The FCC announced that the Office of Management and Budget had approved, with changes, its special access data request. See TMI’s Blog “FCC Sends Special Access Data Collection to OMB for Review” dated 12/12/13. The FCC said its data collection will be revised to reflect the terms of OMB’s approvaland will become effective upon announcement in the Federal Register. Among other things, the changes made by OMB will: (1) require that data be reported for only one year (2013); (2) exclude entities that purchased less than $5 million in Dedicated Services in 2013 in price cap ILEC areas from the definition of Purchaser; and (3) make several questions voluntary or require responses only if the required information is kept that way in the normal course of business. The specific changes are as follows:
1. Where data had been sought for 2010 and/or 2012, now only require the reporting of data for a single year, and use the most recent year (i.e., calendar year 2013).
2. Revise definition of Purchasers to exclude entities from the data collection that purchased less than $5 million in Dedicated Services in 2013 (in areas where the ILEC is subject to price cap regulation).
3. Do not require Purchasers to answer Questions II.E.4-8, II.E.14, II.F.3-7, and II.F.13. Purchasers can provide information in response to such questions on a voluntary basis.
4. Require the reporting of revenues and expenditures broken down by bandwidth as set forth in Questions II.A.16, II.B.9, II.E.7-8, and II.F.6-7, only if Respondent keeps such information in the normal course of business. Otherwise, Respondent can provide information on a voluntary basis.
5. Only require the reporting of CLLI code for ILEC wire center in response to Question II.E.2.d if kept in the normal course of business. Otherwise, Respondent can provide information on a voluntary basis.
6. In Question II.A.11 directed at Competitive Providers, only require responses where the Respondent was selected as the winning bidder on a Request for Proposal (RFP). Respondents can provide information on unsuccessful RFP bids and business rules relied upon to submit bids on a voluntary basis.
7. In Questions II.A.4.c and II.B.3.c regarding the reporting of Locations with Connections, Providers are only required to provide the geocode for the Location if the Respondent keeps such information in the normal course of business. Respondent can, however, provide such information on a voluntary basis.
8. In Question II.A.5 directed at Competitive Providers regarding fiber maps and the reporting of Nodes used to interconnect with third party networks, do not require cable companies to show the feeder links to locations, only their interoffice transport fiber network. In addition, cable companies are only required to report their headends (i.e., Nodes) that they have upgraded to provide metro Ethernet service, or its functional equivalent.
In a separate statement, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said:
“Special access service has become increasingly important in the digital economy, enabling businesses large and small to connect to their customers around the globe. Consistent with the terms of OMB’s approval, we will move forward with data collection and fact-based analysis that will help the Commission better understand competition in this marketplace, and the impact on consumers as we pursue the Commission’s statutory mandate to ensure special access services are provided at reasonable rates and on reasonable terms and conditions.”
