Notice of Public Information Collection(s) Being Reviewed by the Federal Communications Commission; Comments Requested

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

Notice of Public Information Collection(s) Being Reviewed by the

Federal Communications Commission; Comments Requested

December 28, 1999.

SUMMARY: The Federal Communications Commission, as part of its

continuing effort to reduce paperwork burden invites the general public

and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on the

following information collection, as required by the Paperwork

Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13. An agency 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

Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) that does not display a valid control

number. 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 estimate; (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.

DATES: Written comments should be submitted on or before March 7, 2000.

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

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advise the contact listed below as soon as possible.

ADDRESSES: Direct all comments to Les Smith, Federal Communications

Commission, 445 12th Street, S.W., Room 1-A804, Washington, DC 20554 or

via the Internet to [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information or copies

of the information collections contact Les Smith at (202) 418-0217 or

via the Internet at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

OMB Approval Number: 3060-0463.

Title: Telecommunications Services for Individuals with Hearing and

Speech Disabilities and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990--CC

Docket No. 90-571 and Telecommunications Relay.

Form Number: N/A.

Type of Review: Extension.

Respondents: Business or other for profit; state, local or tribal

government; individuals or households.

Number of Respondents: 103 respondents.

Estimated Time Per Response: 112.6 hours per response (avg.).

Frequency of Response: On occasion, every five years.

Total Annual Burden: 21,557 hours.

Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: $0.

Needs and Uses: 47 CFR Part 64, Subpart F implements certain

provisions of the ADA of 1990. 47 CFR Section 64.605 establishes the

procedures for certifying state programs. Section 64.604 establishes

procedures for filing complaints. Information will be used to determine

whether a state's program is certifiable according to federal

requirements and to determine the merits of complaints filed. The

Commission issued a NPRM in CC Docket No. 98-76 regarding

telecommunications relay services and speech-to-speech (STS) relay

services for persons with hearing and speech disabilities. Rules

proposed in the NPRM would require that common carriers providing voice

transmission service must ensure that nationwide STS relay services are

available to users with speech disabilities throughout their service

area. Rules proposed in the NPRM also would amend the Commission's

current mandatory minimum standards for TRS service to improve the

effectiveness of those rules and their application to TRS service.

Those affected are states seeking certification of their programs and

any member of the public who wants to file a complaint against specific

carriers.

OMB Approval Number: None.

Title: Auditor's Annual Independence and Objectivity Certification.

Form Number: N/A.

Type of Review: New Collection.

Respondents: Business or other for profit.

Number of Respondents: 7 respondents.

Estimated Time Per Response: 10 hours per response (avg.).

Frequency of Response: On occasion; annually.

Total Annual Burden: 70 hours.

Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: $0.

Needs and Uses: The Responsible Accounting Officer Letter (RAO)

requires that carriers' independent auditors disclose in writing all

relationships between the auditor and its related entities and the

carrier and its related entities that in the auditor's professional

judgment may reasonably be thought to bear on independence; confirm in

writing in its professional judgment it is independent of the carrier;

and discuss the auditor's independence. The information will be used to

determine whether the independent auditor's are performing their audits

independently and unbiased of the carrier they audit.

OMB Approval Number: 3060-0774.

Title: Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service--CC Docket

No. 96-45, 47 CFR Part 54.

Form Number: N/A.

Type of Review: Extension.

Respondents: Business or other for profit; state, local or tribal

government.

Number of Respondents: 5,565,451 respondents.

Estimated Time Per Response: .32 hours per response (avg.).

Frequency of Response: On occasion; quarterly; annually;

recordkeeping.

Total Annual Burden: 1,787,278 hours.

Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: $0.

Needs and Uses: In the Ninth Report and Order and Eighteenth Order

on Reconsideration in CC Docket No. 96-45, released November 2, 1999,

the Commission modified 47 CFR Part 54 by adopting several amendments

to the current data reporting requirements to ensure that cost and lop

count data submitted by non-rural carriers under 47 CFR Part 36

conforms with loop count data submitted under Part 54 for forwarding

looking support. The amended sections containing information

collections are as follows. a. 47 CFR Section 54.307--In order to

receive support, a competitive eligible telecommunications carrier must

report to the Administrator on July 31 of each year the number of

working loops it serves in a service area as of December 31 of the

preceding year, subject to update specified in 47 CFR 54.307(c). For a

competitive eligible telecommunications carrier serving loops in the

service area of a rural telephone company, the carrier must report the

number of working loops it serves in the service area. For a

competitive eligible telecommunications carrier serving loops in the

service area of a non-rural telephone company, the carrier must report

the number of working loops it serves in the service area and the

number of working loops it serves in each wire center in the service

area. A competitive eligible telecommunications carrier serving loops

in the service area of a non-rural carrier telephone company, the

carrier must update the information submitted to the Administrator

pursuant to 47 CFR 54.307(c)(1)-(3). Because the interim hold-harmless

provision provides support based on the existing 47 CFR Part 36 support

mechanism, which relieves on book costs, non-rural incumbent LECs will

be required to file cost data, in addition to loop-count data, in order

to receive interim hold-harmless support. 47 CFR Section 54.309--Any

state may file a petition for waiver to ask the Commission distribute

support calculated to a geographic area different than the wire center.

Such petition must contain a description of the particular geographic

level to which the state desires support to be distributed, and an

explanation of how waiver will further the preservation and advancement

of universal service within the state. c. 47 CFR Section 54.311--A

state may file a petition for waiver asking the Commission to

distribute interim hold-harmless support to a geographic area different

than the wire center. Such petition must contain a description of the

particular geographic level to which the State desires interim hold-

harmless support to be distributed, and an explanation of how waiver

will further the preservation and advancement of universal service

within the state. The information will be used to show that federal

high-cost support is being provided to the carrier to assist in keeping

rates affordable in those subscribers' area. Further, the collection of

information will be used to verify that the carriers have accounted for

its receipt of federal support in its rates or otherwise used the

support for the ``provision, maintenance, and upgrading of facilities

and services for which the support is intended'' in accordance with 47

USC Section 254(e). In the Sixth Order on Reconsideration in CC Docket

No. 97-21 and the Fifteenth Order on

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Reconsideration in CC Docket No. 96-45 (released 11/1/99), the

Commission revised its rules governing the eligibility of services that

the universal service support mechanism will support. The Commission

also revised its rules to allow the Administrator to calculate the

support based upon all distance-based charges. The Commission modified

its rules to require health care providers and consortia of health care

providers to maintain documentation of the amount of support for which

each member of a consortium is eligible. The Commission modified its

rules to allow new members to be added to a consortium even after the

rural health care provider submits its application for support.

OMB Approval Number: 3060-0233.

Title: Separations--Part 36.

Form Number: N/A.

Type of Review: Extension.

Respondents: Business or other for profit.

Number of Respondents: 1500 respondents.

Estimated Time Per Response: 104.75 hours per response (avg.).

Frequency of Response: On occasion; quarterly; annually; third

party disclosures.

Total Annual Burden: 157,125 hours.

Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: $0.

Needs and Uses: Telephone companies are required to identify

investment, expenses and revenues attributable to intrastate and

interstate operations pursuant to a court decision. These procedures

are found in 47 CFR Part 36. In the Communications Act of 1934, as

amended by the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Congress codified the

Commission's historical policy of promoting universal service to ensure

that consumers in all regions of the nation have access to

telecommunications service. In 47 U.S.C. 254, Congress instructed the

Commission to establish specific, predictable, and sufficient

mechanisms to preserve and advance universal service. 47 CFR 36.601-

36.741 contain the following procedures and collections for the

Universal Service Fund Program. a. 47 CFR sections 36.611 and 36.612--

In order to allow determination of the study areas that are entitled to

an expense adjustment, and the wire centers that are entitled to

support pursuant to 47 CFR Part 54, each incumbent local exchange

carrier must provide the National Exchange Carrier Association (NECA)

with the information required by 47 CFR section 36.611 for each of its

study areas, with the exception of the information listed in subsection

(h), which must be provided for each study area and, if applicable, for

each wire center as that term is defined in 47 CFR Part 54. This

information is to be filed with NECA by July 31st of each year, and

must be updated pursuant to 47 CFR 36.612. The information filed on

July 31st of each year will be used in the jurisdictional allocations

underlying the cost support data for the access charge tariffs to be

filed the following October. b. 47 CFR 36.701-36.741--State or local

carriers must submit copies of their lifeline plans to demonstrate that

their plans meet certain minimum federal guidelines to qualify for

federal assistance. 47 CFR 36.721 requires state or local telephone

companies who want to participate in the ``Link-Up America'' Program to

file data with the Commission demonstrating eligibility pursuant to the

criteria contained in 47 CFR 36.721(a)(1)-(4). c. 47 CFR section 36.731

requires local telephone companies participating in the lifeline

programs to file information with NECA for each of their study areas,

on a yearly basis, on June 30th. Information to be filed with NECA

includes: estimate of the number of eligible households which will

receive assistance under both parts of the ``Link-Up America''

programs; estimate of the average discount on service commencement to

be provided to each subscriber; and estimate of the average deferred

interest cost for each subscriber. Carriers must submit the foregoing

information to the Commission, as well as to NECA for those study areas

in which the additional interstate expense allocation is to be in

effect for less than a full calendar year. See also 47 CFR section

36.741. d. In a NPRM issued in CC Docket No. 80-286, released 10/7/97,

the Commission sought comment on a proposed rule allowing incumbent

LECs to separate joint and common costs on an individual basis should

be contingent upon an ILECs showing that competition exists in the

local markets for which they seek relaxed separations rules. The

requirements contained herein are necessary to implement the

congressional mandate for universal service. The reporting requirements

are necessary to verify that non-rural local exchange carriers are

eligible to receive universal service support. Information filed with

NECA pursuant to 47 CFR 36.611 is used in the jurisdictional

allocations underlying the cost support data for the access charge

tariffs every April. Without this information, NECA would not be able

to prepare and file the necessary tariffs. Information submitted to the

Commission pursuant to 47 CFR 36.721 is required to maintain the

integrity of the Federal Lifeline Assistance programs. Certification is

necessary to ensure that the targeted group is the beneficiary of the

program.

OMB Control Number: None.

Title: Amendment of Part 95 of the Commission's Rules to Provide

Regulatory Flexibility in the 218-219 MHz Service.

Form Number: N/A.

Type of Review: New collection.

Respondents: Business or other for-profit entities.

Number of Respondents: 140.

Estimate Time Per Response: 12.6 hrs. (avg.).

Frequency of Response: Recordkeeping; On occasion reporting

requirements.

Total Annual Burden: 1,766 hours.

Total Annual Costs: None.

Needs and Uses: The Report and Order and Memorandum Opinion and

Order, in WT Docket No. 98-169, adopted September 7, 1999 and released

September 10, 1999, 64 FR 59656 (November 3, 1999), as codified at 47

CFR 1.2105(a)(2)(xi) and 95.816(b), offers various financial

restructuring options to the 218-219 MHz licensees regarding their

existing installment payment obligations and permits eligible licensees

to choose (i) reamortization and resumption of installment payments on

their licenses; (ii) an amnesty option wherein eligible licensees

surrender any licenses they choose to the Commission for subsequent

auction and, in return, have all of the outstanding debt on those

licenses forgiven; or (iii) a prepayment option whereupon licensees may

retain or return as many licenses as they desire; however, licensees

electing the prepayment option must prepay the outstanding principal of

any license they wish to retain. The information requested provides the

FCC with the data to implement the restructuring option(s) chosen by

current and former 218-219 MHz licensees. The staff will use this

information to maintain data on current licensees, new installment

payment terms, refunds to licensees, and spectrum returned to the FCC

for auction. The information collection is necessary in order to enable

the licensees to meet their financial obligations to the Commission

that will help ensure rapid provision of 218-219 MHz service to the

public.

Federal Communications Commission.

Magalie Roman Salas,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 00-337 Filed 1-6-00; 8:45 am]

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