Federal Communications Commission
Explanation of Non-Substantive Changes to OMB Control Number: 3060-0986:
FCC Form 481
FCC Form 481 Instructions
Purpose of this Submission: This submission is being made as a non-substantive change request to an existing information collection pursuant to 44 U.S.C. § 3507. The Commission seeks to update FCC Form 481 and the Form 481 Instructions to reflect changes in the form and filing instructions.
Summary of Updates
Form 481: (screenshots attached)
Lines 115, 116, and 117: New language will remind respondents of the existing requirement in Line 112 that the five-year plan progress report should specify how support was used to improve service quality, service coverage, and service capacity. (“100 Section” tab of attached screenshots).
Line 1100: New language will clarify the existing requirement that respondents certify whether terrestrial backhaul options exist by responding yes or no. (“1100 Line” tab of attached screenshots).
Line 1120: New language will clarify the existing requirement that respondents confirm whether terrestrial backhaul options exist within the supported area by responding yes or no. (“1100 Section” tab of attached screenshots).
The new Lines 3027-3034 for Form 481 will add financial reporting fields to Form 481 to help standardize the data that privately-held rate-of-return carriers provide in response to existing financial reporting requirements. These fields will only display if the rate-of-return carrier indicates in response to Line 3013 that it is a privately-held rate-of-return carrier. (The “RoR 1,” “RoR 2,” and “RoR 3” tabs of the attached screenshots show how Form 481 will look depending on the answers the carrier gives to Lines 3014 and 3018).
Form 481 Filing Instructions: (modified instructions attached)
Section III.a and Section IV: The current docket number, “WC Docket No. 10-90”, will be changed to reflect the new docket number, “WC Docket No. 14-58”.
Section III.a and Section IV, Lines 3018, 3021: New language will clarify the existing requirement that privately held rate-of-return eligible telecommunications carriers that are not recipients of loans from the RUS and whose financial statements are audited in the ordinary course of business must submit an audit opinion letter with their financial report if they choose to submit a financial report in a format comparable to RUS Operating Report for Telecommunications Borrowers.
Section IV, Line 020: The term “Program Year” will be redefined throughout to clarify that it refers to “the upcoming calendar year”.
Section IV, Lines 410, 420, 440, 450: The word “empty” will be replaced by the word “blank” to clarify that respondents should not include a response if the Line is not applicable.
Section IV, Lines 1000, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 1130, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020: Respondents will be directed to respond “either yes, no, or not applicable” to make a certification, instead of marking a box to make the certification so that respondents can more clearly identify whether the certifications at issue are applicable.
Section IV, Line 1100: New language will clarify that the Terrestrial Backhaul Certification is required, that respondents should answer yes or no rather than mark a box for this Line, and what their yes or no answer will signify. As described above, the Commission is proposing to make corresponding edits to Form 481.
Section IV, Line 1110: New language will clarify which Lines respondents will need to complete if they answered no to the Terrestrial Backhaul Certification (Line 1100).
Section IV, Line 114: New language will clarify the existing requirement that respondents break out the amount of USF that was received for the service areas separately by the amount spent on capital expenses and the amount spent on operating expenses.
Section IV, Lines 115, 116, 117: New language will remind respondents of the existing requirement in Line 112 that the five-year plan progress report should specify how support was used to improve service quality, service coverage, and service capacity. As described above, the Commission is proposing to make corresponding edits to Form 481.
Section IV, Lines 220- Columns b1 & b3: Edit will remove the year “2012” from the example of how service outage dates should be inputted and replaces it with “yyyy.”
Section IV, Line 702: New language will make instructions consistent with existing Form 481 requirement that the respondent enter a dollar amount or leave Line 702 blank if it is not applicable.
Section IV, Line 811: New language will direct respondents to verify that holding company information that has been pre-populated in Form 481 is accurate.
Section IV, Lines 2010, 2011: Edit will add a citation to an applicable subsection of the Commission’s rules.
Section IV, Line 2011: Change will correct the reference to the applicable subsection of the Commission’s rules.
Section IV, Line 3010: Change will update the certification filing date to 2015.
Section IV, Lines 3013, 3014, 3018: New language will clarify that respondents should respond “yes or no” to questions in these Lines.
Section IV, Line 3018: Edit will correct text to refer to a singular “rate-of-return carrier.”
Section IV, Lines 3027- 3034: New Lines will instruct respondents about how to populate the new financial reporting fields that are proposed to be added to Form 481 as described above.
Section IV, Line 1110: New language will clarify which Lines respondents will need to complete if they answered no to the Terrestrial Backhaul Certification (Line 1100).
Section IV, Line 1120: New language will clarify the existing requirement that respondents confirm whether terrestrial backhaul options exist within the supported area by responding yes or no. As described above, the Commission is proposing to make corresponding edits to Form 481.
Section IV, Line 114: New language will clarify the existing requirement that respondents break out the amount of USF that was received for the service areas separately by the amount spent on capital expenses and the amount spent on operating expenses.
Section IV, Lines 115, 116, 117: New language will remind respondents of the existing requirement in Line 112 that the five-year plan progress report “should specify how much support was used to improve service quality.”
Section IV, Lines 220- Columns b1 & b3: Edit will remove the year “2012” from the example of how service outage dates should be inputted and replaces it with “yyyy.”
Section IV, Line 702: New language will make instructions consistent with existing Form 481 requirement that the respondent enter a dollar amount or leave Line 702 blank if it is not applicable.
Section IV, Line 811: New language will direct respondents to verify that holding company information that has been pre-populated in Form 481 is accurate.
Section IV, Lines 2010, 2011: Edit will add a citation to an applicable subsection of the Commission’s rules.
Section IV, Line 2011: Change will correct the reference to the applicable subsection of the Commission’s rules.
Section IV, Line 3010: Change will update the certification filing date to 2015.
Section IV, Lines 3013, 3014, 3018: New language will clarify that respondents should respond “yes or no” to questions in these Lines.
Section IV, Line 3018: Edit will correct text to refer to a singular “rate-of-return carrier.”
Section IV, Lines 3027- 3034: New Lines will instruct respondents about how to populate the new financial reporting fields that are proposed to be added to Form 481 as described above.
There are no changes in the burden hours or cost for this information collection.
Attachment 1: Updates to Form 481
Attachment 2: Updates to Form 481 Instructions
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| File Title | CHANGES TO FORM 499-A |
| Author | Chin Yoo |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-01-25 |