The FCC’s Special Access Data Request that was released over a year ago on December 18, 2012 is currently on hold while the Office of Budget Management determines if the data request meets the government’s paperwork reduction requirements. 

Most recently, on December 9, 2013, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) filed an Application for Review of the Data Request Order.  NCTA argues that the Order is illegal because the Commission has failed to follow the Paperwork Reduction Act and is requiring cable companies “to devote thousands of hours and tens of millions of dollars to gathering virtually every scrap of information about the commercial services they provide (or could provide), the networks they operate, and the customers they serve (including detailed CPNI regarding every business in America that purchases dedicated services.”

The opinion here is that the NCTA Petition has little chance of success and sometime this year, the Commission will be permitted to actually begin collecting special access data from the industry.  Of course it is an open question if the Commission actually has the resources to meaningfully collect and analyze the massive amount of data once it is collected.