The Office of Management and Budget approved the...

The Office of Management and Budget approved the FCC’s one-time mandatory data collection of inmate calling rates (CD Aug 12 p1), said a notice in Thursday’s Federal Register (http://1.usa.gov/1hMVOzG). OMB approved the collection June 2, and so the information collection requirement is effective immediately, the notice said. All inmate calling service (ICS) providers must submit data on the costs of providing interstate, intrastate toll and local ICS. Submitted data should provide the costs of telecom service, interconnection fees, equipment investment, installation and maintenance, security, ancillary service and other costs, the notice said. Providers will also be required to provide certain related rate, demand and forecast data, the notice said. Confidential treatment for proprietary information is available through a protective order in dockets 12-375 and 13-113. The FCC estimated the time per response at 90 hours, the notice said. Major ICS providers had challenged the data collection, calling the FCC’s response time estimate “laughably” low (CD March 28 p3).