Public Information Collections Approved by Office of Management and Budget

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

Public Information Collections Approved by Office of Management

and Budget

March 6, 1998.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has received Office of

Management and Budget (OMB) approval for the following public

information collections pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of

1995, Public Law 104-13. An agency may not conduct or sponsor and a

person is not required to respond to a collection of information unless

it displays a currently valid control number. For further information

contact Shoko B. Hair, Federal Communications Commission, (202) 418-

1379.

Federal Communications Commission

OMB Control No.: 3060-0736.

Expiration Date: 09/30/98.

Title: Implementation of the Non-Accounting Safeguards of Sections

271 and 272 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, CC Docket

No. 96-149.

Form No.: N/A.

Respondents: Business or other for-profit.

Estimated Annual Burden: 5 respondents; 60.6 hours per response

(avg.); 303 total annual burden hours for all collections.

Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: $0.

Frequency of Response: On occasion.

Description: Section 272 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996

requires that BOCs make information available to third parties if it

makes that information available to its section 272(a) affiliates. In

an Order released February 6, 1998, the Commission's Common Carrier

Bureau resolved questions regarding the application of sections 10 and

272 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, (Act) to the

provision of E911 services by the Bell Operating Companies (BOCs). Bell

Operating Companies, Petitions for Forbearance from the Application of

Section 272 of the Communications Act of 1934, As Amended, to Certain

Activities, CC Docket No. 96-149, DA 98-220, Memorandum Opinion and

Order (Com. Car. Bur. Feb. 6, 1998) (February 6 Order). E911 services

enable emergency service personnel to identify the location of the

party calling 911, and are essential to the safety of many Americans.

In the February 6 Order, the Bureau determined that the BOCs' E911

services are interLATA information services. One consequence of this

determination was that each BOC had an obligation under section

272(a)(2)(C) of the Act to provide E911 services only through a

separate affiliate. In the February 6 Order, the Bureau forbore from

the application of this separate affiliate requirement pursuant to the

forbearance authority in section 10 of the Act, thus permitting the

BOCs to provide E911 services on an integrated basis. The Bureau

determined that requiring the BOCs to provide E911 services only

through separate affiliates would have increased the cost, but not the

quality, of those services. In the February 6 Order, the Bureau

maintained the substance of the statutory nondiscrimination requirement

by requiring each BOC to provide unaffiliated entities with all listing

information, including unlisted and unpublished numbers as well as the

numbers of other local exchange carriers' customers, that the BOC uses

to provide E911 services, even though that Order was permitting the

BOCs to provide those services on an integrated basis. The Bureau

required that this listing information be provided at the same rates,

terms, and conditions, if any, the BOC charges or imposes on its own

E911 services. The BOCs are already required to account for their

[[Page 12805]]

E911 services on the books of account that they maintain in accordance

with Part 32 of the Commissions rules. The Commission requires that the

BOCs treat their E911 serves as nonregulated activities for federal

accounting purposes to the extent they involve storage and retrieval

functions included within the statutory definition of information

service. The BOCs shall record any charges they impute for their E911

services in their revenue accounts. The BOCs shall account for any

imputed charges by debiting their nonregulated operating revenue

accounts and crediting their regulated revenue accounts by the amounts

of the imputed charges. The BOCs shall make any changes to their cost

allocation manuals necessary to reflect this account. The BOCs'

independent auditors shall include this accounting in their review of

the BOCs compliance with their cost allocation manuals. The

requirements will be used to ensure that BOCs comply with the

nondiscrimination requirements under the 1996 Act. Obligation to

comply: mandatory.

OMB Control No: 3060-0785.

Expiration Date: 08/31/98.

Title: Changes to the Board of Directors of the National Exchange

Carrier Association and the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal

Service, CC Docket Nos. 97-21 and 96-45.

Form No.: FCC Form 457.

Respondents: Business or other for-profit.

Estimated Annual Burden: 5000 respondents; 11.13 hours per response

(avg.); 55,650 total annual burden hours for all collections.

Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden:

$4,903,000.

Frequency of Response: On occasion.

Description: The Telecommunications Act of 1996 directed the

Commission to initiate a rulemaking to reform our system of universal

service so that universal service is preserved and advanced as markets

move toward competition. On May 8, 1997, the Commission released the

Report and Order on Universal Service (Universal Service Order) in CC

Docket 96-45 that established new federal universal service support

mechanisms consistent with the universal service provisions of section

254. In the Fourth Order on Reconsideration in CC Docket No. 96-45,

Report and Order in CC Docket Nos. 96-45, 96-262, 94-1, 91-213, 95-72

(adopted December 30, 1997, released December 30, 1997), the Commission

reconsidered certain aspects of the Universal Service Order and

exempted additional entities from universal service contribution and

reporting requirements. Broadcasters and schools, colleges,

universities, rural health care providers, and systems integrators that

derive de minimis amounts of revenue from the resale of

telecommunications will not be required to contribute to universal

service. Entities whose annual contribution would be less than $10,000

will not be required to contribute to universal service or comply with

universal service reporting requirements. Contributors exempt from

filing and contributing because of de minimis revenues must complete

and retain the FCC 457 worksheet and make it available to the

Commission or to the Universal Service Administrator upon request.

Underlying carriers should include revenues derived from providing

telecommunications to entities qualifying for the de minimis exemption

in line 34-47, where appropriate of their Universal Service Worksheet.

The Universal Service Worksheet, FCC Form 457 has been revised to make

it consistent with recent actions taken by the Commission in the

universal service proceeding. We have revised the Worksheet and

instructions to the Worksheet. Specifically, we revised the

instructions to clarify that quarterly contributions will be paid in

monthly installments and further clarify the method by which the

administrator of the universal service support mechanisms calculates

the individual quarterly contributions of universal service

contributors. We revised the instructions to provide a list of entities

that are excluded from federal universal service contribution

requirements. The instructions direct entities preparing Worksheets to

include on Line 27 amounts associated with waived presubscribed

interexchange carrier charges for Lifeline customers who have toll

blocking and clarify that revenues derived from the lease of bare

transponder capacity should not be included in Lines 32 or 46. In

addition, we revised Line 4, ``Principal communications business,'' to

include a new category, ``SMR (dispatch)'' and clarify that, where

possible, contributors should list billed revenues that are based on

books of account. Finally, we added a new Line 51. Contributors that

wish to request Commission nondisclosure of information contained in

the Worksheet may check a box in Line 51 to do so. Contributors are

required to file the Worksheet by March 31, 1998. The information will

be used by the Commission and the Administrator or Temporary

Administrator to calculate contributions to the universal service

support mechanisms. Copies of the Universal Service Worksheet may be

obtained from USAC by calling (973) 560-4400 or from the Commission's

website (www.fcc.gov/formpage.html) and from the Commission's fax-on-

demand line at (202) 418-2830 and selecting document number 6730

system. Respondents obligation to comply: Mandatory.

OMB Control No.: 3060-0818.

Expiration Date: 09/30/98.

Title: Geocode Data Request.

Form No.: N/A.

Respondents: Business or other for-profit.

Estimated Annual Burden: 19 respondents; 37 hours per response

(avg.); 703 total annual burden hours for all collections.

Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: $0.

Frequency of Response: One-time requirement.

Description: Pursuant to Congress's directive in the

Telecommunications Act of 1996 that the Commission establish support

mechanisms to ensure the delivery of affordable telecommunications

service to all Americans, the Commission determined on May 8, 1997 that

universal service support for rural, insular, and high cost areas

(collectively referred to as high cost areas) should be based on

forward-looking economic costs. The Commission stated that it would

select a federal mechanism for high cost support to non-rural carriers

by August 1998. That federal mechanism will determine high cost support

for non-rural carriers beginning on January 1, 1999. Nineteen non-rural

telecommunications common carriers were requested to voluntarily submit

data relating to extent of their use of geocoded data to locate

customers. The Commission will use the information collected in the

data request in its determination of whether geocode data should be

used as inputs to a federal mechanism that will estimate the forward-

looking economic costs that non-rural carriers will incur to provide

universal service in rural, insular, and high cost areas. Obligation to

comply: voluntary.

OMB Control No.: 3060-0536.

Expiration Date: 08/31/98.

Title: Rules and Requirements for Telecommunications Relay Services

(TRS) Interstate Cost Recovery.

Form No: FCC Form 431.

Respondents: Business or other for-profit.

Estimated Annual Burden: 5000 respondents; 3.11 hours per response

(avg.); 15,593 total annual burden hours for all collections.

Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: $0.

[[Page 12806]]

Frequency of Response: On occasion.

Description: Title IV of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Pub.

L. No. 101-336, Section 401, 104 Stat. 327, 366-69 (codified at 47

U.S.C. Section 225) requires the Federal Communications Commission to

ensure that telecommunications relay services are available to persons

with hearing and speech disabilities in the United States. Among other

things, the Commission is required by 47 U.S.C. Section 225(d)(3) to

enact and oversee a shared-funding mechanism (TRS Fund) for recovering

the costs of providing interstate TRS. The Commission's regulations

concerning the TRS Fund are codified at 47 CFR Section 64.604(c)(4).

Pursuant to these regulations, the National Exchange Carrier

Association (NECA) has been appointed Administrator of the TRS Fund.

The Commission's rules require all carriers providing interstate

telecommunications services to contribute to the TRS Fund on an annual

basis. Contributions are the product of the carrier's gross interstate

revenues for the previous year and a contribution factor determined

annually by the Commission. The collected contributions are used to

compensate TRS providers for the costs of providing interstate TRS

service. The Commission releases an order each year approving the

contribution factor, payment rate and TRS Fund Worksheet for the

following year. Accordingly, on December 22, 1997, the Commission's

Common Carrier Bureau, acting under delegated authority, released an

order approving the contribution factor for the April 1998 through

March 1999 contribution period and the 1998 TRS Fund Worksheet (FCC

Form 431) and also making several revisions to the form. The data in

the report will be used to ensure that carriers properly fund

interstate TRS. All carriers providing interstate telecommunications

service must file this worksheet. Other telecommunications carriers may

voluntarily file this worksheet. The requested information is used to

administer the TRS Fund. Information is used to calculate a national

average to recover the total interstate TRS revenue requirements and to

determine the appropriate payment due to the TRS providers

participating in the shared-funding plan. Obligation to comply:

required to obtain benefit. A public notice will be issued to announce

the availability of the revised FCC Form 431.

OMB Control No: 3060-0816.

Expiration Date: 08/31/98.

Title: Local Competition in the Local Exchange Telecommunications

Services Report.

Form No.: N/A.

Respondents: Business or other for-profit.

Estimated Annual Burden: 9 respondents; 18 responses; 310 hours per

response (avg.); 5580 total annual burden hours for all collections.

Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: $0.

Frequency of Response: Quarterly.

Description: The Telecommunications Act of 1996 (1996 Act), Pub.

Law No. 104-104, 110 Stat 56, codified 47 U.S.C. Secs. 151 et seq.,

imposes obligations and responsibilities on telecommunications

carriers, particularly incumbent local exchange carriers (LECs), that

are primarily designed to open telecommunications markets to

competitive entry, to promote universal service, and to lessen the need

for government regulation of telecommunications. Pursuant to these

overall goals, the statute directed the Commission to adopt regulations

to implement specific statutory requirements, including regulations

governing the provision of interconnection of incumbent LEC facilities

with new local exchange service competitors, and the competitive entry

of Bell Operating Companies (BOCs) into previously prohibited

interexchange and other services markets. As part of its

responsibilities toward achieving the intent of the statute, the

Commission must have adequate data at hand to evaluate the success of

these efforts. The Commission has asked certain carriers to complete a

two page survey questionnaire. The questions are limited to technical

queries about the nature and extent of carrier-provided access

facilities; switch ports and non-switched service lines; number of

customers purchasing specific services; state operations data; total

carrier-handled switched local, intrastate toll, and interstate toll

minutes; and number of local telephone numbers ported as of end-of-year

1997. The data request is necessary to evaluate the status of

developing competition in local exchange telecommunications markets.

This information will be used by Commission economists and carrier

analysts to advise the Commission about the efficacy of Commission

rules and policies adopted to implement the Telecommunications Act of

1996. Obligation to respond: voluntary.

OMB Control No.: 3060-0814.

Expiration Date: 06/30/98.

Title: Section 54.301 Local Switching Support and Local Switching

Support Data Collection Form and Instructions.

Form No: N/A.

Respondents: Business or other for-profit.

Estimated Annual Burden: 192 respondents; 21.55 hours per response

(avg.); 4138 total annual burden hours for all collections.

Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: $0.

Frequency of Response: On occasion; annually.

Description: The Telecommunications Act of 1996 directed the

Commission to initiate a rulemaking to reform our system of universal

service so that universal service is preserved and advanced as markets

move toward competition. On May 8, 1997, the Commission released the

Report and Order on Universal Service (Universal Service Order) in CC

Docket 96-45 that established new federal universal service support

mechanisms consistent with the universal service provisions of section

254. In the Fourth Order on Reconsideration in CC Docket No. 96-45,

Report and Order in CC Docket Nos. 96-45, 96-262, 94-1, 91-213, 95-72

(adopted December 30, 1997, released December 30, 1997), the Commission

reconsiders certain aspects of the Universal Service Order. Among other

things, the Fourth Order on Reconsideration adopts a precise

methodology for the universal service administrator to use in

calculating the average unseparated local switching revenue

requirement. Although this rule generally requires carriers to submit

data on October 1 of each year, the universal service administrator

must collect data from carriers that do not participate in the NECA

common line pool immediately to prepare for the 1998 year. Each

incumbent local exchange carrier that is not a member of the NECA

Common Line tariff, that has been designated an eligible

telecommunications carrier, and that serves a study area with 50,000 or

fewer access lines shall, for each study area, provide the

Administrator with the projected total unseparated dollar amount

assigned to each account in Section 54.301(b) for 1998. Of the carriers

that do not participate in the NECA common line pool, 20 of these

carriers are ``average schedule'' companies as defined in Part

69.605(c) of the Commission's rules. Each incumbent local exchange

carrier that is not a member of the NECA Common Line tariff, that is an

average schedule company, that has been designated an eligible

telecommunications carrier, and that serves a study area with 50,000 or

[[Page 12807]]

fewer access lines shall, for each study area, provide the

Administrator with their total number of access lines, total number of

central offices, and projected access minutes for 1998. These companies

receive local switching support calculated pursuant to section

54.301(f), whereas the remaining companies receive support calculated

pursuant to section 54.301(b). This data request is necessary to

calculate the average unseparated local switching revenue requirement.

This revenue requirement calculation is necessary to calculate the

amount of local switching support that carriers will receive. This data

request is necessary to calculate the average unseparated local

switching revenue requirement. Obligation to comply: mandatory.

OMB Control No.: 3060-0809.

Expiration Date: 02/28/2001.

Title: Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act--CC Docket

No. 97-213 (Proposed rule).

Form No: N/A.

Respondents: Business or other for-profit.

Estimated Annual Burden: 14,000 respondents; 3.3 hours per response

(avg.); 46,725 total annual burden hours for all collections.

Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: $0.

Frequency of Response: On occasion.

Description: On October 25, 1994, Congress passed and the President

signed the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA),

Pub. L. No. 103-414, 108 Stat. 4279 (1994). The Act was designed to

respond to rapid advances in telecommunications technology and

eliminate obstacles faced by law enforcement personnel in conducting

electronic surveillance. Section 301 of CALEA also requires the

Commission to prescribe and enforce the procedures and record keeping

that entities subject to CALEA must follow after receiving lawful

electronic surveillance requests from law enforcement entities. To

accomplish this statutory objective, the NPRM issued in CC Docket No.

97-213 proposed the creation of a subpart to Part 64 of the

Commission's rules, that would require each telecommunications carrier:

file a CALEA compliance statement with the Commission (47 CFR

Sec. 64.1705(a) (no. of respondents: 3500; hours per response: 1 hours;

total annual burden: 3500 hours)); have responsible employees sign

affidavits that the electronic surveillance was conducted lawfully (47

CFR Sec. 64.1704(c) no. of respondents: 3500; hours per response: 2.45;

total annual hours: 8575)); and maintain records of electronic

surveillance activity (47 CFR Sec. 64.1704(a) (no. of respondents:

3500; hours per response: 4.9; total annual hours: 17,510)). The

Commission also proposed to waive the compliance statement filing

requirement for telecommunications carriers with annual revenues below

an indexed threshold (currently $109 million), in order to reduce the

paperwork burden on small and rural telecommunications carriers (47 CFR

Sec. 1705(b)). We also proposed a requirement for carriers to maintain

a list of all persons authorized to process lawful requests for

electronic surveillance from law enforcement officials (no. of

respondents: 3500; hours per response: 5 hours; total annual hours:

17,500 hours). If adopted, the information submitted to the Commission

by telecommunications carriers will be used to determine whether or not

the telecommunications carriers are in conformance with CALEA's

requirements and the Commission's rules. The information maintained by

telecommunications carriers will be used by law enforcement officials

to determine the accountability and accuracy of telecommunications

carriers' compliance with lawful electronic surveillance orders.

Obligation to respond: mandatory, if adopted.

OMB Control No: 3060-0819.

Expiration Date: 09/30/98.

Title: Lifeline Assistance (Lifeline), Lifeline Connection

Assistance (Link Up) Reporting Worksheet and Instructions (47 CFR

Sections 54.400-54.417).

Form No: FCC Form 497.

Respondents: Business or other for-profit.

Estimated Annual Burden: 1500 respondents; 18,000 responses; 3

hours per response (avg.); 42,000 total annual burden hours for all

collections.

Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: $0.

Frequency of Response: On occasion; monthly; quarterly; semi-

annually.

Description: The Telecommunications Act of 1996 directed the

Commission to initiate a rulemaking to reform our system of universal

service so that universal service is preserved and advanced as markets

move toward competition. On May 8, 1997, the Commission released a

Report and Order on Universal Service (Universal Service Order) in CC

Docket 96-45 that established new federal universal service support

mechanisms consistent with section 254. In the Universal Service Order,

the Commission expanded and made competitively neutral its programs for

low-income consumers, Lifeline and Link Up. On December 30, 1997, the

Commission released a Fourth Order on Reconsideration that amended some

of the Lifeline and Link Up rules. The following describes the

universal service support reimbursement available to eligible

telecommunications carriers for providing Lifeline and Link Up programs

to qualifying low-income customers: Eligible telecommunications

carriers are permitted to receive universal service support

reimbursement for offering Lifeline service to qualifying low-income

customers; eligible telecommunications carriers may receive universal

service support reimbursement for the revenue they forego in reducing

their customary charge for commencing telecommunications service and

for providing a deferred schedule for payment of the charges assessed

for commencing service for which the consumer does not pay interest, in

conformity with 47 CFR Section 54.411; eligible telecommunications

carriers providing toll-limitation services (TLS) for qualifying low-

income subscribers will be compensated from universal service

mechanisms for the incremental cost of providing either toll blocking

or toll control; and eligible telecommunications carriers that serve

qualifying low-income consumers who have toll blocking shall receive

universal service support reimbursement for waiving the Presubscribed

Interexchange Carriers Charge (PICC) for Lifeline customers. FCC Form

497 implements the Lifeline and Link Up reimbursement programs.

Obligation to respond: required to obtain benefits. This information is

necessary in order for eligible telecommunications carriers to receive

universal service support reimbursement for providing Lifeline and Link

Up. Copies of the form may be obtained by calling USAC at (973) 884-

8027.

Public reporting burden for the collections of information is as

noted above. Send comments regarding the burden estimate or any other

aspect of the collections of information, including suggestions for

reducing the burden to Performance Evaluation and Records Management,

Washington, D.C. 20554.

Federal Communications Commission.

Magalie Roman Salas,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 98-6666 Filed 3-13-98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6712-01-P