Reporting Requirements for U.S. Providers of International Services; 2016 Biennial Review of Telecommunications Regulations, 55323-55331 [2017-24983]

Agencies

• FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 223 (Tuesday, November 21, 2017)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 55323-55331]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-24983]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

47 CFR Parts 0, 1, 43, and 63

[IB Docket No. 17-55; 16-131, FCC 17-136]


Reporting Requirements for U.S. Providers of International 
Services; 2016 Biennial Review of Telecommunications Regulations

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: In this document, the Federal Communications Commission 
(Commission) eliminates the annual international Traffic and Revenue 
Reports. The submission of the Traffic and Revenue Reports is no longer 
necessary as the costs of the data collection now exceed its benefits. 
Instead, the Commission will rely on commercially available data, along 
with targeted data collections when necessary, to meet its statutory 
objectives. The Report and Order also reduces the burdens of the 
Circuit Capacity Reports, for instance by eliminating reporting of 
terrestrial and satellite circuits.

DATES: Effective December 21, 2017, except for 47 CFR 0.457(d)(1)(xi), 
1.767(g)(13) through (16), 43.62, 43.82, 63.10(c)(2), 63.21(d), 
63.22(e), (h) and (i). The amendments to 47 CFR 43.62, 43.82, and 
63.22(h) require approval of information collection requirements by the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) prior to becoming effective; and 
the effective date for amendments to 47 CFR 0.457(d)(1)(xi), 
1.767(g)(13) through (16), 63.10(c)(2), 63.21(d), 63.22(e) and (i) will 
be the same as those for 47 CFR 43.62, 43.82, and 63.22(h) because 
those amendments are directly related to each

[[Page 55324]]

other. The Commission will publish a separate document in the Federal 
Register announcing the effective date of these rule changes.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Veronica Garcia-Ulloa, Kimberly Cook, 
or David Krech, Telecommunications and Analysis Division, International 
Bureau, FCC, (202) 418-1480 or via email to Veronica.Garcia-Ulloa@fcc.gov, Kimberly.Cook@fcc.gov, David.Krech@fcc.gov. For 
additional information concerning the Paperwork Reduction Act 
information collection requirements contained in this document, contact 
Cathy Williams, Office of the Managing Director, FCC, (202) 418-2918 or 
via email to Cathy.Williams@fcc.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Commission's Report 
and Order in IB Docket Nos. 17-55 and 16-131, FCC 17-136, adopted and 
released on October 24, 2017. The full text of this document is 
available for inspection and copying during normal business hours in 
the FCC Reference Center, 445 12th Street SW., Washington, DC 20554. 
The Report and Order is also available at https://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2017/db1024/FCC-17-136A1.pdf. The 
Commission will send a copy of the Report and Order in a report to be 
sent to Congress and the Government Accountability Office pursuant to 
the Congressional Review Act. See 5 U.S.C. 801(a)(1)(A).

Synopsis

A. Traffic and Revenue Reports

    1. After reviewing the record and based on its understanding of the 
competitive nature of the international services sector, the Commission 
concludes that the filing by providers of the annual Traffic and 
Revenue Reports is no longer necessary, as the costs of this data 
collection now exceed the benefits of the information. As advocated by 
parties in this proceeding, the Commission will rely on targeted data 
collections when necessary in combination with third party commercial 
data sources to achieve the Commission's statutory obligations, 
including the ability to enforce its benchmarks policy or address any 
other anticompetitive concerns that may arise on U.S.-international 
routes, in a way that will impose fewer costs on both international 
service providers and the Commission. To minimize the burdens with this 
approach, each service provider is required to complete a one-time 
filing, to be updated as appropriate, listing the routes on which it 
has direct termination arrangements with a carrier in the foreign 
destination.
    2. Based on its review of the record in this proceeding, the 
Commission agrees with commenters that there are significant costs to 
prepare and file the Traffic and Revenue Reports. The Commission 
conducts the cost-benefit analysis here using a ``breakeven analysis'' 
to determine how large the benefits would need to be to exceed the 
estimated costs. Based on that review, the Commission concludes that 
the annual social benefits attributable to the Traffic and Revenue 
Reports no longer exceed their estimated social cost.\1\
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    \1\ The social benefit is the total benefit to society from 
providing the reports, and the social cost is the total cost to 
society of producing them, including the private costs to industry 
and the Commission of collecting the data and producing a report.
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    3. In 2016, 1,957 entities filed information regarding their 2015 
international traffic and revenue.\2\ Based on the Commission's 
previous estimates \3\ and on the record, the best estimate of the 
industry-wide cost of collecting and filing the traffic and revenue 
data in 2016 ranges from $604,415 to $1,203,160.\4\ In addition, the 
cost to the Commission to review the submitted data and publish the 
U.S. International Telecommunications Traffic and Revenue Data report 
in 2015, the last year the Commission released a public report, was 
approximately $112,076.\5\ Thus, the Commission estimates the overall 
annual cost of collecting and publishing the Traffic and Revenue 
Reports to be in the range of $716,491 to $1,315,236.
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    \2\ Of the 1,957 entities, 1,801 filed a registration form 
without any data because they either did not have any international 
revenues in 2015 or had less than $5 million in International 
Calling Service (ICS) resale revenue. Seventy five filed data for 
route-specific ICS facilities-based services and facilities-based 
International Private Line Services. Eighty one filed only the world 
ICS resale data, resale private line services, and/or International 
Miscellaneous Services.
    \3\ The Commission used an estimate of the average burden for 
the filing entities. For example, the burden estimate should be 
higher than the actual burden for entities with facilities-based 
service on a few routes and lower than the burden on entities with 
worldwide facilities-based services, such as AT&T and Verizon. In 
2014, the Commission estimated that on average filers spend one hour 
preparing and filing the registration form; two hours preparing and 
filing world total ICS resale data; 150 hours preparing and 
submitting route-by-route data for facilities-based ICS and or 
international private lines; and 50 hours preparing and filing 
revised data. The Commission estimated the hourly cost at $35 per 
hour. See OMB Control Number 3060-1156, ICR Ref. No. 201501-3060-
002, FCC Supporting Statement at 11-13 (2014) (2014 Supporting 
Statement), https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAViewDocument?ref_nbr=201501-3060-002.
    \4\ In estimating the costs, the Commission used a range of 
hours to account for the differences between entities serving a few 
routes and those with worldwide service. Based on the very general 
evidence in the record, the Commission chose 406 hours as the upper 
limit of the range to approximately reflect the potentially higher 
number of hours that a few large carriers, such as AT&T and Verizon, 
reportedly needed. The Commission used a range of one to two hours 
to fill out, verify, and submit the registration form. This approach 
accounts for Iridium's criticism that filling out a registration 
form may require examining the firm's data to ensure that it is 
appropriate, and having an attorney check the form for accuracy. At 
the low end of the Commission's range, the total number of hours to 
prepare and submit the data for industry is 17,269 hours (1,801 + 
243 + 15,225). At the high end of the Commission's range, the total 
number of hours is 34,376 hours (3,602 + 324 + 30,450). Multiplying 
these figures by the hourly wage of $35 per hour yields a range of 
$604,415 to $1,203,160 for the total cost to industry of producing 
the data.
    \5\ 2014 Traffic and Revenue Report, https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-340121A1.pdf and https://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2016/db0701/DOC-340121A2.xlsx. In the Section 43.62 NPRM, the Commission estimated 
that staff would spend 2,218 hours reviewing and publishing the data 
at a total cost of at least $112,076.
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    4. The Commission also finds, given the increasing level of 
competition on most U.S-international routes, that the benefits of the 
reports have so diminished that they no longer outweigh those costs. 
When the requirement for carriers to file Traffic and Revenue Reports 
was established, there was little competition in the international 
telecommunications markets and the reports were an important tool for 
the Commission to monitor the markets. The data from the reports were 
instrumental in developing Commission policies and actions that protect 
U.S. carriers and consumers from anticompetitive conduct and high 
settlement rates, including the development of the benchmarks policy.
    5. Circumstances have changed substantially over the years, 
however. As the Commission discussed in the Section 43.62 NPRM, 82 FR 
18090, April 17, 2017, since the implementation of the World Trade 
Organization (WTO) Basic Telecom Agreement 20 years ago \6\ and the 
establishment of the Commission's benchmarks policy, the international 
telecommunications sector has become much more competitive on both the 
U.S. and foreign ends. The Commission explained that ``[t]his is due to 
relaxed government regulations, entry by new carriers, entry by 
existing incumbents into other countries' markets, technological 
developments that have enhanced ease of entry, and, perhaps most 
significantly for the future, the

[[Page 55325]]

development of VoIP-based alternatives to traditional international 
switched services, such as Skype, FaceTime, Viber, or WhatsApp.''
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    \6\ The results of the WTO's basic telecommunications services 
negotiations are incorporated into the General Agreement on Trade in 
Services (GATS) by the Fourth Protocol to the GATS. See World Trade 
Organization, Fourth Protocol to the General Agreement on Trade in 
Services, 36 I.L.M. 366 (1997) (Apr. 30, 1996), https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/serv_e/4prote_e.htm. The Commission refers to these 
results, as well as the basic obligations contained in the GATS, as 
the ``WTO Basic Telecom Agreement.''
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    6. For the sector as a whole, U.S.-international average settlement 
rates and average ICS revenue per minute have dropped dramatically. 
Average settlement rates paid out by U.S. carriers have decreased from 
$0.18 per minute in 2000 to $0.03 per minute in 2014, an 83 percent 
drop. Another indicator that competition has driven down rates is that 
settlement rates to most foreign points are well below the benchmark 
rate established for that country, with the majority of minutes of 
calling on highly competitive routes with low settlement rates. 
Seventy-five percent of routes were below benchmark in 2014, a rise 
from three percent in 1997, and these constituted 98.7 percent of total 
minutes of international ICS calling from the United States.\7\ In 
2014, 75 percent of all minutes were on routes that had settlement 
rates below $0.02. While only 30 percent of routes were below the 
settlement rate of $0.05 per minute in 2014, these constituted 88 
percent of the total minutes. Average facilities-based ICS revenue per 
minute, which is a general measure of international calling prices, has 
decreased from $0.47 per minute in 2000 to $0.04 per minute in 2014, 
indicating a drop of 91 percent in the price to consumers for 
international calling.
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    \7\ Total settlement payments above each country's benchmark 
rate (counting only payments for that portion of the settlement rate 
above the benchmark, if any) were $211 million. The highest 
benchmark of $0.23 per minute was applied to new countries and 
routes for purposes of this analysis. The benchmarks do not 
necessarily reflect the current cost of termination, and individual 
routes may have lower or higher costs of termination. The cost of 
termination has fallen significantly since 1997, and thus the 
benchmark rates for many routes are probably higher than the actual 
cost of termination of international ICS calls.
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    7. The Traffic and Revenue Reports are also no longer 
comprehensive, given the nature of the international telecommunications 
sector today. Consequently, the data reveal only a portion of the 
overall picture of international communications, a portion that is 
likely to grow smaller over time as more consumers use non-
interconnected VoIP and other alternative technologies that are not 
included as part of the traffic settled with foreign carriers and 
therefore are not included in the Traffic and Revenue Reports. The 
Commission can use commercially available data to obtain a more 
complete picture of the international communications marketplace, 
including non-interconnected VoIP.\8\ For these reasons and in light of 
the alternatives available when and where issues may arise, the 
Commission concludes that the Traffic and Revenue Reports are no longer 
beneficial or necessary, and eliminates this annual filing requirement 
from the rules.
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    \8\ For example, an enterprise license for TeleGeography Report 
and Database is approximately $25,000. TeleGeography, https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-report-and-database. As opposed 
to the analysis of the social benefits of Circuit Capacity Reports 
as a public good, the Commission finds such benefits associated with 
the Traffic and Revenue Reports to be relatively minimal.
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    8. The Commission recognizes, however, that a number of routes are 
still not competitive and have not seen the reduction in settlement 
rates or calling rates that come from competition.\9\ As the Commission 
noted in the Section 43.62 NPRM, 48 routes have settlement rates above 
their respective benchmark rates. These routes account for only about 
one percent of the total minutes terminated on fixed networks, but 
represent almost 21 percent of the total fixed U.S. settlement payouts 
worldwide. In the future, should any issue arise, such as potential 
anticompetitive conduct on these or other routes, the Commission has 
broad authority to investigate such issues.
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    \9\ Consistent with economic theory and Commission precedent, 
the Commission treats each international route as a separate market.
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    9. The Commission has an established process for identifying and 
addressing issues of alleged anticompetitive conduct on U.S.-
international routes, including the increase of settlement rates above 
the appropriate benchmark rate for the route. That process provides an 
opportunity for U.S. carriers to file complaints or petitions, as well 
as for the Commission to act on its own motion. As part of that 
process, the Commission has used the annual traffic and revenue data, 
requested data from carriers, and sought public comment on allegations 
of anticompetitive conduct. In the Section 43.62 NPRM, the Commission 
specifically sought comment on how to obtain data and information to 
address instances of anticompetitive conduct on a U.S.-international 
route that adversely affect U.S. consumers or U.S. carriers if the 
annual traffic and revenue reports are eliminated.
    10. The Commission agrees with commenters that it can continue to 
use targeted data requests to international service providers when 
necessary in combination with data from third party commercial sources, 
which is a less burdensome but effective way of achieving its statutory 
objectives. Through these means, the Commission should be able to 
obtain any necessary information for merger review and investigations 
of possible anticompetitive conduct on U.S-international routes. 
However, to ensure this targeted data request process is efficient, the 
Commission must maintain a list of the particular routes that entities 
serve. This list of routes should be readily available to a service 
provider as each provider negotiates a contract in the normal course of 
business. Additionally, the Commission is not aware of this information 
being otherwise available from third party commercial sources and 
providing this information will be less burdensome than filing the 
annual Traffic and Revenue Reports. This list will provide the 
Commission with information, for example, to identify the service 
providers from which it may need to seek information on any 
anticompetitive issue that arises in a particular region or on a 
particular route. Importantly, this list will also inform the 
Commission as to which service providers should not be subject to a 
data request.
    11. Consequently, the Commission will require international 
facilities-based service providers to submit and maintain, a list of 
routes on which they have direct termination arrangements with a 
foreign carrier. Routes on which the U.S. carrier has no arrangement 
with a carrier in the destination market and instead provides service 
to that market through arrangements with third party carriers in 
intermediate countries would not be included on the list. The 
Commission directs the International Bureau to establish for the 
Commission the specific process for the filing of the lists. Service 
providers with existing direct termination arrangements must submit 
their list within thirty (30) days after the International Bureau 
releases a public notice with the procedures for filing. Thereafter, 
service providers must update their lists within thirty (30) days after 
they add a termination arrangement for a new foreign destination or 
discontinue arrangements with a previously listed destination. A new 
service provider or one without existing direct termination 
arrangements must file its list within thirty (30) days of entering 
into a direct termination arrangements with a foreign carrier.
    12. The Commission will treat the lists as not routinely available 
for public inspection, as AT&T requests. The Commission finds that the 
routine public disclosure of these carrier lists could cause 
competitive harm to carriers and may contravene established Commission 
policy. In a recent ex parte

[[Page 55326]]

filing, AT&T states that it ``treats information concerning the U.S. 
international routes that are served through direct and indirect 
termination arrangements as confidential information that is not 
customarily disclosed to the public.'' AT&T contends that public 
disclosure of this information would allow the identification of the 
specific routes served by each U.S. carrier via indirect termination 
arrangements, which would not support longstanding Commission policy 
fostering the least cost routing of U.S. international traffic to 
reduce high foreign termination rates.'' The Commission agrees and 
concludes, consistent with its decision in 2013, that it should not 
routinely make publicly available route-specific data, as it could 
enable foreign carriers ``to track and restrict hubbed traffic'' and 
``doing so might frustrate U.S. policy in favor of least cost routing 
and lower consumer rates.'' Although in the past, the Commission has 
issued Orders that included data from the Traffic and Revenue Reports 
regarding which U.S. carriers offered facilities-based service on a 
particular international route, those Orders did not disclose whether 
the particular carrier's facilities-based service was provided on a 
direct or indirect basis. Nor is the Commission aware of information 
regarding indirect routing being publicly available through other 
sources. The Commission adopts a new provision in Sec.  0.457(d) of the 
rules to include the lists and updates of U.S.-international routes for 
which a carrier has an arrangement with a foreign carrier for direct 
termination in the foreign destination as records not routinely 
available for public inspection. This approach will allow the 
Commission to send letters of inquiry in a docket or proceeding to 
investigate a potential anticompetitive issue on a particular U.S.-
international route.
    13. Based on the record and considering changing market conditions, 
the Commission finds that the Traffic and Revenue Reports are no longer 
necessary. The Commission anticipates that, in combination with access 
to commercially available international telecommunications market data, 
the use of targeted information requests will allow the Commission to 
continue to fulfill its statutory obligations and protect U.S. 
interests. Such information requests will be targeted for specific 
situations,\10\ and could include any information previously reported 
for the Traffic and Revenue Report--e.g., minutes completed on foreign 
networks; settlement payouts for call completion on foreign networks; 
foreign-billed minutes; and, foreign-billed settlement receipts. If a 
service provider requests confidential treatment of its response, such 
a request should be made in accordance with Sec.  0.459 of the 
Commission's rules.
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    \10\ In individual cases where merger review analysis and 
monitoring and enforcement of the benchmarks require data, the 
Commission can obtain this data from targeted data requests to the 
parties and other industry stakeholders. In addition, the traffic 
and revenue data are no longer necessary because the Commission can 
rely on commercial data sources and targeted data requests for any 
internal data analysis that it needs to perform.
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B. Circuit Capacity Reports

    14. Based on the record in this proceeding, the Commission finds it 
is in the public interest to retain the circuit capacity data 
collection with some modifications to streamline and reduce the burdens 
on providers. The Commission concludes that the identified social 
benefits of the Circuit Capacity Reports filed by providers 
significantly exceed the estimated social cost of producing these 
reports.\11\ The data from the Circuit Capacity Reports are necessary 
for the Commission to fulfill its statutory obligations and will 
continue to play a vital public interest role for other federal 
agencies. The Commission finds that it is able to streamline this 
information collection, and will no longer require carriers to file 
world total circuit data for terrestrial and satellite facilities. The 
Commission deletes Sec.  43.62, which contains both annual Traffic and 
Revenue Reports and the Circuit Capacity Reports, and places the 
revised Circuit Capacity Reports in Sec.  43.82.
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    \11\ The social benefit is the total benefit to society from 
providing the reports, and the social cost is the total cost to 
society of producing them, including the private costs to industry 
and the Commission of collecting the data and producing a report.
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    15. As the Commission did with the Traffic and Revenue Reports, it 
conducts the cost-benefit analysis of the Circuit Capacity Reports 
using a ``breakeven analysis.'' Based on that review, the Commission 
concludes that the social value of the social benefits of the Circuit 
Capacity Reports filed by providers exceeds the estimated social cost 
of producing the reports. The Section 43.62 NPRM estimated that 
industry as a whole spent 906 hours preparing and submitting the 2015 
Circuit Capacity Reports. The Commission finds, however, that it can 
streamline the circuit capacity data collection, which will decrease 
the cost to both industry and the Commission without jeopardizing the 
Commission's ability to fulfill its statutory mandates. The Commission 
will eliminate the requirement to report terrestrial and satellite 
circuits which will reduce burdens on industry without impairing the 
Commission's ability to fulfill its statutory duties. The Commission 
also finds that going forward the International Bureau can cease 
preparing and releasing public reports analyzing the data provided in 
the Circuit Capacity Reports, but should continue to maintain the data 
and publicly release aggregated data on a timely basis. Based on the 
record, the Commission estimates that with these changes the annual 
economic cost for filing entities to compile and submit circuit 
capacity data to the Commission would be between $30,065 and 
$37,605,\12\ and in the Section 43.62 NPRM the Commission estimated the 
annual economic cost to the Commission for reviewing the data and 
producing the public report to be approximately $22,000, which will 
decrease going forward because the Commission will no longer publish an 
annual public report.\13\ Thus, the total annual economic cost of the 
reporting requirement, including the overestimate for producing the 
annual report using Commission resources of $22,280 per year and the 
resources expended by the filing entities valued at $37,305 per year, 
equals no more than $59,885.
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    \12\ The Section 43.62 NPRM estimated that, in total, the 
industry spent 906 hours preparing and submitting circuit capacity 
data for the 2015 U.S. International Circuit Capacity Data report. 
This includes 30 hours for preparing and filing world total 
terrestrial and/or satellite circuits, a requirement which the 
Commission has eliminated in this Report and Order, and 17 hours for 
preparing and filing the registration form by 17 filing entities 
that only submitted reports for the terrestrial and/or satellite 
circuits, a requirement which the Commission has similarly 
eliminated. Subtracting 47 hours--the amount of time by which the 
reporting burden is reduced under the Commission's revised rules--
from the estimated total of 906 hours yields a revised total of 859 
hours. The Commission used this as the lower range for total annual 
variable cost. Adjusting these figures upward to account for AT&T's 
and Verizon's reported burdens and adding the results to the 
estimated total of 859 hours yields a revised industry total of 
1,074.4 hours annually for the upper end of the range. The estimated 
total variable cost per year for filing entities is derived by 
multiplying the total hours by $35 per hour, the estimated in-house 
hourly wage for filing entities cited in the Commission's supporting 
statement on Part 43.62 annual reporting requirements. This 
calculation produces a range of annual total variable cost for all 
entities filing circuit capacity data with the Commission from 
$30,065 to $37,605.
    \13\ The Section 43.62 NPRM estimates that Commission staff 
spends 372 hours annually reviewing and publishing the annual 
circuit capacity report for a total variable cost of $22,280.
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    16. The Commission finds that the benefits to the Commission in 
collecting this data justify the estimated costs of the collection. The 
Commission currently uses the circuit capacity data

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for such purposes as analyzing international transport markets in 
merger reviews.\14\ More importantly, these data are essential for the 
Commission's national security and public safety responsibilities in 
regulating communications, an important linchpin of the Commission's 
statutory authority.\15\ A number of commenters questioned the 
usefulness of this information for national security purposes, arguing 
that the Commission and the national security agencies already know the 
owners, capacity, and locations of the submarine cables through the 
licensing process and that by the time the public reports are released 
the data are no longer useful. However, submarine cables are critical 
infrastructure and the circuit capacity data are important for the 
Commission's contributions to the national security and defense of the 
United States. More than 95 percent of all U.S.-international voice, 
data, and Internet traffic is carried over submarine cables, including 
civilian and military U.S. Government traffic. Submarine cables are 
used for critical government and business operations, communications, 
financial transactions, logistics, and transportation. Threats to 
submarine cables include deliberate attacks, accidents and natural 
disasters. To maintain the integrity of this critical part of the 
communications infrastructure, information about capacity holdings, 
which are not static but change over time, is central to fulfilling the 
Commission's responsibilities. The Commission uses the data, for 
example, to have a complete understanding of the ownership and use of 
submarine cable capacity and to assist in the protection, restoration, 
and resiliency of the infrastructure during national security or public 
safety emergencies, such as hurricanes. The Department of Homeland 
Security (DHS) also finds this information to be critical to its 
national and homeland security functions. It states that this 
information, when combined with other data sources, is used to protect 
and preserve national security and for its emergency response purposes. 
Although the Commission obtains the ownership and location of 
individual cables through the licensing process, distribution of a 
cable's capacity among providers is not required to be reported under 
the current submarine cable licensing rules and is provided only 
annually through the Circuit Capacity Reports. Further, the 
Commission's licensing rules do not require an applicant to include the 
entities that have acquired capacity on the cable through an 
Indefeasible Right of Use (IRU) or Inter-Carrier Lease (ICL). While in 
the past the circuit capacity data often have been dated by the time 
the Commission's public reports have been released, the Commission has 
had access to the data when filed and has used those data before the 
public report is released. In addition, going forward the Commission 
intends to make the data available to the public on a timelier basis by 
releasing the aggregate data without any analysis.\16\ The Commission 
finds that these benefits of the Circuit Capacity Reports, although 
difficult to monetize, clearly outweigh the minimal costs to industry 
and the Commission.
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    \14\ The Commission focuses on submarine cable facilities when 
analyzing the international transport market.
    \15\ The Communications Act of 1934 established the Commission 
``[f]or the purpose of regulating interstate and foreign commerce in 
communication by wire and radio . . . for the purpose of the 
national defense . . . '' 47 U.S.C. 151 (charging the Commission 
with regulating communications by wire and radio for, among other 
things, the national defense). The Cable Landing License Act of 1921 
and Executive Order 10530 also require that the Commission consider 
national security concerns in its licensing and regulation of cable 
landing licensees. 47 U.S.C. 35. Exec. Order No. 10530, 19 FR 2709, 
May 10, 1954 (delegating the President's authority to license 
submarine cables to the Commission). While the Commission 
coordinates as necessary and appropriate with the relevant Executive 
Branch agencies and accords deference to their expertise in 
identifying and interpreting issues of concern related to national 
security and other issues, the Commission makes independent 
decisions on matters within its responsibilities, which can be based 
in part on concerns raised by the Executive Branch agencies.
    \16\ An ancillary benefit of releasing aggregated circuit 
capacity data (and disaggregated data as appropriate) to the public 
is the benefit that companies may also rely on the data, at no cost, 
for example, to advise potential entrants about the likely effects 
on market concentration and competitive effects if market entry is 
attempted. In addition, the circuit capacity data support 
theoretical and empirical research on long-term trends in the 
international telecommunications industry and help analysts detect 
structural changes that may foreshadow future regulatory change, 
including but not limited to specific deregulatory reforms and rule 
revisions that encourage or protect competition. The Commission 
anticipates some long-term social benefits from research on industry 
evolution supported by the availability of the circuit capacity data 
to telecommunications industry analysts and academic researchers.
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    17. Based on the Commission's review, there are no alternative 
reliable third party commercial sources for the reported data.\17\ 
Although some sources collect general capacity information from cable 
owners,\18\ neither the Commission nor DHS has found any alternative 
sources for capacity holder data. For example, TeleGeography's 
submarine cable reports include capacity information, but the data are 
not verified by company officials \19\ and do not include capacity 
holder data. The Commission finds that the social benefits of 
collecting the data for the Commission's analysis of international 
transport markets and contributions to the national security, defense, 
and public safety exceed the costs of producing, collecting, and 
analyzing the circuit capacity data.\20\ Accordingly, the Commission 
retains the collection of this data.
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    \17\ Although certain cable capacity data may be available 
through other sources, those sources are not as reliable as 
information that has been submitted to a federal agency and verified 
by officials in the company. As for the capacity holder data, there 
are no other sources for that information. Letter from Emily Early, 
Director (Acting), DHS NPPD Strategy, Policy, and Plans, Office of 
Cyber and Infrastructure Analysis, National Protection and Program 
Directorate, DHS, to Marlene Dortch, Secretary, FCC (Sept. 21, 2017) 
at 2.
    \18\ The data on submarine cable capacity by region that the 
Commission collects and makes available provide potential entrants 
or new investors with an accurate industry overview showing where 
cable capacity connecting the United States to foreign points is 
presently deployed. The data provide potential new entrants, 
investors, and other small business entities with business planning 
data for assessing potential market demand.
    \19\ An officer of the Filing Entity must certify the accuracy 
and completeness of the Filing Entity's Sec.  43.62 information.
    \20\ In addition, the Circuit Capacity Reports provide capacity 
and ownership data useful in the Commission's review of proposed 
mergers of international submarine cable operators. The data in the 
Circuit Capacity Reports filed by providers, for example, will 
facilitate the calculation of potential post-merger market shares 
that are useful in assessing the possible competitive effects of a 
merger of submarine cable operators. Additional benefits provided by 
the Circuit Capacity Reports include the timely sharing of data with 
other U.S. government entities for public safety and other purposes. 
The data collected by the Commission that are not business-sensitive 
will continue to be made publicly available and downloadable to all 
users at no charge. See 47 CFR 43.62(c)(2).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    18. The Commission rejects arguments that it does not have 
authority to collect circuit capacity data. The Commission has 
authority to grant--and condition--authorizations and licenses. 
Specifically, section 214 of the Communications Act gives the 
Commission authority to ``attach to the issuance of the certificate 
such terms and conditions as in its judgment the public convenience and 
necessity may require.'' The Cable Landing License Act of 1921 and 
Executive Order 10530 authorize the Commission to condition licenses 
``upon such terms as are necessary to assure just and reasonable rates 
and service in the operation and use of the cables so licensed.'' The 
requirement for common carriers to file circuit data dates back to the 
1970s, and was extended to cable landing licensees in 2013.\21\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \21\ In requiring cable landing licensees to file circuit data 
for submarine cables, the Commission explained in the Part 43 Second 
Report and Order that:
    The Commission found that it has authority to require the filing 
of such information from these entities. The Commission's authority 
to require the filing of international circuit data by common 
carriers is well established and these carriers currently file 
circuit data pursuant to Sec.  43.82. The Commission finds it also 
has authority under the Cable Landing License Act as well as the 
Communications Act to require cable landing licensees that are not 
common carriers to report their capacity. As discussed in the 
Further Notice, the Commission licenses submarine cables and 
associated cable landing stations located in the United States 
pursuant the Cable Landing License Act. The provisions of the Cable 
Landing License Act do not distinguish between common carriage and 
non-common carriage of services over licensed cables. As the 
Commission discussed in the Further Notice, the submarine cable 
capacity data that the Commission will collect will help it to make 
informed decision as to its policies and procedures developed to 
implement the requirements of the Cable Landing License Act. This 
includes, for example, the adequacy of protection for competition 
and other matters.
    Reporting Requirements for U.S. Providers of International 
Telecommunications Services; Amendment of Part 43 of the 
Commission's Rules, IB Docket No. 04-112, Second Report and Order, 
78 FR 15615, March 12, 2013.

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[[Page 55328]]

    19. Although the Commission retains the Circuit Capacity Reports, 
it finds that there are ways in which it can further streamline the 
data collection to reduce the burdens on industry and the Commission 
while continuing to collect the data necessary to fulfill its statutory 
obligations. Commenters argue that the Commission should eliminate the 
requirement for filing terrestrial and satellite circuit data because 
the data serve no purpose other than for administering regulatory fees 
and the requirement is duplicative of data that carriers must file in 
the Commission's regulatory fee process. The Commission only uses this 
circuit data for regulatory fee purposes,\22\ and revises the rules to 
discontinue collecting terrestrial and satellite circuit information in 
the Circuit Capacity Reports. The Commission has a pending proceeding 
on the methodology for assessing regulatory fees for terrestrial and 
satellite international bearer circuits in a more efficient and less 
burdensome manner.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \22\ The Commission included that requirement to report 
terrestrial and satellite circuits solely for purposes of 
administering regulatory fees.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    20. The Commission declines, however, to eliminate the required 
breakdown of net capacity by cable ownership, as suggested by Verizon. 
Cable landing licensees and common carriers (collectively, capacity 
holders) are currently required to break down the capacity that they 
hold on a cable by whether it is held as ownership in the cable, an 
IRU, or an ICL. This information is not available from other sources. 
The Commission finds that this breakdown of how the capacity is held is 
necessary for analyses of critical submarine cable infrastructure and 
declines to make this change. However, the Commission can reduce the 
burden on the capacity holders, and does so here, by no longer 
requiring capacity holders to determine whether the entity from which 
they acquired a lease or to whom they sell a lease is another capacity 
holder or similar entity.\23\ Accordingly, the Commission directs the 
International Bureau to revise the Filing Manual to reflect this 
change.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \23\ Currently each capacity holder nets out IRUs and ICLs sold 
to U.S. cable landing licensees and U.S. common carriers, which file 
their own reports, but does not net out capacity sold to other 
capacity holders, which requires it to determine whether the entity 
to which it sold capacity is required to file its own capacity 
holders report.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    21. The Commission also declines to eliminate the requirement for 
submarine cable operators to report the planned capacity of the cable. 
Cable operators are required to report the intended capacity of the 
cable two years out from the reporting date based on the planned 
upgrades to the cable. The Commission finds that the planned capacity 
information is necessary for analyses of critical submarine cable 
infrastructure and thus declines to make this change. Similarly, the 
Commission will continue to require cable landing licensees to report 
the capacity they hold on all submarines cables on which they hold 
capacity, and not just on those on which they are licensees. Many cable 
landing licensees hold capacity on cables on which they are not 
licensees. This information is necessary for analyses of critical 
submarine cable infrastructure and thus the Commission declines to make 
this change.\24\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \24\ By continuing to require both cable landing licensees and 
common carriers to report their capacity on all cables the 
Commission will continue to receive data from the majority of 
holders of capacity on the cables.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    22. The Commission does make certain changes recommended by the 
North American Submarine Cable Association, DOCOMO Pacific, Inc., Globe 
Telecom, Inc. GTI Corporation, and Level 3 Communications, LLC 
(collectively, ICIO) to improve the current reporting to encourage more 
accurate data and to reflect changes in the submarine cable market. 
First, ICIO argues that allowing only one licensee to file the Cable 
Capacity Report for a consortium cable requires licensees to share 
information about their capacity and planned upgrades that may be 
competitively sensitive. The Commission agrees that the consortium 
cable reporting requirement raises issues requiring modification of the 
rules. The Commission therefore removes the requirement in the rules 
that only one licensee file the capacity for each submarine cable from 
the rule, and directs the International Bureau to consult with 
stakeholders on appropriate changes to the Filing Manual to allow for 
more than one licensee to file a cable operator report for a submarine 
cable if appropriate. Second, ICIO argues that the capacity holders 
report fails to consider how capacity is sold in the market today. It 
states that in addition to sales through IRUs and ICLs, capacity is now 
sold on a fiber pair or spectrum basis. The Commission recognizes that 
the way that capacity is provisioned and sold is constantly changing, 
but the Commission requires disaggregated capacity holder information 
about submarine cables capacity. The Commission directs the 
International Bureau to consult with stakeholders and to review and 
revise as needed the categories of ownership interests reported in the 
cable capacity holder reports to reflect changes in industry's 
provisioning of capacity, while ensuring that the capacity holder data 
are accurately captured by the reporting requirements.
    23. In the Section 43.62 NPRM, the Commission proposed to change 
the confidentiality rule for circuit capacity to clarify that requests 
for confidential treatment will be consistent with Sec.  0.459 of the 
Commission's rules and sought comment on the proposal. There were no 
comments filed on the issue. The Commission finds that it is 
appropriate to align the rules regarding requests for confidential 
treatment of information filed in the Circuit Capacity Reports with 
existing Commission rules on the matter. As such, the Commission adopts 
the proposal to require that requests for confidential treatment must 
be consistent with Sec.  0.459 of the Commission's rules.
    24. Finally, the Commission finds it unnecessary to amend its 
systems and processes to enable certifying officers to review and 
certify the report in a uniform, printable and recordable manner, as 
suggested by Verizon. The current system already allows the printing of 
a filing summary that can be reviewed by the filing entity prior to 
filing.\25\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \25\ The online system allows a filer to print out a ``filing 
summary,'' which can be saved as a PDF, from an Internet browser. A 
filer can click on ``filing summary'' in the upper right-hand corner 
of any page of the online system. The ``filing summary'' also 
includes links to the data templates submitted by the filer. As the 
filer progresses through the filing, the ``filing summary'' is 
updated automatically.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

C. Transition Issues

    25. To prevent the providers of international telecommunications

[[Page 55329]]

services from incurring potentially unnecessary expenses, on May 1, 
2017, the International Bureau granted a temporary waiver of the 
Traffic and Revenue reporting requirements until 60 days after release 
of a Commission Order regarding the reporting requirements. The 
Commission has decided to eliminate the Traffic and Revenue Reports. 
Consequently, in the event that the actions taken herein to eliminate 
permanently this information collection are not effective within 60 
days of the release of this Report and Order, the Commission finds good 
cause to extend the waiver for filing the 2016 international traffic 
and revenue data, which would have been due on July 31, 2017, until the 
deletion of this requirement is effective.
    26. The Commission adopts a rule requiring each international 
facilities-based service provider to file with the Commission a list of 
the routes on which it has direct termination arrangements with a 
foreign carrier for that route. Service providers with existing direct 
termination arrangements must submit their lists within thirty (30) 
days after the International Bureau releases a public notice with the 
procedures for filing. The lists shall be filed electronically in 
accordance with instructions to be issued by the International Bureau.
    27. Finally, the Commission directs the International Bureau to 
revise the Filing Manual to implement the modifications to the circuit 
capacity reporting requirements discussed above. The International 
Bureau shall issue a public notice seeking comment on the revised 
Filing Manual, and the Commission delegates authority to the 
International Bureau, as needed, to delay the March 31, 2018 filing 
date for the Circuit Capacity Reports (for the data as of December 31, 
2017) until the issuance of a revised Filing Manual.
    28. In this Report and Order, the Commission eliminates the 
requirement to file annual Traffic and Revenue Reports. In its place, 
the Commission will rely on targeted data collections and, to continue 
to meet its statutory objectives, the Commission requires each 
international facilities-based service provider to maintain and file 
with the Commission a list of routes on which it has direct termination 
arrangements with a foreign carrier for that route. The Commission 
retains its circuit capacity reporting requirements but removes the 
requirement to file terrestrial and satellite circuit data. The 
Commission finds that these actions are in the public interest and will 
minimize costs while allowing the Commission to fulfill its statutory 
obligations and protect U.S. interests.
    29. This Report and Order contains new or modified information 
collection requirements subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 
(PRA), Public Law 104-13. The requirements will be submitted to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review under section 3507(d) 
of the PRA. OMB, the general public, and other Federal agencies will be 
invited to comment on the new or modified information collection 
requirements contained in this proceeding. In addition, the Commission 
notes that pursuant to the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2002, 
Public Law 107-198, see 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(4), the Commission previously 
sought specific comment on how it might further reduce the information 
collection burden for small business concerns with fewer than 25 
employees. The Commission describes impacts that might affect small 
businesses, which include most businesses with fewer than 25 employees, 
in the Final Regulatory Flexibility Act Analysis.
    30. It is ordered that, pursuant to sections 1, 4(i), 4(j), 11, 
201-205, 214, 219-220, 303(r), 309, and 403 of the Communications Act 
as amended, 47 U.S.C. 151, 154(i), 154(j), 161, 201-205, 214, 219-220, 
303(r), 309, and 403, the Cable Landing License Act of 1921, 47 U.S.C. 
34-39, and 3 U.S.C. 301, and the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. 
552, as amended, this Report and Order is adopted.
    31. It is further ordered that parts 0, 1, 43, and 63 of the 
Commission's rules are amended.
    32. It is further ordered that the Report and Order shall be 
effective December 21, 2017, except those provisions that contain new 
or modified information collection requirements that require approval 
by the Office of Management and Budget under the Paperwork Reduction 
Act will become effective after the Commission publishes a document in 
the Federal Register announcing such approval and the relevant 
effective date.
    33. It is further ordered that the Commission's Consumer and 
Governmental Affairs Bureau, Reference Information Center, shall send a 
copy of the Report and Order to Congress and the Government 
Accountability Office pursuant to the Congressional Review Act, see 5 
U.S.C. 801(a)(1)(A).
    34. It is further ordered that the Commission's Consumer and 
Governmental Affairs Bureau, Reference Information Center, shall send a 
copy of the Report and Order, including the Final Regulatory 
Flexibility Analysis, to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small 
Business Administration.
    35. It is further ordered that this proceeding, IB Docket No. 17-
55, is hereby terminated.

D. Final Regulatory Flexibility Act Analysis

    36. The Report and Order reforms the international services 
reporting requirements set forth in Sec.  43.62 of the Commission's 
rules. Specifically, it eliminates the annual Traffic and Revenue 
Reports. In its place, the Commission will rely on commercially 
available data, along with targeted data collections when necessary. 
Through these means, the Commission should be able to obtain any 
necessary information for merger review and investigations of possible 
anticompetitive conduct on U.S.-international routes. To ensure that 
the Commission has the necessary information to meet its statutory 
obligations going forward, international facilities-based service 
providers are required to submit and maintain a list of routes on which 
they have direct termination arrangements with a foreign carrier for 
that route. Routes on which the U.S. carrier has no arrangement with a 
carrier in the destination market and instead provides service to that 
market through arrangements with third party carriers in intermediate 
countries would not be included on the list. Service providers with 
existing direct termination arrangements will submit their list within 
thirty (30) days after the International Bureau releases a public 
notice with the procedures for filing. Thereafter, service providers 
must update their lists within thirty (30) days after they add 
termination arrangements with a new foreign destination or discontinue 
arrangements with a previously listed destination. A new service 
provider or one without existing direct termination arrangements must 
file its list within thirty (30) days of entering into a direct 
termination arrangements with a foreign carrier. The Commission will 
treat the lists as not routinely available for public inspection.
    37. Additionally, the Commission further streamlines the Circuit 
Capacity Reports by eliminating the reporting of terrestrial and 
satellite circuits, but will continue to require reporting of submarine 
cable capacity data because these data are essential for the 
Commission's national security and public safety responsibilities in 
regulating communications. The reforms adopted in the Report and Order 
significantly minimize the costs and burdens associated with the data 
collections by retaining annual

[[Page 55330]]

reporting requirements for only those collections necessary to serve 
the public interest and for the Commission to fulfill its statutory 
obligations and protect U.S. interests.
    38. No comments were filed specifically regarding the IRFA. 
Nonetheless, the Commission considered the potential impact of the 
rules proposed in the IRFA on small entities and reduced the compliance 
burden for all entities, including small entities, in order to reduce 
the economic impact of the rules on such entities.
    39. The Chief Counsel did not file any comments in response to the 
proposed rules in this proceeding.
    40. The policies and rules adopted in the Report and Order apply to 
entities providing international common carrier services pursuant to 
section 214 of the Communications Act of 1934 (the ``Act''); entities 
engaged in providing Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service 
connected to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) between the 
United States and any foreign point; entities that operate a 
telecommunications ``spot market'' and carry international traffic; 
entities providing domestic or international wireless common carrier 
services under section 309 of the Act; entities providing common 
carrier satellite services under section 309 of the Act; and entities 
licensed to construct and operate submarine cables under the Cable 
Landing License Act of 1921 and Executive Order No. 10530. The 
Commission has not developed a small business size standard directed 
specifically toward these entities. As described below, such entities 
fit within larger categories for which the SBA has developed size 
standards.
    41. These policies and requirements apply to a mixture of both 
large and small entities. The Commission has not developed a small 
business size standard directed specifically toward these entities. 
However, these entities fit into larger categories for which the SBA 
has developed size standards that provide these facilities or services.
    a. Facilities-based Carriers.
    b. IMTS Resale Providers.
    c. Wireless Carriers and Service Providers.
    d. Wireless Telecommunications Carriers (except Satellite).
    e. Wireless Communications Services.
    f. Providers of Interconnected VoIP Services.
    g. Spot Market Operators.
    h. Providers of International Telecommunications Transmission 
Facilities.
    i. Satellite Telecommunications Providers.
    j. Operators of Common Carrier/Non-Common Carrier Undersea Cable 
Systems.
    k. Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers.
    42. In order to reduce the costs and burdens on carriers, including 
small entities, the Commission reforms its international reporting 
requirements. As proposed in the NPRM the Commission eliminates the 
requirement to file annual Traffic and Revenue Reports. The Commission 
sought comment on alternative means of obtaining data on international 
termination agreements, and determined that instead of the annual 
reports, it would rely on targeted data collections when necessary, 
which would be less burdensome for small businesses. All commenters in 
the proceeding support the elimination of the Traffic and Revenue 
Reports. Commenters also support requesting information on a targeted 
as needed basis. International facilities-based service providers will 
be required to provide a list of routes on which they have direct 
termination arrangements. The list of routes will provide the 
Commission with information to identify carriers from which it may need 
to seek information on any issue that arises in a region or on a 
particular route. Service providers must update their information 
within thirty (30) days as they add termination arrangements with a new 
destination foreign country or discontinue arrangements with a 
previously listed country. Maintaining this minimal list is 
significantly less burdensome than filing an annual traffic report as 
this information should be readily available to carriers in the normal 
course of business. ICIO supports a requirement obligating carriers to 
identify the services they provide and the routes they service. 
Similarly, AT&T notes that they would not object to providing the 
Commission, on a confidential basis, a list of routes on which it has 
termination arrangements with a carrier in the destination foreign 
country. The Commission will treat the lists as not routinely available 
for public inspection, as AT&T requests.
    43. The Commission retains the Circuit Capacity Reports for the 
submarine cable data but reduces the burdens of the Circuit Capacity 
Reports by eliminating the reporting of terrestrial and satellite 
circuits. The Commission also considered eliminating the required 
breakdown of net capacity by cable ownership, but found that this 
breakdown is necessary for analyses of critical submarine cable 
infrastructure and declined to make this change; the Commission did, 
however, reduce the burden on capacity holders by no longer requiring 
them to determine whether the entity from which they acquired a lease 
or to whom they sold a lease is another reporting entity. The 
Commission also directed the International Bureau to consult with 
stakeholders and review and revise as needed the categories of 
ownership interests reported in the cable capacity reports, to ensure 
that the cable capacity data are accurately captured by the reporting 
requirements. Thus, while the Commission retains the Circuit Capacity 
Reports, it will further streamline the reports to minimize the burdens 
associated with the data collection by removing the requirement to file 
terrestrial and satellite circuit data. This will significantly reduce 
the cost, time, and burden associated with the circuit capacity data 
collection. Overall, with the adoption of these changes to the 
international reporting requirements the Commission minimizes the 
economic impact on carriers, including small entities, by eliminating 
unnecessary data collections and retaining annual reporting 
requirements for only those collections necessary to serve the public 
interest.
    44. Report to Congress: The Commission will send a copy of the 
Report and Order, including this FRFA, in a report to be sent to 
Congress pursuant to the Congressional Review Act. In addition, the 
Commission will send a copy of the Report and Order, including this 
FRFA, to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the SBA. A copy of the 
Report and Order and FRFA (or summaries thereof) will also be published 
in the Federal Register.

List of Subjects

47 CFR Part 0

    Freedom of information, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

47 CFR Part 1

    Communications common carriers, Radio, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements, Telecommunications.

47 CFR Parts 43 and 63

    Communications common carriers, Radio, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements, Telephone.

Federal Communications Commission.
Katura Jackson,
Federal Register Liaison Officer, Office of the Secretary.

Final Rules

    For the reasons discussed in the preamble, the Federal 
Communications Commission amends 47 parts 0, 1, 43, and 63 as follows:

[[Page 55331]]

PART 0--COMMISSION ORGANIZATION

0
1. The authority citation for part 0 continues to read as follows:

    Authority:  Sec. 5, 48 Stat. 1068, as amended; 47 U.S.C. 155, 
225, unless otherwise noted.


0
2. Section 0.457 is amended by adding paragraph (d)(1)(xi) to read as 
follows:


Sec.  0.457   Records not routinely available for public inspection.

* * * * *
    (d) * * *
    (1) * * *
    (xi) Lists and updates of U.S.-international routes for which a 
carrier has an arrangement with a foreign carrier for direct 
termination in the foreign destination provided pursuant to Sec.  
63.22(h) of this chapter.
* * * * *

PART 1--PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE

0
3. The authority citation for part 1 is revised to read as follows:

    Authority:  47 U.S.C. 34-39, 151, 154(i), 154(j), 155, 157, 160, 
201, 225, 227, 303, 309, 332, 1403, 1404, 1451, 1452, and 1455.

0
4. Section 1.767 is amended by redesignating paragraphs (g)(13) through 
(15) as paragraphs (g)(14) through (16) and adding new paragraph 
(g)(13) to read as follows:


Sec.  1.767   Cable landing licenses.

* * * * *
    (g) * * *
    (13) The licensee shall file annual international circuit capacity 
reports as required by Sec.  43.82 of this chapter.
* * * * *

PART 43--REPORTS OF COMMUNICATION COMMON CARRIERS, PROVIDERS OF 
INTERNATIONAL SERVICES AND CERTAIN AFFILIATES

0
5. The authority citation for part 43 continues to read as follows:

    Authority:  47 U.S.C. 154; Telecommunications Act of 1996; Pub. 
L. 104-104, sec. 402(b)(2)(B), (c), 110 Stat. 56 (1996) as amended 
unless otherwise noted. 47 U.S.C. 211, 219, 220, as amended; Cable 
Landing License Act of 1921, 47 U.S.C. 35-39.


0
6. The heading of part 43 is revised to read as set forth above.


Sec.  43.62  [Removed and Reserved]

0
7. Remove and reserve Sec.  43.62.

0
8. Section 43.82 is added to read as follows:


Sec.  43.82   Circuit capacity reports.

    (a) International submarine cable capacity. Not later than March 31 
of each year:
    (1) The licensee(s) of a submarine cable between the United States 
and any foreign point shall file a report showing the capacity of the 
submarine cable as of December 31 of the preceding calendar year. The 
licensee(s) shall also file a report showing the planned capacity of 
the submarine cable (the intended capacity of the submarine cable two 
years from December 31 of the preceding calendar year).
    (2) Each cable landing licensee and common carrier shall file a 
report showing its capacity on submarine cables between the United 
States and any foreign point as of December 31 of the preceding 
calendar year.

    Note to Paragraph (a): United States is defined in Section 3 of 
the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 153.

    (b) Registration Form. A Registration Form, containing information 
about the filer, such as address, phone number, email address, etc., 
shall be filed with each report. The Registration Form shall include a 
certification enabling the filer to check a box to indicate that the 
filer requests that its circuit capacity data be treated as 
confidential consistent with Section 0.459(a)(4) of the Commission's 
rules.
    (c) Filing Manual. Authority is delegated to the Chief of the 
International Bureau to prepare instructions and reporting requirements 
for the filing of these reports prepared and published as a Filing 
Manual. The information required under this Section shall be filed 
electronically in conformance with the instructions and reporting 
requirements in the Filing Manual.

PART 63--EXTENSION OF LINES, NEW LINES AND DISCONTINUANCE, 
REDUCTION, OUTAGE AND IMPAIRMENT OF SERVICE BY COMMON CARRIERS; AND 
GRANTS OF RECOGNIZED PRIVATE OPERATING AGENCY STATUS

0
9. The authority citation for part 63 continues to read as follows:

    Authority:  Sections 1, 4(i), 4(j), 10, 11, 201-205, 214, 218, 
403 and 651 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 
151, 154(i), 154(j), 160, 201-205, 214, 218, 403, and 571, unless 
otherwise noted.


0
10. Section 63.10 is amended by revising paragraph (c)(2) to read as 
follows:


Sec.  63.10   Regulatory classification of U.S. international carriers.

* * * * *
    (c) * * *
    (2) File quarterly reports on traffic and revenue within 90 days 
from the end of each calendar quarter. Such reports shall include the 
minutes completed on foreign networks; settlement payouts for call 
completion on foreign networks; foreign-billed minutes; and foreign-
billed settlement receipts.
* * * * *


Sec.  63.21   [Amended]

0
11. Section 63.21 is amended by removing and reserving paragraph (d).

0
12. Section 63.22 is amended in paragraph (e) by removing ``Sec.  
43.62'' and adding in its place ``Sec.  43.82,'' by redesignating 
paragraph (h) as paragraph (i), and adding new paragraph (h) to read as 
follows:


Sec.  63.22   Facilities-based international common carriers.

* * * * *
    (h) A carrier shall file with the Commission a list of U.S.-
international routes for which it has an arrangement with a foreign 
carrier for direct termination in the foreign destination. The carrier 
shall notify the Commission within 30 days after it adds a termination 
arrangement for a new foreign destination or discontinues arrangements 
with a previously listed destination. The list shall be filed 
electronically in accordance with instructions from the International 
Bureau.
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 2017-24983 Filed 11-20-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6712-01-P