[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 89 (Tuesday, May 7, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38132-38133]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-09839]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

[OMB 3060-1151; FR ID 217642]


Information Collection Being Submitted for Review and Approval to 
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, 
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. Pursuant to the Small Business 
Paperwork Relief Act of 2002, the FCC seeks specific comment on how it 
might ``further reduce the information collection burden for 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 and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be submitted on or before June 6, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this particular information collection by selecting 
``Currently under 30-day Review--Open for Public Comments'' or by using 
the search function. Your comment must be submitted into 
www.reginfo.gov per the above instructions for it to be considered. In 
addition to submitting in www.reginfo.gov also send a copy of your 
comment on the proposed information collection to Nicole Ongele, FCC, 
via email to [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 Nicole Ongele at (202) 418-2991. 
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 Title 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, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 
1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), the FCC invited the general public and 
other Federal Agencies to take this opportunity to comment on the 
following information collection. Comments are requested concerning: 
(a) 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; (b) the accuracy 
of the Commission's burden estimates; (c) ways to enhance the quality, 
utility, and clarity of the information collected; and (d) 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. Pursuant to the Small Business 
Paperwork Relief Act of 2002, Public Law 107-198, see 44 U.S.C. 
3506(c)(4), the FCC seeks specific comment on how it might ``further 
reduce the information collection burden for small business concerns 
with fewer than 25 employees.''
    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

[[Page 38133]]

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 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. 2024-09839 Filed 5-6-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P