Section 214 of the Communications Act
of 1934, as amended, requires that the FCC review the
establishment, acquisition, operation, and extension of lines, and
the discontinuance of service by interstate common carriers. This
OMB collection pertains primarily to section 63.71 and other
related sections of the Commission's rules, which govern the
application process for receiving authority for discontinuance,
impairment or reduction in service. The discontinuance obligations
that apply to domestic non-dominant telecommunications carriers
have been extended to providers of interconnected VoIP service. In
November 2017, the Commission revised its discontinuance procedures
in several ways. First, the Commission applied a uniform reduced
public comment period of 10 days and an automatic grant period of
25 days to all carriers, whether dominant or non-dominant, who seek
approval to grandfather low speed (i.e., services below 1.544 Mbps)
legacy services (a carrier grandfathers a service when it maintains
the provision of that service to existing customers while ceasing
to offer such service to new customers). Second, the Commission
applied a uniform reduced public comment period of 10 days and an
auto-grant period of 31 days to all applications seeking to
discontinue legacy data services (i.e., services below 1.544 Mbps)
that have previously been grandfathered for a period of at least
180 days, provided the applicant submits a certification as part of
its discontinuance application that the applicant has received
Commission authority to grandfather the services at issue at least
180 days prior to the filing of the discontinuance application.
Third, the Commission held that if a carrier files an application
to discontinue, reduce, or impair a legacy voice or data service
below 1.544 Mbps for which it has had no customers and no request
for service for at least a 30-day period immediately preceding
submission of the application, that application will be
automatically granted on the 15th day after its filing with the
Commission, absent Commission notice to the contrary. Lastly, the
Commission held that a carrier need not seek approval from the
Commission pursuant to Section 214(a) of the Act to discontinue,
reduce, or impair a service when such a change in the service
directly affects only carrier-customers.
US Code:
47
USC 403 Name of Law: Communications Act of 1934, as amended
US Code: 47
USC 571 Name of Law: Communications Act of 1934, as amended
US Code: 47
USC 151 Name of Law: Communications Act of 1934, as amended
US Code:
47 USC 154(i) and 154(j) Name of Law: Communications Act of
1934, as amended
US Code: 47
USC 218 Name of Law: Communications Act of 1934, as amended
US Code: 47
USC 160 Name of Law: Communications Act of 1934, as amended
US Code: 47
USC 161 Name of Law: Communications Act of 1934, as amended
US Code: 47
USC 201-205 Name of Law: Communications Act of 1934, as
amended
US Code: 47
USC 214 Name of Law: Communications Act of 1934, as amended
The Commission is reporting
program changes/decreases to the total number of respondents, total
annual responses and total annual burden hours with this revised
collection. The total number of respondents and total annual
responses decreased from 60 to 58 (-2) and the total annual burden
hours decreased from 360 to 348 (-12). These program
changes/decreases are due to the Commission estimates that it will
receive fewer discontinuance applications pursuant to Section
214(a) in light of the Commission’s reversal of the 2015 Technology
Transition Order’s interpretation of Section 214(a) with respect to
discontinuance, reduction, or impairment of service that directly
affects only carrier-customers. No adjustments are being reported
to this information 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.
PRA Supporting Statement for Revision to 3060-0149_(final version).docx
Part 63, Accelerating Wireline Broadband Deployment by Removing Barriers to Infrastructure Investment, WC Docket No. 17-84, FCC 17-154