Rule2024-16209
Accelerating Wireline Broadband Deployment by Removing Barriers to Infrastructure Investment
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
July 25, 2024
Effective
July 25, 2024
Issuing agencies
Federal Communications Commission
Abstract
In this document, the Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) announces that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved, for a period of three years, the information collection associated with the Commission's revised pole attachment rules. This document is consistent with Accelerating Wireline Broadband Deployment by Removing Barriers to Infrastructure Investment, Fourth Report and Order, Declaratory Ruling, FCC 23-109, which stated that the Bureau would publish a document in the Federal Register announcing the effective date of the revised rules.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 143 (Thursday, July 25, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 143 (Thursday, July 25, 2024)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 60317-60319]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-16209]
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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
47 CFR Part 1
[WC Docket No. 17-84; FCC 23-109; FR ID 232182]
Accelerating Wireline Broadband Deployment by Removing Barriers
to Infrastructure Investment
AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.
ACTION: Final rule; announcement of effective date.
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SUMMARY: In this document, the Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau)
announces that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved,
for a period of three years, the information collection associated with
the Commission's revised pole attachment rules. This document is
consistent with Accelerating Wireline Broadband Deployment by Removing
Barriers to Infrastructure Investment, Fourth Report and Order,
Declaratory Ruling, FCC 23-109, which stated that the Bureau would
publish a document in the Federal Register announcing the effective
date of the revised rules.
DATES: Amendatory instruction 2 (adding Sec. 1.1411(c)(4)) and
amendatory instruction 4 (adding Sec. 1.1415), published at 89 FR
2151, January 12, 2024, are effective on July 25, 2024
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Ray, Attorney Advisor,
Wireline Competition Bureau, at (202) 418-0357, or by email at
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#430e2a202b22262f6d11223a032520206d242c35"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="6f22060c070e0a03413d0e162f090c0c41080019">[email protected]</span></a>. For additional information concerning the
Paperwork Reduction Act information collection requirements, contact
Nicole Ongele at (202) 418-2991 or <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#2e40474d41424b004140494b424b6e484d4d00494158"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="5f31363c30333a713031383a333a1f393c3c71383029">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On December 13, 2023, the Commission adopted
Accelerating Wireline Broadband Deployment by Removing Barriers to
Infrastructure Investment, Fourth Report and Order, Declaratory Ruling,
FCC 23-109, published at 89 FR 2151, January 12, 2024. In the Fourth
Report and Order, the Commission adopted a revision to 47 CFR 1.1411
that provides communications providers with information about the
status of the utility poles they plan to use as part of their broadband
buildouts. The Commission also added new 47 CFR 1.1415 that creates a
new expedited process for the Commission's review and assessment of
pole attachment disputes that impede or delay broadband deployment and
established FCC Form 5653--Request for RBAT Review and Assessment--to
initiate the expedited process. The Commission stated that these rule
changes may contain new or modified information collection requirements
and would not become effective until OMB completes its review of any
information collection requirements that the Bureau determined is
required under the Paperwork Reduction Act. The Commission also
directed the Bureau to announce the effective date for the revision to
Sec. 1.1411 and new Sec. 1.1415 by subsequent public release.
On July 2, 2024, OMB approved, for a period of three years, the
information collection requirements related to the pole attachment
rules contained in the Fourth Report and Order. The OMB Control Number
is 3060-1151. The Bureau publishes this document as an announcement of
the effective date of the pole attachment rules adopted in the Fourth
Report and Order, as well as FCC Form 5653. If you have any comments on
the burden estimates listed below, or how the Commission can improve
the collections and reduce any burdens caused thereby, please contact
Nicole Ongele, Federal Communications Commission, 45 L Street NE,
Washington, DC 20554. Please include the OMB Control Number 3060-1151
in your correspondence. The Commission also will accept your comments
via email at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#e3b3b1a2a3858080cd848c95"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="366664777650555518515940">[email protected]</span></a>. To request materials in accessible formats
for people with disabilities (Braille, large print, electronic files,
audio format), send an email to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#d8bebbbbede8ec98bebbbbf6bfb7ae"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="f4929797c1c4c0b4929797da939b82">[email protected]</span></a> or call the Consumer and
Governmental Affairs Bureau at (202) 418-0530 (voice), (202) 418-0432
(TTY).
Synopsis
As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C.
3507), the Bureau is notifying the public that it received final OMB
approval on July 2, 2024, for the information collection requirements
contained in the changes to the Commission's pole attachment rules in
47 CFR 1.1411 and 1.1415, as well as FCC Form 5653.
Under 5 CFR part 1320, an agency may not conduct or sponsor a
collection of information unless it displays a current, 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
that does not display a current, valid OMB Control Number.
The foregoing notification is required by the Paperwork Reduction
Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13, October 1, 1995, and 44 U.S.C. 3507.
The total annual reporting burdens and costs for the affected
respondents are as follows:
[[Page 60318]]
OMB Control Number: 3060-1151.
OMB Approval Date: July 2, 2024.
OMB Expiration Date: July 31, 2027.
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 entities.
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 and third-
party disclosure requirements.
Obligation to Respond: Mandatory or required to obtain 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 received OMB approval for a revision
to an existing information collection, OMB Collection No. 3060-1151. In
Accelerating Wireline Broadband Deployment by Removing Barriers to
Infrastructure Investment, Fourth Report and Order, Declaratory Ruling,
FCC 23-109, published at 89 FR 2151, January 12, 2024, 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 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,
[[Page 60319]]
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).
List of Subjects in 47 CFR Part 1
Telecommunications, cable, utility, procedures, filing
requirements.
Federal Communications Commission
Katura Jackson,
Federal Register Liaison.
[FR Doc. 2024-16209 Filed 7-24-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P
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