On July 12, 2018, in the Open Meeting, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC” or “Commission”) adopted a Cellular Service Reform Report and Order (“Order”) which promotes regulatory consistency, eliminates unnecessary rules, and deletes duplicative rules for licensees in the 800 MHz Cellular Radiotelephone (“Cellular”) Service and other Part 22 licensees (WT Docket Nos. 10-112, 16-138).
The Order eliminates administrative and recordkeeping rules for all Part 22 licensees relating to station inspections, retention of hard copies of records, and the requirement to have station control points and personnel on duty at those control points, as well as deleting duplicative rules about the operation of mobile stations, control of mobile devices, and equal employment opportunity regulations.
There are no substantive changes from the draft Order.
On August 12, 2018, the Commission published the Report and Order (“Order”) in the Federal Register therefore establishing the following effective date:
The Order is effective September 4, 2018, with the exception of the rule amendment to 47 CFR 22.303, adopted in and specified in Appendix A of the third report, which requires OMB approval and will be published at a later date.
On December 26, 2018, the Commission published in the Federal Register that OMB has approved a three-year information collection associated with a rule amendment made in the Cellular Service Third Report and Order (“R&O”).
The rule amendment deletes 47 CFR § 22.303 and is effective January 2, 2019.
The Commission estimates that there will be 15,465 respondents and 16,183 total responses, and therefore the total annual estimated burden is 2,606 hours with an estimated annual cost of $19,138,350. The information collected will be made available for public inspection.
Please contact us if you have any questions.