Notice2024-04019
Information Collection Being Reviewed by the Federal Communications Commission
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
February 27, 2024
Issuing agencies
Federal Communications Commission
Abstract
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.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 39 (Tuesday, February 27, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 39 (Tuesday, February 27, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14491-14492]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[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
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#5a0a081b1a3c3939743d352c"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="31616370715752521f565e47">[email protected]</span></a> and to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#b6d8dfd5d9dad398d9d8d1d3dad3f6d0d5d598d1d9c0"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="2846414b47444d0647464f4d444d684e4b4b064f475e">[email protected]</span></a>.
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
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