SUPPORTING STATEMENT
A. Justification:
On November 10, 2014, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission”) released a Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FCC 14-181) in WT Docket No. 12-40 to reform its rules governing the 800 MHz Cellular Radiotelephone (Cellular) Service. In the Report and Order (Cellular R&O), the Commission changed the Cellular licensing model from site-based to geographic-based. The revised Cellular Service licensing model entailed eliminating several filing requirements that had outlived their usefulness in this mature commercial wireless service that was launched in the early 1980s; it also streamlined application content requirements, and deleted obsolete provisions associated with the legacy site-based regime.
Subsequently, on March 24, 2017, the Commission released a Second Report and Order in that same proceeding (Cellular Second R&O), together with a companion Report and Order in WT Docket No. 10-112 concerning the Wireless Radio Services (WRS), which include the Cellular Service among others (WRS R&O) (FCC 17-27). The Cellular Second R&O and WRS R&O revised or eliminated certain licensing rules and modernized outdated technical rules applicable to the Cellular Service. Specifically, in addition to rule revisions that do not affect this information collection, in the Cellular Second R&O, the Commission revised the Cellular radiated power rules, giving licensees the option to comply with effective radiated power (ERP) limits based on power spectral density (PSD), and giving licensees the additional option to operate at PSD limits above a specified threshold (Higher PSD Limits) so long as certain conditions are met. One of these conditions, set forth in a new provision of the Cellular rules, is a requirement for written advance notification to public safety entities within a specified radius of the cell sites to be deployed at the Higher PSD Limits. This third-party disclosure requirement is an important component of the Commission’s approach to protecting public safety entities from increased potential for unacceptable interference to their communications. Also in the Cellular Second R&O and of relevance to this information collection, the Commission eliminated the requirement for filings for certain changes to cell sites in a Cellular system. In the WRS R&O, the Commission deleted the Part 22 Cellular comparative hearing/license renewal rules, resulting in discontinued information collections for the following rule sections: 22.935, 22.936, 22.939, and 22.940.
The Commission is now seeking approval from the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) for a revision of this information collection.
The information requested in this collection (see Attachment A for specific rules imposing burdens) provides the Commission with information to determine the legal, technical and other qualifications of applicants to operate a station in the Public Mobile Services. The information is also used to determine whether grant of an application will serve the public interest, convenience and necessity. The staff uses the information to ensure that applicants and licensees comply with ownership and transfer restrictions and otherwise comply with applicable regulatory requirements.
A portion of this information collection does affect individuals or households. Thus, this collection is impacted by the Privacy Act.1 The FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) maintains Internet software used by the public2 to apply for licenses, participate in auctions for spectrum, and maintain license information.
The Commission has a System of Records, FCC/WTB-1, “Wireless Services Licensing Records,” which covers the personally-identifiable information (PII) that individual applicants may include in their submissions for licenses or grants of equipment authorization.3 At such time as the Commission revises this System of Records Notice (“SORN”), the Commission will conduct a Privacy Impact Assessment (“PIA”) and publish the revised SORN in the Federal Register. In addition, the Commission will post a copy of both the PIA and the SORN on the FCC’s Privacy webpage.
Statutory authority for this collection of information is contained in 47 U.S.C. §§ 154, 222, 303, 309 and 332 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended.
The information collected pursuant to rules in Parts 1 and 22 of the Commission's rules is primarily used by Commission staff to determine, on a case‑by‑case basis, whether or not to grant licenses authorizing construction and operation of wireless telecommunications facilities to qualified applicants and licensees, who supply this information when applying for such licenses. Additionally, the information is sometimes used by Commission staff to develop statistics about the demand for various wireless telecommunications licenses and about the performance of the licensing process itself, and on occasion for rule enforcement purposes. Because all application information is routinely and normally made public, interested persons, particularly licensees and their representatives, often review this information as it becomes available in order to determine whether they believe that the wireless telecommunications facilities proposed by applicants would affect any existing or planned wireless telecommunications facilities in which they have an interest. If an adverse effect is anticipated, such parties often use the information to help them prepare pleadings opposing a Commission grant of particular application(s).
Prior to finalizing rulemakings, WTB conducts an analysis to insure that improved information technology can be used to reduce the burden on the public. This information will be collected via an electronic form posted on the FCC Internet site. This will be the only means of collecting this information. No paper forms will be available for submitting requests to the WTB for support. This form is replacing free form e-mails submitted to the WTB Support Center for help. Electronic submission of these requests from the web site using a standardized form will speed delivery of service and relieves FCC staff from manually processing and tracking e-mail.
This agency does not impose a similar collection on the respondents. No similar information is available.
In conformance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Commission is making an effort to minimize the burden on all respondents, regardless of size. The Commission has limited the information requirements to what is absolutely necessary for evaluating and processing the application and to deter against possible abuses of the processes.
Collecting this information electronically will enable the Commission staff to execute the application and licensing process for wireless telecommunications facilities faster, and increase the time of response to questions, problems and/or difficulties experienced by auctions and licensing customers, when using the FCC’s electronic filing systems. To collect this information otherwise would dramatically slow the processing of applications and licensing decisions.
Current data collection is consistent with 5 CFR § 1320.
The public has been given the appropriate amount of time to comment on this information collection as required by 5 CFR § 1320.8, via publication of the Notice in the Federal Register [82 FR 25799] on June 5, 2017. No comments were received from the public.
Respondents will not receive any payments for this collection of information.
There is a need for confidentiality with respect to filers who are individuals in this collection. Pursuant to § 208(b) of the E-Government Act of 2002, 44 U.S.C. § 3501, in conformance with the Privacy Act of 1974, 5 U.S.C. 552(a), the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (Bureau) instructs licensees to use the FCC’s Universal Licensing System (ULS), Antenna Structure Registration (ASR), Commission Registrations System (CORES), and related systems and subsystems to submit information.4 CORES is used to obtain an FCC Registration Number (FRN) and password, after which one must register all current call sign and ASR numbers associated with an FRN within the Bureau’s system of records (ULS database). Although ULS stores all information pertaining to the individual licensee via the FRN, confidential information is accessible only by persons or entities that hold the password for each account and the Bureau’s licensing staff. Upon the request for an FRN, the individual licensee is consenting to make publicly available, via the ULS database, all information that is not confidential in nature.
This collection does not address any private matters of a sensitive nature. As noted above in Question 1, this information collection may affect individuals or households. Any personally identifiable information that is submitted by individuals is covered by a SORN, WTB-1, “Wireless Services Licensing Records.”
Respondent Burden: Approximately 15,465 respondents will file approximately 16,183 responses per year,5 with a response time ranging from 0.017 hours to 10 hours for a total burden of 4,406 hours. This estimate also includes estimates for the annual recordkeeping and third-party disclosure requirements that will be performed by in-house Administrative Assistants equivalent to the GS-11/Step 5 level.6
The reporting, recordkeeping,7 and third-party disclosure requirements are:
Section |
Respondents/Responses |
Hours Per Response |
Total Hours |
1.924(g) Over the last 3 years, the one licensee authorized in the band covered by this section has made no filing that would trigger the required filing.
1.927(g) 100 2 200
1.935 Over the last 3 years, we received less than 10 requests per year for withdrawal of mutually exclusive applications or pleadings related to a request for approval of settlement agreement.
1.948(i) 50 2 100
1.956 Over the last 3 years, we’ve participated in less than ten settlement conferences per year.
1.981 Over the last 3 years, we have received no developmental reports under this section.
22.150 10 10 100
22.165(e) This collection burden is encompassed within the collection burden associated with § 22.953.
22.165(i)* This recordkeeping obligation burden is calculated under § 22.303.
22.303* 15,000 .25 3,750
22.313(c)(1)* 200 .25 50
22.371 12 1 12
22.559 3 4 12
22.589 10 2 20
22.657(g) 2 2 4
22.709 10 3 30
22.711 10 1 10
22.719 Subsection (c) is virtually identical to § 22.709(e), and thus the collection burden is encompassed within the collection burden associated with § 22.709.
22.8738 1 1 1
22.913(c)9 2 respondents/
720 responses 0.017 12
22.953 50 2 100
22.1037 5 1 5
Total Number of Respondents: 15,465
Total Number of Responses: 16,183
Total Annual Burden Hours: 4,406 hours
In-house costs: The Commission estimates that in-house staff at the equivalent of a GS-11/Step 5 ($36.12/hour) will fulfill the requirements. Therefore, the in-house costs are:
4,406 hours x $36.12/hour = $159,144.72
Respondent Costs: Of the 15,465 respondents filing information or keeping records, we estimate that 75% (11,599) of them will also need outside assistance from contracting attorneys or engineers to fulfill the requirements. We estimate that the contractors will be paid $27510 per hour and it should take them roughly a total of 6 hours per response. Therefore, the external costs are as follows:
11,599 respondents x $275/hour x 6 hours/response = $19,138,350.00
Federal Government Costs: The Mobility Division of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau is primarily responsible for administering the Public Mobile Services. Hence, the cost to the Federal Government would be the annual personnel budget for the Division for this purpose. We estimate that the Commission would assign an Engineer at the GS 14/Step 5 level, and that it would take the Engineer an average of thirty minutes per submission, at a cost of $60.83 per hour to examine and process these submissions. There are an estimated 263 submissions that will be made to the Commission annually.
263 responses x 0.5 hours/response x $60.83/hour = $7,999.15
Total annual cost to the Federal Government is: $7,999.15
The Commission has program changes to the information collection to reflect the adoption of the Cellular Second R&O in WT Docket No. 12-40, FCC 17-27, which eliminates the need for certain Cellular applications and adds a provision under the revised Cellular power rules to require specified third-party disclosures under certain conditions to protect public safety licensees in the 800 MHz band. Specifically, these program changes decrease the estimated number of respondents by 248, increase the estimated number of responses by 470, decrease the estimated annual burden hours by 488 hours, and decrease the annual cost to respondents by $306,900.
There are no adjustments to this collection.
The data will not be published for statistical use.
No expiration date will need to be displayed since these requirements are contained in rule sections.
There are no exceptions to the Certification Statement.
No statistical methods are employed.
ATTACHMENT A
Part 1 -- PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE
Subpart F – Wireless Telecommunications Services Applications and Proceedings
1.924 Quiet zones
1.927 Amendment of applications
1.935 Agreements to dismiss applications, amendments or pleadings
1.948(i) Trafficking showing
1.956 Settlement conference
1.981 Reports, annual and semi-annual
Part 22 – PUBLIC MOBILE SERVICES
Subpart A -- Scope and Authority
Subpart B – Licensing Requirements and Procedures
22.150 Standard pre-filing technical coordination procedure
22.165 Additional transmitters for existing systems
Subpart C – Operational and Technical Requirements
22.303 Retention of station authorizations; identifying transmitters
22.313 Station identification
22.371 Disturbance of AM broadcast station antenna patterns
Subpart D – Developmental Authorizations
Subpart E – Paging and Radiotelephone Service
22.559 One-way paging application requirements
22.589 One-way or two-way application requirements
22.657 Transmitter locations
Subpart F – Rural Radiotelephone Service
22.709 Rural radiotelephone service application requirements
22.711 Provision of information to applicants
22.719 Additional channel policy for rural radiotelephone stations
Subpart G – Air-Ground Radiotelephone Service
22.873 Construction period for commercial aviation air-ground systems
(3 & 5 yr. notifications)
Subpart H – Cellular Radiotelephone Service
22.913(c) Advance notification requirement (prior to operating above specified power spectral density limits)
22.953 Content and form of applications (for Unserved Area authorizations)
Subpart I – Offshore Radiotelephone Service
22.1037 Application requirements for offshore stations
1 OMB Memorandum M-03-22, Memorandum for Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies, OMB Guidance for Implementing the Privacy Provisions of the E-Government Act of 2002, September 26, 2003.
2 The public includes individuals or households for purposes of the Privacy Impact Assessment, under the System of Records, WTB-1, Wireless Services Licensing Records. These include individuals who require help and/or password requests using the ULS, ASR, CORES and related systems and subsystems. Individuals include amateur licensees and individuals representing another person or licensee.
3 The system of records notice (SORN) for FCC/WTB-1, “Wireless Services Licensing Records,” was published in the Federal Register on April 5, 2006, see 71 FR 17234, 17269. The SORN may also be viewed at http://www.fcc.gov/omd/privacyact/records-systems.html.
4 These instructions have been approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under Control Number 3060-1042.
5 The number of respondents and responses have been averaged out over a three-year period in order to calculate the annual costs and hour burdens.
6 We estimate that the third-party disclosure requirement will be fulfilled by both technical and clerical in-house personnel, but that the combined effort is equivalent to personnel at the GS-11/Step 5 level.
7 Rule sections marked with an asterisk (*) in this list necessitate a recordkeeping burden.
8 There is only one licensee that falls into this category that must comply with this rule. That respondent makes up the universe of its respondent pool, and thus, requires OMB approval.
9 This new rule section necessitates a third-party disclosure burden under certain circumstances set forth in the rule. Specifically, a one-time third-party disclosure burden is triggered if a respondent chooses to operate its Cellular system in a particular market at power spectral density limits above a certain threshold (“Higher PSD Limits”), in which case the respondent must provide written advance notice of such operation to the public safety licensees within a certain radius. The figures reflect our estimates that 2 respondents will choose to operate at the Higher PSD Limits in 4 markets each annually, on average, for the next 3 years, and that the average number of third-party disclosures per market is 90. We further estimate that a form letter will be used, but that unique technical parameters will be added for the pertinent cell sites, and that the estimated average time per response is 0.017 hours. Therefore, the number of respondents and responses under Section 22.913(c) were calculated as follows: 2 respondents x 4 markets each (annually) = 8 markets total x 90 responses per market = 720 responses total (360 responses annually for each respondent for the respondent’s 4 markets in the aggregate).
10 The Commission arrived at $275/hour based on the following calculation: an attorney is estimated to be paid $300/hour and an engineer is estimated to be paid $250/hour, so the average of the two hourly rates due to the Commission not knowing if an engineer or attorney will fulfill the requirements is $300 + $250 = $550/2 = $275/hour.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| File Title | SUPPORTING STATEMENT |
| Author | TConway |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-01-22 |