher's obligation to pay for make-ready costs associated with 
its application.
    The Commission also required utilities to retain copies, in 
whatever form they were created, of any such cyclical or periodic pole 
inspection reports they conduct in the normal course of business, until 
such time as the utility completes a superseding cyclical pole 
inspection report covering the poles included in the attachment 
application. The Commission reiterated that utilities are required to 
provide only the information they already possess and track in the 
normal course of conducting pole inspections at the time of the 
attacher's request for data. The Commission did not require utilities 
to collect or create new information for the purpose of responding to 
such requests or to provide all information they may possess on the 
affected poles outside their pole inspection reports. The Commission 
found that adopting this limited requirement achieves a balance between 
a potential attacher's need for more information about the poles that 
it plans to use as part of a broadband buildout and the utility's 
interest in minimizing the burden of mandatory disclosures.
    Section 1.1415. To expedite the resolution of pole attachment 
disputes that impede or delay active broadband

[[Page 14492]]

deployment projects, the Commission established the Rapid Broadband 
Assessment Team (RBAT), which will consist of one or more staff from 
the Commission's Enforcement Bureau and one or more staff from the 
Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau. The Commission created the 
RBAT in an effort to make the Commission's pole attachment dispute 
resolution process more responsive and adaptable with the goal of 
facilitating broadband deployment. The Order charged the RBAT with 
expediting the resolution of such disputes by swiftly engaging key 
stakeholders, gathering relevant information, distilling issues in 
dispute, and recommending to the parties, where appropriate, an 
abbreviated mediation process, placement of a complaint (or portion of 
a complaint) on the Commission's Accelerated Docket based on 
consideration of specified criteria, and/or any other action that the 
RBAT determines will help the parties resolve their dispute.
    To request RBAT review and assessment of a dispute that a party to 
the dispute contends is impeding or delaying deployment of broadband 
facilities, the party must first notify the Chief of the Enforcement 
Bureau's Market Disputes Resolution Division (MDRD) of the request by 
phone and in writing. The MDRD Chief will direct the party to FCC Form 
5653--Request for RBAT Review and Assessment--on the MDRD website and 
to instructions for completing and electronically transmitting the form 
to the RBAT. The form will elicit information relevant to the scope and 
nature of the dispute, and to whether the dispute is appropriate for 
expedited mediation and/or placement on the Accelerated Docket. The 
information submitted by a party on the FCC Form 5653 will assist the 
RBAT in efficiently reviewing and assessing the party's dispute and in 
providing guidance on the most effective means of resolving it. The 
RBAT also may request that one or both parties provide the RBAT with 
documentation or other information relevant to the dispute. After 
reviewing the parties' submissions, the RBAT will provide guidance and 
advice to the parties on the most effective means of resolving their 
dispute, including staff-supervised mediation, use of the Accelerated 
Docket, and/or other action.
    Should the RBAT recommend staff-supervised mediation, it shall be 
conducted pursuant to 47 CFR 1.737, the requirements of which may be 
modified or waived as appropriate in this context or as needed in light 
of the facts or circumstances of a particular case. In the event that 
the parties are unable to settle their dispute, and a prospective 
complainant seeks placement of its complaint on the Accelerated Docket, 
the RBAT will decide whether the complaint or a portion of the 
complaint is suitable for inclusion on the Accelerated Docket based on 
a totality of the factors listed in 47 CFR 1.1415(e).

Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene Dortch,
Secretary, Office of the Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2024-04019 Filed 2-26-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P