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.
In November 2017, the Commission adopted new rules concerning
certain information collection requirements implemented under
section 251(c)(5) of the Act, pertaining to network change
disclosures. Most of the changes to those rules apply specifically
to a certain subset of network change disclosures, namely notices
of planned copper retirements. In addition, the changes remove a
rule that prohibits incumbent LECs from engaging in useful advanced
coordination with entities affected by network changes. one of
rules pertaining to network change disclosures to include
appropriate titles for public notices of copper
retirement.
The Commission is reporting a
decrease/program change to the total annual burden hours from
575,840 hours to 575,448, a decrease of 392 hours. This decrease is
due to an assumption that while copper retirement notices may
increase, the number of hours ILECs will need to comply with the
new information collection requirements regarding copper retirement
adopted pursuant to the 2017 Wireline Infrastructure Order will
significantly decrease. There are no adjustments to this
collection.
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.