0790_ss_092606

3060-0790

September 2006

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

This collection is being submitted to extend an existing collection.

A. Justification:

1. Title II of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. § 201 et seq., provides the statutory authority for the Commission to promulgate the rules and regulations contained in Part 68 of the FCC Rules, 47 CFR Part 68. Requirements in Part 68 are necessary to prevent the degradation of the telephone network. Section 68.110(c) requires that any available technical information concerning carrier-installed wiring on the customer’s side of the demarcation point, including copies of existing schematic diagrams and service records, shall be provided by the telephone company upon request of the building owner or agent thereof. See 47 CFR § 68.110(c). The telephone company may charge the building owner a reasonable fee for this service, which shall not exceed the cost involved in locating and copying the documents. In the alternative, the telephone company may make these documents available for review and copying by the building owner. In this case, the telephone company may charge a reasonable fee, which shall not exceed the cost involved in making the documents available, and may also require the building owner to pay a deposit to guarantee the documents’ return.

As noted on the OMB Form 83i, this information collection does not affect individuals or households; thus, there are no impacts under the Privacy Act.

Note: This submission is being made pursuant to authority contained in section 47 CFR 68.110 (c).

2. Section 68.110(c) requires the disclosure of any available technical information concerning carrier-installed inside wiring, including existing schematic diagrams and service records, for duplication by building owners or their agents for a reasonable fee to be determined by the carrier. The information is needed so that building owners may choose to contract with an installer of their choice for inside wiring maintenance and installation service, or elect to contract with the telephone company to modify existing wiring or assist with the installation of additional inside wiring. See 47 CFR § 68.110(c).

3. Respondents are free to determine the appropriate medium for complying with the requirement.

4. Requiring the carriers to retain already existing company technical records concerning carrier-installed inside wiring will not cause a duplication of information.

5. The requirement will not have a significant impact on small businesses. The carriers who principally installed wiring were the large telephone companies before the break up of the Bells in 1984.

6. The availability of schematic diagrams and other technical records concerning carrier-installed inside wiring for disclosure to multi-unit building owners will provide the owners with the opportunity to choose a maintenance and installation contractor to perform the service. The non-disclosure of such carrier records would result in an additional expense to the building owner in order to accomplish a modification or maintenance of existing inside wiring.

7. The Commission is requiring that each carrier involved in the installation of inside wiring to maintain records and make them available for duplication at a reasonable cost to a building owner or his agent. The Commission has not determined the length of time for such record retention by carriers.

8. A 60 day notice was published in the Federal Register pursuant to 5 C.F.R. § 1320.8 (d). See 71 FR 18757, dated April 12, 2006. (Copy attached). No comments were received.

9. The Commission does not anticipate providing any payment or gift to respondents.

10. The Commission is not requesting respondents to submit confidential information to the Commission.

11. There are no questions of a sensitive nature with respect to the information collection.

12. The following represents the estimates of hour burden of the information collection requirement:

(a) Number of respondents: Approximately 1,200.

(b) Frequency of response: Third party disclosure and recordkeeping requirement. Potentially, within the 50 states, based on 4 carriers per State who may receive an estimated 6 requests for such disclosures in the course of one year, for a total of 1,200 responses.

(c) Annual hour burden: Approximately 1 hour per respondent; 1,200 total annual burden hours.

(d) Method of estimate burden: This estimate is based on a retrieval time for business records which may be stored in an off-site storage facility. If inside wiring schematic diagrams and other records are stored by the carrier in its business office, retrieval time would likely be less than 30 minutes. In a case where such records are stored at an off-site location, the amount of time required to retrieve records will vary with each carrier’s unique records management program.

(e) Total estimates of annualized cost to respondents for the hour burdens for collection of information: We estimate that approximately 1200 requests for information regarding carrier-installed wiring will be made annually. We estimate that it will take on average 1 hour of the clerical staff being paid at an hourly rate of $20 per hour (including overhead cost) to comply with the request. Thus annualized cost to respondents is $24,000.

13. The following represents the Commission’s estimate of the annual cost burden to respondents or recordkeepers resulting from the collection (retention) of existing information:

(a) Total capital and start up cost component: None.

(b) Total operation and maintenance and purchase of services component: The Commission estimates that the annual cost to all respondents to maintain existing records for future disclosure upon request is estimated at $5,000.00. Based on 200 carriers within the 50 states, this represents only $25 per carrier in additional storage and retrieval costs. This is to the extent that whatever schematics or other such records have not been destroyed through a carrier’s normal recordkeeping, records management program and common business practice, will be retained and the dollar amount associated with such storage and retrieval. Overall, the burden amount to each individual carrier would be de minimis.

14. This is a third party disclosure requirement and recordkeeping requirement. There is no cost to the government.

15. No change in burden is requested. Public burden for the information collection requirement continues to be estimated at 1,200 burden hours.

16. The Commission does not anticipate publishing any of the information collected pursuant to this requirement.

17. The Commission does not intend to seek approval not to display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection.

18. There are no exceptions to item 19 on the OMB 83i. The Commission is requiring that each carrier involved in the installation of inside wiring to maintain records and make them available for duplication at a reasonable cost to a building owner or his agent. The Commission has not determined the length of time for such record retention by carriers.

2. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods:

Not applicable. The Commission does not anticipate that the collection will employ statistical methods.

4