PUBLIC NOTICE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION 1919 M STREET N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20554 ________________________________________________________________________ DA 98-494 ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT STATUS (AND ADDITION) REPORTS DUE ON MARCH 31ST Released: March 13, 1998 Carriers are reminded that Section 43.82 of the Commission's rules requires each facilities-based carrier providing international telecommunications services to file a circuit status report by March 31, 1998. The reports should contain data as of the last business day of 1997. The information and filing format for the Circuit Status Report is described in detail in the Circuit Status Filing Manual developed by the International Bureau (10 FCC Rcd 8605, 1995). All facilities-based carriers need to file the report regardless of whether or not they have activated circuits at the year-end. If carriers do not have any activated circuits at year-end, they are still required to file a report stating that they do not have any activated circuits. The Circuit Status Manual requires that carriers report the total number of activated and the total number of idle circuits by the following categories: submarine cable, satellite, and landline. Carriers are required to file the report in the format specified in the manual. Carriers are also reminded that, under Section 63.15(b) of our rules, non-dominant carriers providing international resold private lines are required to file annual circuit addition reports by March 31st for the preceding calendar year. The Circuit Status Manual was structured to guide the filing of both circuit status and circuit addition reports Accordingly, circuit addition reports follow the same format used in the circuit status report, and carriers should report year-end additional circuits from the previous year. To avoid confusion when reporting the number of Derived Circuits in Data field #2, carriers should include in this data field only the number of derived additional circuits. For example, Carrier A has 30 bearer circuits to County X, and from these circuits, 60 channels can be derived to provide services. Carrier A should report 30 bearer circuits in Data field #1, and 60 derived circuits in Data field #2. Some carriers have been incorrectly reporting the total number of both the bearer circuits and derived circuits. Carriers that are regulated as dominant on particular U.S. international routes under Section 63.10 of the Commission's rules must provide their circuit status information on a facility-specific basis for the dominant route only. Carriers should provide the information in a separate appendix in the same table form as used in the filing manual with the addition of a "Facility Name" column after "Data field #2". The facility name should indicate which cable system or satellite system is providing the capacity, such as "TAT-12" or "TPC-5" for cable circuits and "COMSAT" or "PANAMSAT" for satellite circuits. Carriers filing circuit addition information under Section 63.15(b) need not file their additions on a facility- specific basis. Carriers are required to file the reports on a common type and format of computer diskettes as described in the Circuit Status Manual. To assist carriers in submitting the report, the Commission has a data validation program that will enable carriers to detect errors before they file the data with the Commission. The program validates both the circuit status reports and the circuit addition reports. The data validation program as well as the Circuit Status Manual are available on the Internet: http://www.fcc.gov/ib/td/pf/csmanual.html. The Manual is also available through the Commission's contractor for public service records duplication: ITS, Inc., 1231 20th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036, (202) 857-3800. For further information contact Cathy Hsu of the Telecommunications Division, International Bureau, at (202) 418-2114. - FCC -