47 CFR 1 - PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE

In this Report and Order, the Commission suspends, on an interim basis, the Commission's rules allowing for automatic pricing flexibility grants for special access services, pending adoption of new rules. The Commission suspends its pricing flexibility rules in light of evidence that the proxies for measuring actual and potential special access market competition, which are based on collocation by competitive carriers within a Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), do not accurately predict whether competition is sufficient to constrain special access prices and deter anticompetitive practices by price cap local exchange carriers. In the Report and Order, the Commission also initiates a process to obtain data needed to conduct a special access market analysis. Based on this forthcoming data collection, the Commission will undertake a robust special access market analysis to determine the extent to which the special access market is competitive and develop special access pricing flexibility rules to replace the collocation-based competitive showings.

In this document, the Commission, via the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau (CGB) provides notice of the implementation of a revised procedure for it to provide service of copies of orders, pleadings, and other documents to parties to a docketed proceeding when required by statute or regulation. Henceforth, that service will be made in an electronic format, rather than by mail.

In this document, the Commission adopts a new approach to its review of foreign ownership in common carrier radio station licensees, where the foreign ownership is held in the licensee through U.S.-organized entities that do not control the licensee. This action responds to pleadings filed in response to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking initiating this docket and to the Public Notice in this docket seeking further comment on the new approach.

The Commission revises its Schedule of Regulatory Fees to recover an amount of $339,844,000 that Congress has required the Commission to collect for fiscal year 2012. Section 9 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, provides for the annual assessment and collection of regulatory fees under sections 9(b)(2) and 9(b)(3), respectively, for annual “Mandatory Adjustments” and “Permitted Amendments” to the Schedule of Regulatory Fees.

In this document, the Commission announces that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved, for a period of three years, the information collections associated with the Commission's Migratory Bird Order on Remand ( Order ). This document is consistent with the Order, which stated that the rules will become effective upon Commission publication of a document in the Federal Register announcing their approval by OMB.

In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) announces that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved, for a period of three years, the information collection associated with certain of the provisions of the rules adopted as part of the Connect America Fund & Intercarrier Compensation Reform Order ( Order ), FCC 11-161 and a Bureau Order, DA 12-147. This notice is consistent with the Order, which stated that the Commission would publish a document in the Federal Register announcing the effective date of those rules.

In this document, Petitions for Reconsideration (Petitions) have been filed in the Commission's Rulemaking proceeding concerning rules that comprehensively reform and modernize the Lifeline program to strengthen protections against waste, fraud and abuse; improve program administration and accountability; improve enrollment and consumer disclosures; initiate modernization of the program for broadband; and constrain the growth of the program.

The Federal Communications Commission removes two modifications to its competitive bidding rules pursuant to a mandate by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

In this document, the Commission announces that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved, for a period of three years, the information collection associated with the Commission's rules contained in the Second Report and Order, FCC 11-119, pertaining to carriage of video programming vendors by multichannel video programming distributors (program carriage rules). This notice is consistent with the Secord Report and Order, which stated that the Commission would publish a document in the Federal Register announcing the effective date of those rules.

In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) adopts a rule that affects the process of tower construction by instituting a pre-application notification process so that members of the public will have a meaningful opportunity to comment on the environmental effects of proposed antenna structures that require registration with the Commission. As an interim measure pending completion of a programmatic environmental analysis and subsequent rulemaking proceeding, the Commission also requires that an EA be prepared for any proposed tower over 450 feet in height.

In this document, Petitions for Reconsideration (Petitions) have been filed in the Commission's Rulemaking proceeding concerning rules that comprehensively reform and modernize 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 this document, the Commission is proposing to make changes to the criteria under which it considers applications and notifications from foreign carriers or affiliates of foreign carriers for entry into the U.S. market for international telecommunications services and facilities under section 214 of Communications Act of 1934, as amended (the “Act”) and section 2 of the Cable Landing License Act. By this document, the Commission seeks to eliminate outdated or unnecessary rules, simplify rules that it may retain, reduce regulatory costs and burdens imposed on applicants, and improve transparency with respect to filing requirements of the ECO Test. It also seeks to promote competition to achieve greater decisional flexibility in evaluating applications and notifications, and continue to protect important interests related to national security, law enforcement, foreign policy, and trade policy.

In the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, “Expanding the Economic and Innovation Opportunities of Spectrum Through Incentive Auctions” ( NPRM ), released October 2, 2012, the Commission considers matters related to the implementation of Congress's mandate to conduct an incentive auction of broadcast television spectrum as set forth in the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (Spectrum Act).

In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission), via the Office of Managing Director, seeks comment on a report released by the Government Accountability Office Report on September 12, 2012, entitled, Federal Communications Commission, Regulatory Fee Process Needs To Be Updated. In addition, this document extends the reply comment date in response to the Commission's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking comment on proposals to reform the Commission's policies and procedures for assessing and collecting regulatory fees.

In this Report and Order, the Commission suspends, on an interim basis, the Commission's rules allowing for automatic pricing flexibility grants for special access services, pending adoption of new rules. The Commission suspends its pricing flexibility rules in light of evidence that the proxies for measuring actual and potential special access market competition, which are based on collocation by competitive carriers within a Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), do not accurately predict whether competition is sufficient to constrain special access prices and deter anticompetitive practices by price cap local exchange carriers. In the Report and Order, the Commission also initiates a process to obtain data needed to conduct a special access market analysis. Based on this forthcoming data collection, the Commission will undertake a robust special access market analysis to determine the extent to which the special access market is competitive and develop special access pricing flexibility rules to replace the collocation-based competitive showings.

In this document, the Commission, via the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau (CGB) provides notice of the implementation of a revised procedure for it to provide service of copies of orders, pleadings, and other documents to parties to a docketed proceeding when required by statute or regulation. Henceforth, that service will be made in an electronic format, rather than by mail.

In this document, the Commission adopts a new approach to its review of foreign ownership in common carrier radio station licensees, where the foreign ownership is held in the licensee through U.S.-organized entities that do not control the licensee. This action responds to pleadings filed in response to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking initiating this docket and to the Public Notice in this docket seeking further comment on the new approach.

The Commission seeks comment on proposals to reform the Commission's policies and procedures for assessing and collecting regulatory fees. Extensive changes have occurred in the communications marketplace, and in the Commission's regulatory efforts, since the Schedule of Regulatory Fees was enacted by Congress in 1994. In the period directly following enactment of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, industry development and Commission regulation centered primarily on wireline local and long distance communications. Subsequently, however, the mobile wireless industry has grown exponentially, shifting Commission resources to, among other things, the wireless industry, while the costs of implementing the 1996 Telecommunications Act decreased. These changes have produced corresponding shifts in the Commission's regulatory activity. These shifts in the cost of the Commission's activities are not always reflected in our current regulatory fees. Although the Commission has made a number of discrete changes to the regulatory fee program since 1994, we have not revised the data on which our fees are based since 1998, nor have we undertaken a comprehensive analysis of all the substantive and procedural aspects of our regulatory fee program in light of the current state of the communications industry. This proceeding will serve as the means by which we will seek comment on the issues related to how the Commission should allocate its regulatory costs among different segments of the communications industry.

The Commission revises its Schedule of Regulatory Fees to recover an amount of $339,844,000 that Congress has required the Commission to collect for fiscal year 2012. Section 9 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, provides for the annual assessment and collection of regulatory fees under sections 9(b)(2) and 9(b)(3), respectively, for annual “Mandatory Adjustments” and “Permitted Amendments” to the Schedule of Regulatory Fees.

In this document, the Commission initiates a proceeding to create a Do-Not-Call registry for public safety answering points (PSAPs) as required by the “Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012” (Tax Relief Act). Specifically, section 6507 of the Tax Relief Act requires the Commission, among other things, to establish a registry that allows PSAPs to register telephone numbers on a Do-Not-Call list and prohibit the use of automatic dialing equipment to contact those numbers. Therefore, the Commission seeks comment on a variety of issues relating to the establishment and ongoing management of the PSAP registry. The proposed rules are designed to address concerns about the use automatic dialing equipment, which can generate large numbers of phone calls in a short period of time, tie up public safety lines, divert critical responder resources away from emergency services, and impede access by the public to emergency lines.

In this document, the Commission announces that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved, for a period of three years, the information collections associated with the Commission's Migratory Bird Order on Remand ( Order ). This document is consistent with the Order, which stated that the rules will become effective upon Commission publication of a document in the Federal Register announcing their approval by OMB.

In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) announces that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved, for a period of three years, the information collection associated with certain of the provisions of the rules adopted as part of the Connect America Fund & Intercarrier Compensation Reform Order ( Order ), FCC 11-161 and a Bureau Order, DA 12-147. This notice is consistent with the Order, which stated that the Commission would publish a document in the Federal Register announcing the effective date of those rules.

The Commission will revise its Schedule of Regulatory Fees in order to recover an amount of $339,844,000 that Congress has required the Commission to collect for fiscal year 2012. Section 9 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, provides for the annual assessment and collection of regulatory fees under sections 9(b)(2) and 9(b)(3), respectively, for annual “Mandatory Adjustments” and “Permitted Amendments” to the Schedule of Regulatory Fees.

In this document, the International Bureau, on behalf of the Commission, seeks further comment on an approach to policies and procedures that apply to foreign ownership of common carrier radio station licensees pursuant to the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (“the Act”). It seeks comment because this approach was not discussed in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking initiating this docket or in the comments filed to date in response to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.

In this document, Petitions for Reconsideration (Petitions) have been filed in the Commission's Rulemaking proceeding concerning rules that comprehensively reform and modernize the Lifeline program to strengthen protections against waste, fraud and abuse; improve program administration and accountability; improve enrollment and consumer disclosures; initiate modernization of the program for broadband; and constrain the growth of the program.

In this document, the Commission proposes and/or seeks comments on service, technical, assignment, and licensing rules for flexible terrestrial use of spectrum currently assigned to the Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) in the 2 GHz band. These proposed rules are designed to increase the Nation's supply of spectrum for mobile broadband, provide for flexible use of this spectrum, encourage innovation and investment in mobile broadband, and provide a stable regulatory environment in which broadband deployment could develop. This proposal would carry out a recommendation in the National Broadband Plan that the Commission enable the provision of stand-alone terrestrial services in this spectrum. With this proceeding we intend to fulfill the Commission's previously stated plan to create a solid and lasting foundation for the provision of terrestrial services in the 2 GHz band. The Commission also seeks comment on an alternative band plan involving additional spectrum at 1695-1710 MHz that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has proposed to reallocate from Federal to commercial use.

The Federal Communications Commission removes two modifications to its competitive bidding rules pursuant to a mandate by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) proposes to amend the rules governing the 800 MHz Cellular Radiotelephone Service (Cellular Service). In the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking ( NPRM ), the Commission proposes to transition the Cellular Service from a site-based licensing model to a geographic-based model by offering an “overlay” license for every Cellular Market Area (CMA) and corresponding channel block (Block A or Block B), in two stages, via auction. The Overlay Licensees would be obligated to protect existing licensees' Cellular operations from harmful interference. The NPRM also includes proposals to update various other Cellular Service rules. The Commission seeks comment on all its proposals as well as on alternative proposals. The companion Order imposes certain interim procedures, including a freeze on the filing of certain Cellular applications in certain markets and other interim procedures regarding currently pending applications to help ensure an orderly and efficient rulemaking proceeding while the Commission considers changes to the Cellular Service rules.

In this document, the Commission announces that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved, for a period of three years, the information collection associated with the Commission's rules contained in the Second Report and Order, FCC 11-119, pertaining to carriage of video programming vendors by multichannel video programming distributors (program carriage rules). This notice is consistent with the Secord Report and Order, which stated that the Commission would publish a document in the Federal Register announcing the effective date of those rules.

In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) adopts a rule that affects the process of tower construction by instituting a pre-application notification process so that members of the public will have a meaningful opportunity to comment on the environmental effects of proposed antenna structures that require registration with the Commission. As an interim measure pending completion of a programmatic environmental analysis and subsequent rulemaking proceeding, the Commission also requires that an EA be prepared for any proposed tower over 450 feet in height.

In this document, Petitions for Reconsideration (Petitions) have been filed in the Commission's Rulemaking proceeding concerning rules that comprehensively reform and modernize 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.