Information Collection(s) Being Reviewed by the Federal Communications Commission, Comments Requested

AGENCY:

Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION:

Notice; request for comments.

SUMMARY:

As part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork burden and as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), the Federal Communications Commission invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on the following information collection(s). 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 burden for 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 OMB 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 OMB control number.

DATES:

Written Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) comments should be submitted on or before April 1, 2013. If you anticipate that you will be submitting PRA comments, but find it difficult to do so within the period of time allowed by this notice, you should advise the FCC contact listed below as soon as possible.

ADDRESSES:

Submit your PRA comments to Judith B. Herman, Federal Communications Commission, via the Internet at Judith-b.herman@fcc.gov. To submit your PRA comments by email send them to: PRA@fcc.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Judith B. Herman, Office of Managing Director, (202) 418-0214.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

OMB Control Number: 3060-0719.

Title: Quarterly Report of Local Exchange Carriers Listing Payphone Automatic Number Identifications (ANIs).

Form Number: N/A.

Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.

Respondents: Business or other for-profit entities.

Number of Respondents: 400 respondents; 1,600 responses.

Estimated Time per Response: 3.5 hours (8 hours for the initial submission; 2 hours per subsequent submission—for an average of 3.5 hours per response).

Frequency of Response: Quarterly reporting requirement, recordkeeping requirement and third party disclosure requirement.

Obligation To Respond: Mandatory. Statutory authority for this information collection is contained in 47 U.S.C. sections 151, 154, 201-205, 215, 218, 219, 220, 226 and 276 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended.

Total Annual Burden: 5,600 hours.

Total Annual Cost: N/A.

Privacy Impact Assessment: N/A.

Nature and Extent of Confidentiality: The Commission is not requesting respondents to submit confidential information to the Commission. If the respondents wish confidential treatment of their information, they may request confidential treatment under 47 CFR 0.459 of the Commission's rules.

Needs and Uses: The Commission will submit this expiring information collection after this comment period to obtain the full, three year clearance from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The Commission is requesting approval for an extension (no change in the reporting and/or third party disclosure requirements). There is no change to the Commission's previous burden estimates.

The Commission adopted rules and policies governing the payphone industry under section 276(b)(1)(A) of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (the Act) and established “a per call compensation plan to ensure that all payphone service providers are fairly compensated for each and every completed intrastate and interstate call.” Pursuant to this mandate and as required by section 64.1310(d) of the Commission's rules, Local Exchange Carriers (LECs) must provide to carriers required to pay compensation pursuant to section 64.1300(a), a quarterly report listing payphone ANIs. Without provision of this report, resolution of disputed ANIs would be rendered very difficult. Carriers would not be able to discern which ANIs pertain to payphones and therefore would not be able to ascertain which dial-around calls were originated by payphones for compensation purposes. There would be no way to guard against possible fraud. Without this collection, lengthy investigations would be necessary to verify claims. The report allows carriers to determine which dial-around calls are made from payphones. Without this collection, lengthy investigations would be necessary to verify claims. The report allows carriers to determine which dial-around calls are made from payphones. The information must be provided to third parties. The requirement would be used to ensure that LECs and the carriers required to pay compensation pursuant to 47 CFR section 64.1300(a) of the Commission's rules, comply with their obligations under the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

OMB Control Number: 3060-0816.

Title: Local Telephone Competition and Broadband Reporting (Report and Order, WC Docket No. 07-38, FCC 08-89; Order on Reconsideration, WC Docket No. 07-38 FCC 08-148).

Form Number: FCC Form 477.

Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.

Respondents: Business or other for-profit entities, not-for-profit institutions and state, local or tribal government.

Number of Respondents: 1,980 respondents; 3,960 responses.

Estimated Time per Response: 296 hours.

Frequency of Response: Semi-annual reporting requirement.

Obligation to Respond: Mandatory. Statutory authority for this information collection is contained in 47 U.S.C. 4(i), 201, 218-220, 251-252, 271, 303(r), 332, and 403 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended and section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, as amended, codified in section 1302 of the Broadband Data Improvement Act, 47 U.S.C. 1302.

Total Annual Burden: 1,172,160 hours.

Total Annual Cost: N/A.

Privacy Impact Assessment: N/A.

Nature and Extent of Confidentiality: The Commission will continue to allow respondents to certify, on the first page of the each submission, that some data contained in that submission are privileged or confidential commercial or financial information and that disclosure of such information would likely cause substantial harm to the competitive position of the entity making the submission. If the Commission receives a request for, or proposes to disclose the information, the respondent would be required to show, pursuant to Commission rules for withholding from public inspection information submitted to the Commission, that the information in question is entitled to confidential treatment. We will retain our current policies and procedures regarding the confidential treatment of submitted FCC Form 477 data, including use of the aggregated, non-company specific data in our published reports.

Needs and Uses: The Commission will submit this expiring information collection after this comment period to obtain the full, three year clearance from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The Commission is requesting approval for an extension (no change in the reporting requirements). There are changes to the Commission's previous burden estimates. The Commission has increased the estimated average time per response for this information collection from 289 hours to 296 hours. The adjustment is also due to the increased number of respondents and their types of operations, (e.g., interconnected VoIP service providers with multi-state operations.) There is no change to the FCC Form 477.

FCC Form 477 gathers information on the development of local telephone competition including telephone services and interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services, and on the deployment of broadband also known as advanced telecommunications services.

The data are necessary to evaluate the status of competition in local telecommunications services markets and to evaluate the status of broadband deployment. The information is used by the FCC staff to advice the Commission about the efficacy of Commission rules and policies adopted to implement the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

OMB Control Number: 3060-0537.

Title: Sections 13.9(c), 13.13(c), 13.17(b), 13.211(e) and 13.217, Commercial Operator License Examination Managers (COLEM) Records.

Form Number: N/A.

Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved collection.

Respondents: Business or other for-profit entities.

Number of Respondents: 9 respondents; 9 responses.

Estimated Time per Response: .44 hours to 30 hours.

Frequency of Response: Recordkeeping requirement and on occasion reporting requirements.

Obligation to Respond: Required to obtain or retain benefits. Statutory authority for this information collection is contained in 47 U.S.C. 154 and 303 of the Communications Act of 1934.

Total Annual Burden: 14,796 hours.

Total Annual Cost: N/A.

Privacy Impact Assessment: N/A.

Nature and Extent of Confidentiality: There is no need for confidentiality.

Needs and Uses: The Commission will submit this expiring information collection after this comment period to obtain the full, three year clearance from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The Commission is requesting approval for a revision. There are changes to the Commission's previous burden estimates. The total annual burden has increased (program change) by 14,787 hours due to additional Commission rule sections added to this information collection, i.e., 47 CFR sections 13.9, 13.13, 13.17 and 13.211 by Report and Order in FCC 13-4.

OMB Control Number: 3060-1096.

Title: Prepaid Calling Card Service Provider Certification, WC Docket No. 05-68.

Form Number: N/A.

Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.

Respondents: Business or other for-profit entities.

Number of Respondents: 121 respondents; 1,452 responses.

Estimated Time per Response: 2.5 hours to 20 hours.

Frequency of Response: Quarterly reporting requirement, recordkeeping requirement and third party disclosure requirement.

Obligation to Respond: Mandatory. Statutory authority for this information collection is contained in 47 U.S.C. sections 151, 152, 154(i), 201, 202, and 254 of the Communications Act of 1934.

Total Annual Burden: 12,100 hours.

Total Annual Cost: N/A.

Privacy Impact Assessment: N/A.

Nature and Extent of Confidentiality: The Commission does not anticipate providing confidentiality of the information submitted by prepaid calling card providers. Particularly, the prepaid call card providers must send reports to their transport providers. Additionally, the quarterly certifications sent to the Commission will be made public through the Commission's Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) process. These certifications will be filed in the Commission's docket associated with this proceeding. If the respondents submit information they believe to be confidential, they may request confidential treatment of such information under 47 CFR section 0.459 of the Commission's rules.

Needs and Uses: The Commission will submit this expiring information collection after this comment period to obtain the full, three year clearance from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The Commission is requesting approval for an extension (no change in the reporting and/or third party disclosure requirements). There are changes to the Commission's previous burden estimates. The Commission reduced the total annual burden hours by 3,700 hours. This is due to a decrease in the number of respondents/responses.

Prepaid calling card service providers must report quarterly the percentage of interstate, intrastate and international access charges to carriers from which they purchase transport services. Prepaid calling card providers must also file certifications with the Commission on a quarterly basis that include the above information and a statement that they are contributing to the federal Universal Service Fund based on all interstate and international revenue, except for revenue from the sale of prepaid calling cards by, to, or pursuant to contract with the Department of Defense (DoD) or a DoD entity.