Non-substantive Change Request

NON-SUBSTANTIVE CHANGE REQUEST FOR INFORMATION COLLECTION 3060-0874

The Federal Communication Commission is seeking a non-substantive change for information collection 3060-0874, in connection with its Form 2000B (Billing, Privacy, or Service Quality Complaint), by which it receives information from consumers concerning telephone call quality problems that they have encountered. It proposes to modify the filing instructions on the Form to reflect a revised procedure for a certain sub-category of the complaints received to most expeditiously route them to a special FCC task force dedicated to their review and analysis. All other complaints submitted on the Form will be received and processed in the current manner.

In recent months, the Commission has become aware of a particular pattern of call completion problems which specifically affect consumers in rural areas. In response, it has created the Rural Call Completion Task Force, comprised of staff from its Enforcement, Public Safety and Homeland Security, and Wireline Competition Bureaus to analyze the problem and to consider and recommend appropriate agency action.

In order to educate the public about this problem, the Commission is posting a page on its official website with pertinent information and providing a consumer who believes that his or her call problem falls within the rural call completion criteria the option of filing a complaint with the Commission on Form 2000B. To ensure that all such complaints are most expeditiously directed to the Task Force for its consideration, the Commission proposes to include a fillable pdf of Form 2000B for this purpose on the webpage. When submitted by a consumer, the Form will be routed to the Task Force, rather than entered into the general complaint system, as is the case with other complaints submitted on Form 2000B. The Task Force will study the complaints that it receives to determine industry trends and will forward them to the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau for processing, where appropriate.

The second page of the current Form contains a box with the general instructions on how a consumer may file its complaint: over the Internet, by e-mail, by fax or by calling the Commission Call Center. To avoid confusion for visitors to the Rural Call Completion webpage who seek to file a complaint in the manner noted above, the language in the box contained on the second page of the pdf version of the Form that will be posted on the webpage will be replaced with the following instruction:

By clicking on the “Submit” field below, your complaint will be directed to the Commission’s Rural Call Completion Task Force. The information that you provide will inform the FCC about current call completion and call quality problems and may also be used for investigative purposes. When appropriate, the Task Force will forward complaints to the Commission’s Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau for processing.

 

The existing Form 2000B with the current filing instructions will continue to be available to consumers who wish to submit their complaints in the traditional manner. Modification of the language on the pdf version of the Form to be contained on the webpage will impose no additional burdens (hours and costs) on the public; in either event, the information sought by the Form will be identical. The only distinction will be the manner in which it is routed and processed by the Commission’s staff. Therefore, this change should be considered non-substantive. 

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