FCC Announces Release of Critical Information Needs Research Design

The Federal Communications Commission’s Office of Communications Business Opportunities (OCBO) announced the release of the Research Design for the Multi-Market Study of Critical Information Needs (Research Design).

The Research Design and subsequent studies are intended to inform the Commission’s 2012 report to Congress on barriers to participation, also known as the Section 257 Report. Section 257 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, requires that the Commission review and report to Congress on: (1) regulations prescribed to eliminate market entry barriers for entrepreneurs and other small businesses in the provision and ownership of telecommunications and information services or in the provision of parts or services to providers of those services and that can be prescribed consistent with the public interest, convenience and necessity; and (2) proposals to eliminate statutory barriers to market entry by those entities, consistent with the public interest, convenience, and necessity.

The public is also invited to submit written comments in response to the research design. A copy of the research design is available on the OCBO website. Interested parties may file written comments in FCC Docket 12-30 not later than July 23, 2013. Comments may be filed using the FCC’s Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS).

FCC Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn said, “The FCC has a duty to make sure that the industries it regulates serve the needs of the American public no matter where they live or what financial resources they have. The research design we announce today is an important next step in understanding what those needs are, how Americans obtain the information critical to their daily lives in a dynamic technological environment, and what barriers exist in our media ecologies to providing and accessing this information.”