In April 1996, the Commission issued a
notice of proposed rulemaking concerning certain provisions of the
Telecommunications Act of 1996 ("1996 Act"), including section 251.
Section 251 is designed to accelerate private sector development
and deployment of telecommunications technologies and services by
spurring competition. The Commission has adopted rules and
regulations designed to implement certain provisions of section
251, and to eliminate operational barriers to competition in the
telecommunications services market. In August 2015, the Commission
adopted new rules concerning the information collection
requirements implemented under section 251(c)(5) of the Act,
pertaining to network change disclosures. The changes to those
rules apply specifically to notices of planned copper retirements
and are designed to provide interconnecting entities adequate time
to prepare their networks for the planned change and to ensure that
consumers are able to make informed choices.
The Commission notes the
following changes: • There is a decrease/adjustment to the number
of respondents from 1,300 to 750, a decrease of 550 respondents
from the previous submission to OMB. • Also, the Commission has
determined that the total number of annual responses of 160 in the
Commission's last submission was over estimated. With this
submission, the annual number of responses is more accurately
reflected based on the current data collected by the Commission.
Lastly, there will not be an increase or decrease in the number of
responses because the over estimate of the number of responses in
the last submission and the current increase in the number of
responses with this submission offset each other. • The Commission
is reporting an increase/program change to the total annual burden
hours from 575,448 hours to 575,840 hours, an increase of 392
hours. This increase is due to an assumption that copper retirement
notices will increase, and an increase in the number of hours ILECs
will need to comply with the new information collection
requirements regarding copper retirement adopted pursuant to the
Emerging Wireline Order.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.