Surrenders_ss_083006

3060-XXXX

Surrenders of Authorizations for International Carrier,

Space Station and Earth Station Licensees

October 2006

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

A. Justification:

1. The Federal Communications Commission (“Commission”) is requesting that the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) approve the establishment of a new information collection for surrenders of authorizations for international carriers (Section 214 authorizations), space station and earth station licensees. A surrender of authorization is the licensee’s voluntary cancellation of a license (or authorization) to provide international telecommunications services, such as discontinuing the operation of a space station.

This new collection is being initiated as a result of the Commission’s release of a Public Notice (DA 06-569) on March 15, 2006 titled, “International Bureau Announces New and Improved Filing Modules Within Its MyIBFS Electronic Filing System: Surrender of Authorization and Improved Space Station Milestone Filing.” The Public Notice announced the International Bureau’s launching of an electronic (“e-filing”) module for surrendering authorizations and an improved milestone filing module for satellite space stations within its MyIBFS consolidated licensing and electronic filing system. (Note: The OMB approved the electronic filing of milestones under OMB Control No. 3060-1007).

Additionally, the Commission is requesting the OMB’s approval of mandatory electronic filing of surrenders of authorizations that do not fall under Part 25 of the Commission’s rules. Currently, the surrender module is available to licensees in MyIBFS on a voluntary basis who are not required to comply with Part 25. (Note: The OMB approved mandatory electronic filing of all Part 25-related applications and associated documents under OMB Control No. 3060-0678).

Before MyIBFS was modified to include the e-filing module, licensees notified the Commission of surrenders of authorizations by letter. This was a time-consuming process for Commission staff because numerous surrenders of authorization may be included in one letter and, therefore, required careful review by the staff to ensure that all surrenders of authorizations were announced to the public via Public Notice. Furthermore, the Commission has experienced periodic disruptions of regular postal mail delivery due to the threat of contamination. These disruptions caused delays up to fourteen days in the processing of applicants’ mailed filings. E-filing eliminates the problems associated with the Commission’s delayed receipt of surrenders of authorizations by mail.

E-filing has numerous benefits for licensees, Commission staff and the general public.

For instance, the e-filing module allows licensees to make filings more rapidly and efficiently than the paper filing option. E-filing eliminates the delays associated with manual processing for Commission staff. The information is available immediately to Commission staff and members of the public without the need for staff to scan or otherwise convert paper filings into computerized form. Furthermore, e-filing through MyIBFS makes applications almost immediately available to interested parties and the general public over the Internet. The availability of this information 24 hours a day and

7 days a week is important to keep the public informed of the discontinuance of international telecommunications services.

There are no specific Commission rules pertaining to surrenders of authorizations because it is voluntary on the part of the licensee. However, the Commission established policies for processing surrenders of authorizations electronically as stated in the Public Notice (DA 06-569).

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

2. Licensees file surrenders of authorizations with the Commission on a voluntary basis. This information is used by Commission staff to issue Public Notices to announce the surrenders of authorization to the general public. The Commission’s release of Public Notices is critical to keeping the general public abreast of the licensees’ discontinuance of telecommunications services.

3. The Commission is requesting the OMB’s approval of mandatory electronic filing of all surrenders of authorization that do not fall under Part 25 of the Commission’s rules.

Currently, licensees who are not required to comply with Part 25 of the rules have the option to file the surrenders with the Commission electronically or in paper form.

The Commission received OMB approval of mandatory filing of all Part 25-related applications and associated documents under OMB Control No. 3060-0678. This Supporting Statement reflects that a total of 100 percent of all licensees file documents with the Commission electronically in the MyIBFS consolidated licensing and electronic filing system.

4. The agency does not impose similar information collection requirements on the respondents.

5. In conformance with the PRA, the Commission is making an effort to minimize the burden on all respondents, regardless of size. The Commission has limited the information collection requirements to those that are absolutely necessary for evaluating and processing surrenders of authorizations. This information collection does not have a substantial impact on small entities.

6. Without this collection of information, licensees would be required to submit surrenders of authorizations to the Commission by letter which is more time consuming than submitting such requests to the Commission electronically. In addition, Commission staff would spend an extensive amount of time processing surrenders of authorizations received by letter. The collection of information saves time for both licensees and Commission staff since they are received in MyIBFS electronically and include only the information that is essential to process the requests in a timely manner. Furthermore, the e-filing module expedites the Commission staff’s announcement of surrenders of authorizations via Public Notice.

7. The Public Notice does not propose any new or amended information collection requirements that are not consistent with the general information collection guidelines in 5 CFR § 1320.

8. On August 16, 2006, the Commission published a 60-day notice in the Federal Register (71 FR 47221) to solicit comments from the public. The comment period ended on October 16, 2006. No comments were received from the public. A copy of the notice is attached to this submission.

9. The respondents will not receive any payments or gifts.

10. There is no need for confidentiality.

11. This information collection does not address any matters of a private or sensitive nature.

12. Estimate of Burden Hours/Respondent Cost:

Please see the charts below for the number of respondents, frequency of response, time per

response, total annual burden hours, and explanation of burden estimate.

Explanation of Burden Estimate	Number of Respondents	Frequency of Response	Time Per Response	Total Annual Burden Hours
Space station surrenders of authorization	16	1 On occasion	1 Hour	16
Earth station surrenders of authorization	249	1 On occasion	1 Hour	249
Section 214 surrenders of authorization	41	1 On occasion	1 ouHhkkkkHour	41
Totals:	306	1 On occasion	1 Hour	306

13. Estimate of the Total Annual Cost Burden to Respondents:

There are no applications fees since the surrenders of authorizations are voluntary on the part of the licensees. There are no outside legal or engineering fees associated with filing the requests. Therefore, the total annual cost burden to respondents is zero ($0).

14. Estimates of Annualized Cost to the Federal Government:

Staff Member	Estimated Number of Surrenders Processed Annually	Frequency of Response	Time Per Response	Total Annual Costs
GS-11/Step 5 Industry Analyst @ $29.47 per hour (16 space station surrenders processed annually)	$29.47 X 16 Hours = $471.52	1 On occasion (As received in MyIBFS)	1 Hour	$471.52
GS-12/Step 5 Telecom Specialist @ $35.32 per hour (249 earth station surrenders processed annually)	$35.32 X 249 Hours = $8,794.68	1 On occasion (As received in MyIBFS)	1 Hour	$8,794.68
GS-9/Step 5 Industry Analyst @ $24.36 per hour (41 Section 214 surrenders processed annually)	$24.36 X 41 Hours = $998.76	1 On occasion (As received in MyIBFS)	1 ouHhkkkkHour	$998.76
Totals:	$10,264.96 (Rounded to $10,265.00)	1 On occasion	1 Hour	$10,264.76 (Rounded to $10,265.00)

15. This is a new collection that results in a +306 hour program change.

16. The data will not be published for statistical use.

17. We are not seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection.

18. There are no exceptions to the certification statement.

B. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods:

No statistical methods are employed.

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