Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 37 / Friday, February 26, 2021 / Notices 11765 

Ends: 04/12/2021, Contact: Scott 

Rothenberg 916–403–6936. 

Dated: February 22, 2021. 

Cindy S. Barger, 

Director, NEPA Compliance Division, Office 

of Federal Activities. 

[FR Doc. 2021–03997 Filed 2–25–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS 

COMMISSION 

[OMB 3060–1212; FRS 17489] 

Information Collection Being Reviewed 

by the Federal Communications 

Commission Under Delegated 

Authority 

AGENCY: Federal Communications 

Commission. 

ACTION: Notice and request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: As part of its continuing effort 

to reduce paperwork burdens, and as 

required by the Paperwork Reduction 

Act of 1995 (PRA), the Federal 

Communications Commission (FCC or 

Commission) invites the general public 

and other Federal agencies to take this 

opportunity to comment on the 

following information collections. 

Comments are requested concerning: 

Whether the proposed collection of 

information is necessary for the proper 

performance of the functions of the 

Commission, including whether the 

information shall have practical utility; 

the accuracy of the Commission’s 

burden estimate; ways to enhance the 

quality, utility, and clarity of the 

information collected; ways to minimize 

the burden of the collection of 

information on the respondents, 

including the use of automated 

collection techniques or other forms of 

information technology; and ways to 

further reduce the information 

collection burden on small business 

concerns with fewer than 25 employees. 

The FCC may not conduct or sponsor a 

collection of information unless it 

displays a currently valid Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) control 

number. No person shall be subject to 

any penalty for failing to comply with 

a collection of information subject to the 

PRA that does not display a valid OMB 

control number. 

DATES: Written PRA comments should 

be submitted on or before April 27, 

2021. If you anticipate that you will be 

submitting comments but find it 

difficult to do so within the period of 

time allowed by this notice, you should 

advise the contact listed below as soon 

as possible. 

ADDRESSES: Direct all PRA comments to 

Cathy Williams, FCC, via email to PRA@

fcc.gov and to Cathy.Williams@fcc.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

additional information about the 

information collection, contact Cathy 

Williams at (202) 418–2918. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

OMB Control Number: 3060–1212. 

Title: SDARS Political Broadcasting 

Requirements. 

Form Number: N/A. 

Type of Review: Extension of a 

currently approved collection. 

Respondents: Business or other forprofit entities. 

Number of Respondents and 

Responses: 1 respondent; 1 response. 

Estimated Time per Response: 10 

hours. 

Frequency of Response: 

Recordkeeping requirement; On 

occasion reporting requirements; Third 

party disclosure requirement. 

Obligation to Respond: Required to 

obtain or retain benefits. The statutory 

authority which covers this information 

collection is contained in 47 U.S.C. 

309(a) and 307(a) of the 

Communications Act of 1934, as 

amended. 

Total Annual Burden: 20 hours. 

Total Annual Cost: No cost. 

Nature and Extent of Confidentiality: 

Although the Commission does not 

believe that any confidential 

information will need to be disclosed in 

order to comply with the information 

collection requirements, applicants are 

free to request that materials or 

information submitted to the 

Commission be withheld from public 

inspection. (See 47 CFR 0.459 of the 

Commission’s Rules.) 

Privacy Impact Assessment: No 

impact(s). 

Needs and Uses: In 1997, the 

Commission imposed political 

broadcasting requirements on Satellite 

Digital Audio Broadcasting Service 

(‘‘SDARS’’) licensees. See Establishment 

of Rules and Policies for the Digital 

Audio Radio Satellite Service in the 

2310–2360 MHz Frequency Band, 12 

FCC Rcd 5754, 5792, para. 92 (1997) 

(‘‘1997 SDARS Order’’), FCC 97–70. The 

Commission stated that SDARS 

licensees should comply with the same 

substantive political debate provisions 

as broadcasters: The federal candidate 

access provision (47 U.S.C. Section 

312(a)(7)) and the equal opportunities 

provision (47 U.S.C. Section 315). The 

1997 SDARS Order imposes the 

following requirements on SDARS 

licensees: 

Lowest Unit Charge: Similar to 

broadcasters, SDARS licensees must 

disclose any practices offered to 

commercial advertisers that enhance the 

value of advertising spots and different 

classes of time. SDARS licensees must 

also calculate the lowest unit charge and 

are required to review their advertising 

records throughout the election period 

to determine whether compliance with 

this rule section requires that candidates 

receive rebates or credits. See 47 CFR 

Section 73.1942. 

Political File: Similar to broadcasters, 

SDARS licensees must also keep and 

permit public inspection of a complete 

record (political file) of all requests for 

SDARS origination time made by or on 

behalf of candidates for public office, 

together with an appropriate notation 

showing the disposition made by the 

system of such requests, and the charges 

made, if any, if the request is granted. 

The disposition includes the schedule 

of time purchased, when the spots 

actually aired, the rates charged, and the 

classes of time purchased. Also, when 

free time is provided for use by or on 

behalf of candidates, a record of the free 

time provided is to be placed in the 

political file as soon as possible and 

maintained for a period of two years. 

See 47 CFR 73.1943. 

In 2016, the Commission expanded 

the requirement that public inspection 

files be posted to the FCC-hosted online 

public file database to SDARS licensees, 

among other entities. These public files 

include the political files. 

Federal Communications Commission. 

Marlene Dortch, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2021–03935 Filed 2–25–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6712–01–P 

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS 

COMMISSION 

[OMB 3060–XXXX; FRS 17477] 

Information Collection Being Reviewed 

by the Federal Communications 

Commission 

AGENCY: Federal Communications 

Commission. 

ACTION: Notice and request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: As part of its continuing effort 

to reduce paperwork burdens, and as 

required by the Paperwork Reduction 

Act of 1995 (PRA), the Federal 

Communications Commission (FCC or 

Commission) invites the general public 

and other Federal agencies to take this 

opportunity to comment on the 

following information collections. 

Comments are requested concerning: 

Whether the proposed collection of 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES
11766 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 37 / Friday, February 26, 2021 / Notices 

information is necessary for the proper 

performance of the functions of the 

Commission, including whether the 

information shall have practical utility; 

the accuracy of the Commission’s 

burden estimate; ways to enhance the 

quality, utility, and clarity of the 

information collected; ways to minimize 

the burden of the collection of 

information on the respondents, 

including the use of automated 

collection techniques or other forms of 

information technology; and ways to 

further reduce the information 

collection burden on small business 

concerns with fewer than 25 employees. 

The FCC may not conduct or sponsor a 

collection of information unless it 

displays a currently valid Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) control 

number. No person shall be subject to 

any penalty for failing to comply with 

a collection of information subject to the 

PRA that does not display a valid OMB 

control number. 

DATES: Written PRA comments should 

be submitted on or before April 27, 

2021. If you anticipate that you will be 

submitting comments but find it 

difficult to do so within the period of 

time allowed by this notice, you should 

advise the contact listed below as soon 

as possible. 

ADDRESSES: Direct all PRA comments to 

Cathy Williams, FCC, via email to PRA@

fcc.gov and to Cathy.Williams@fcc.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

additional information about the 

information collection, contact Cathy 

Williams at (202) 418–2918. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

OMB Control Number: 3060–XXXX. 

Title: Legacy Support Usage 

Flexibility Certification. 

Form Number: N/A. 

Type of Review: New information 

collection. 

Respondents: Business or other forprofit entities, not-for-profit institutions, 

and state, local or tribal governments. 

Number of Respondents and 

Responses: Up to 110 respondents and 

110 responses. 

Estimated Time per Response: 1.75 

hours. 

Frequency of Response: One-time 

reporting requirement. 

Obligation to Respond: Required to 

obtain or retain benefits. Statutory 

authority for this information collection 

is contained in 47 U.S.C. 154, 254 and 

303(r). 

Total Annual Burden: 193 hours. 

Total Annual Cost: $16,500. 

Nature and Extent of Confidentiality: 

The information collected under this 

collection will be made publicly 

available. However, to the extent that a 

respondent seeks to have certain 

information collected in response to this 

information collection withheld from 

public inspection, the respondent may 

request confidential treatment pursuant 

to 47 CFR 0.459 of the Commission’s 

rules, 47 CFR Section 0.459. 

Privacy Act Impact Assessment: No 

impact(s). 

Needs and Uses: A request for 

approval of this new information 

collection will be submitted to the 

Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) after this 60-day comment period 

in order to obtain the full three-year 

clearance from OMB. 

On November 18, 2011, the 

Commission released the USF/ICC 

Transformation Order (FCC 11–161) in 

which it comprehensively reformed and 

modernized the universal service and 

intercarrier compensation systems to 

ensure that robust, affordable voice and 

broadband service, both fixed and 

mobile, are available to Americans 

throughout the nation. In the USF/ICC 

Transformation Order, the Commission, 

among other things, adopted a 

requirement that all ETCs offer 

broadband service in their supported 

area that meets certain basic 

performance requirements and report 

regularly on associated performance 

measures as a condition of receiving 

federal high-cost universal service 

support. 

On October 27, 2020, the Commission 

adopted the 5G Fund Report and Order 

(FCC 20–150) in which it, among other 

things, helped to complete the reform of 

the high-cost program begun in the USF/ 

ICC Transformation Order by adopting 

additional public interest obligations 

and performance requirements for 

legacy high-cost support recipients, 

whose broadband-specific public 

interest obligations for mobile wireless 

services were not previously detailed. 

The public interest obligations adopted 

in the 5G Fund Report and Order for 

each competitive eligible 

telecommunications carrier (ETC) 

receiving legacy high-cost support for 

mobile wireless services require that 

such a carrier (1) use an increasing 

percentage of its legacy support toward 

the deployment, maintenance, and 

operation of voice and broadband 

networks that support 5G meeting the 

adopted performance requirements 

within its subsidized service area(s), 

and (2) meet specific 5G broadband 

service deployment coverage 

requirements and service deployment 

milestone deadlines that take into 

consideration the amount of legacy 

support the carrier receives. With 

respect to the requirement to use an 

increasing percentage of its legacy 

support toward the deployment, 

maintenance, and operation of voice 

and broadband networks that support 

5G, the rules adopted in the 5G Fund 

Report and Order specify that each 

legacy support recipient must use at 

least one-third of the legacy support it 

receives in 2021, at least two-thirds of 

the legacy support it receives in 2022, 

and all of the legacy support in 2023 

and beyond for these purposes. 

To address a concern that budgets and 

deployment plans for 2021 are largely 

complete, which could make it difficult 

for some competitive ETCs to achieve 

the 2021 support usage requirement, the 

Commission adopted a rule that affords 

such competitive ETCs the flexibility to 

use less than one-third of their legacy 

support in 2021 and make up for any 

shortfall in 2021 by proportionally 

increasing the requirement in 2022 

(above the two-thirds of its support the 

competitive ETC is required to spend on 

5G in that year). See 47 CFR 

54.322(c)(4). In order to take advantage 

of this flexibility, a competitive ETC 

receiving legacy support for mobile 

wireless services must submit a 

certification in which it (1) provides 

information regarding the service area(s) 

for which it and any affiliated mobile 

competitive ETC(s) receive legacy 

support and the annual amount of 

support they receive in each area; (2) 

indicates the total amount of legacy 

high-cost support to be spent on the 

deployment, maintenance, and 

operation of mobile networks that 

provide 5G service in calendar year 

2021 across the identified service areas; 

and (3) certifies that any 2021 spending 

shortfall will be made up in 2022. Only 

those competitive ETCs receiving legacy 

high-cost support for mobile wireless 

services that wish to avail themselves of 

the flexibility concerning their 2021 and 

2022 legacy high-cost support usage 

requirements will be required to 

respond to this information collection. 

The certification will be used by the 

Commission to identify how much a 

competitive ETC that chooses to avail 

itself of the flexibility concerning its 

2021 and 2022 legacy high-cost support 

usage requirements will spend on 5G in 

2021 and the spending shortfall it must 

make up in 2022, and to confirm the 

competitive ETC’s commitment to make 

up its 2021 spending shortfall in 2022 

in accordance with its certification and 

the Commission’s rules. 

Federal Communications Commission. 

Marlene Dortch, 

Secretary, Office of the Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2021–03933 Filed 2–25–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6712–01–P 


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