roundtable: Request for comments on Title VII 02-18-94 (fwd)
roundtable: Request for comments on Title VII 02/18/94 [fwd]
Request for comments on Title VII 02/18/94 [fwd]
W. Curtiss Priest (BMSLIB@mitvma.mit.edu)
Wed, 15 Feb 95 10:17:26 EST
Message-Id: <9502151517.AA05930@a.cni.org>
Date: Wed, 15 Feb 95 10:17:26 EST
From: "W. Curtiss Priest" <BMSLIB@mitvma.mit.edu>
To: Telecommunications Policy Roundtable <ROUNDTABLE@CNI.ORG>
Subject: Request for comments on Title VII 02/18/94 [fwd]
FYI -- Curt
W. Curtiss Priest
<bmslib@mitvma.mit.edu>
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
February 17, 1994
MEMORANDUM TO DISTRIBUTION
SUBJECT: Title VII of the Administration's Communications Act
Reform White Paper
Vice President Gore, Secretary Brown and other members of
the Administration are pleased at the quality and quantity of
opinions, advice and information they have received on the Administration's
"Communications Act Reform White Paper" from representatives of industry,
labor, academia, public
interest groups, and state and local governments. It has helped
refine and improve the Administration's proposal.
The Administration seeks your further assistance with a specific element of
our proposal: the creation of a new Title VII of the
Communications Act to ensure unified treatment for providers of broadband,
two-way services.
The Administration is especially eager to hear the views of all NII
stakeholders on this proposed regulatory structure.
The need for Title VII arises from changes in the information marketplace
-- and the manner in which different models of competition are
becoming more and more alike. Traditional regulation of telephony and cable
services has treated these two industries differently and prohibited them from
competing
with one another. The information marketplace, however, is rapidly bringing
these
two models together: offering the prospect of switched networks combined
with broadband capacity. That would permit, for example, interactive exchanges
of data, even full-motion video, between any two users of the network.
There is, however, no current regulatory model designed to
oversee a company that combines cable and telephone -- and possibly other
data transmission services. The purpose of the Administration's
proposed Title VII is to ensure that regulation matches the marketplace and
that, as the
marketplace changes, outmoded and unnecessary forms of regulation do not
limit its growth and expansion. Thus, Title VII responds to the changing
marketplace by providing a future-oriented approach that is both pro-business
and
pro-consumer.
The following summary explains how Title VII would work.
The Vice President, the Secretary and other Administration officials
welcome your thoughts and suggestions on Title VII. Please send your comments
via
e:mail to "nii@ntia.doc.gov". Due to the volume of comments expected, we
will not be able to provide individual responses. However, relevant
Administration statements will be posted on the Administration's Information
Infrastructure Task
Force bulletin board which can be accessed at iitf.doc.gov or by dialing
202-501-1920.
Thank you. 2/94 DRAFT TITLE VII
SEC. 701. SHORT TITLE.
This Title may be cited as the "[ ] Act of 1994."
SEC. 702. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds that --
(1) Communications service providers are emerging that offer
broadband, interactive, switched, digital services to persons in a wide
range
of places, including but not limited to homes, offices, classrooms,
libraries,
hospitals, and health care facilities. These offerings will include a
variety of
voice, high-speed data, and video services provided on an integrated basis
over advanced network facilities.
(2) Such providers face the potential of being regulated under two
different parts of the Communications Act of 1934 -- Title II (Common
Carriers) and Title VI (Cable Communications). These providers could also
be subject to regulation at the state level for the intrastate components
of
their offerings, and at the local level for cable television and possibly
other
services.
(3) The current regulatory environment will be needlessly
overlapping,
complex, and potentially conflicting for entities seeking to provide
broadband, interactive, switched, digital services.
(4) Technological and market changes are increasingly blurring the
formerly established lines between traditional voice telephony, data
communications, and cable television services, and these changes could
erase such lines entirely in the future.
(5) The goals of competitive fairness and efficient regulation
requires
that the Federal Communications Commission regulate similarly-situated
entities in a similar fashion.
(6) The existing regulatory scheme created by the Communications Act
of 1934 may be ill-suited to services offered as a result of rapidly
changing
technology, as regulatory policies predicated on outdated distinctions can
harm consumers by impeding competition and discouraging private sector
investment in network and service offerings that are desired by the public.
(7) A more streamlined, adaptable regulatory regime would provide
greater incentives for private sector firms to provide broadband,
interactive,
switched, digital services, thereby promoting competition in the delivery
of
communications services and the widespread availability of high quality,
advanced services offered to the public at reasonable prices.
(8) A new, more flexible regulatory scheme can allow for rapid
technological and marketplace changes, while also establishing mechanisms
to ensure that important universal service, consumer protection, and
efficiency goals continue to be met.
SEC. 703. STATEMENT OF PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Title are --
(1) To enact a flexible, adaptable regulatory regime that encourages
the
widespread provision of broadband, interactive, switched, digital services
to
a wide range of persons and places, including but not limited to homes,
businesses, classrooms, libraries, hospitals and clinics;
(2) To encourage the development of broadband, interactive, switched,
digital services, while ensuring that current services relied upon by the
public, including basic telephone and cable television services, continue
to
be provided at reasonable prices and at high levels of quality.
(3) To remove unnecessary and artificial barriers to participation by
the
private sector in communications markets, while ensuring that consumers
remain protected from any anticompetitive activities, and that
communications networks that serve the public are interconnected and
interoperable.
(4) To encourage private investment, promote and protect competition,
and encourage flexible, responsive government action with regard to
communications networks.
(5) To harmonize regulatory provisions under the Communications Act
of
1934, in order to provide a more unified, streamlined approach to
regulation
of broadband, interactive, switched, digital services, thereby avoiding the
imposition of conflicting or duplicative regulatory burdens on
communications service providers.
(6) To provide the Federal Communications Commission flexibility in
the
regulation of such communications services, so that regulation can keep
pace with the rapid technological and marketplace changes that pervade the
telecommunications and information industries, while preserving and
advancing traditional universal service goals, and ensuring just and
reasonable terms and conditions for competitors and consumers alike.
(7) To ensure that the Federal Communications Commission has the
statutory authority to treat similarly situated firms similarly, rather
than
regulating firms according to the technology they use to transport
information.
(8) To ensure provision, on a non-discriminatory basis, of open
access to
communications networks for information providers and consumers.
(9) To facilitate the realization of the goal that private sector
activities
result in the connection of all classrooms, libraries, hospitals, and
clinics in
the United States to the information infrastructure.
(10) To promote an open information marketplace, with services
offered
at reasonable prices, based on consumer demand, with expanded access to
the information infrastructure.
(11) To promote and develop a society where information is easily
available to all people, including disadvantaged, disabled, low-income, and
rural users, as well as educational, medical, and small business entities,
among others.
(12) To advance substantial governmental and First Amendment
interests in promoting a diversity of views provided through multiple
outlets,
by enabling individuals and organizations alike to publish and otherwise
make
information available in electronic form, including the development of
local
community networks.
(13) To provide the Federal Communications Commission with
flexibility
to tailor its regulations so that it can prevent abuses of market power
that
could harm consumers or impede competition, while ensuring that
government regulation promotes new entry, innovation in technologies and
services, efficient investment in infrastructure development, and full and
fair
competition in the offering of telecommunications services to the public.
SEC. 704. NEW TITLE ADDED TO THE COMMUNICATIONS ACT.
The Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 701 et seq.) is amended by
adding a new Title VII, entitled "[ ]" with the following
sections:
"SEC. 701. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of this Title, the following terms are defined:
"(a) "Title VII firm" means a person that is subject to Federal
Communications Commission jurisdiction under this Title.
"(b) "Title VII broadband services" means broadband, interactive,
switched,
digital transmission services offered by Title VII firms to end users.
"(c) "Other Title VII services" means communication services offered by a
Title VII firm, other than Title VII broadband services, that: (1) use the same
facilities as Title VII broadband services, and (2) would be subject either to
common carrier regulation under Title II, or regulation under Title VI, if
offered by
non-Title VII firms.
"(d) "Title VII services" means Title VII broadband services and other
Title
VII services.
"SEC. 702. ELIGIBILITY TO ELECT TITLE VII REGULATION.
"(a) Any person that offers broadband, interactive, switched, digital
services
may elect to apply to the Commission for such services to be regulated under
this
Title.
"(b) To be eligible to become a Title VII firm in a particular state, the
applicant must offer Title VII broadband services to at least 20 percent of its
subscribers in that state. The Commission may waive the threshold subscriber
percentage in specific cases, or modify it by rule of general applicability, it
if finds
doing so would advance the goals of this Title.
"(c) A Title VII applicant must certify to the Commission that it meets the
condition in subsection (b) and provide such documentation and other information
as the Commission may require. Its election to become a Title VII firm will
become
effective 180 days following such certification and provision of such
documentation and information, for each state for which the condition is met,
unless the Commission, after notice and comment, disallows the application prior
to that time.
"SEC. 703. COMMISSION AUTHORITY.
"(a) The Commission shall apply the regulatory regime established under
this
Title to all Title VII services, but only in those states for which a person
offering
the services is a Title VII firm.
"(b) Services subject to Commission authority under this Title, including
both Title VII broadband services and other Title VII services, shall not be
subject
to either the provisions of Title II or Title VI.
"(c) The Commission shall, by rule, establish procedures and standards
necessary to implement this Title.
"(d) The Commission shall treat a Title VII firm as a carrier, or common
carrier, with respect to any Title VII services it offers, for the purposes of
applying
Sections 310(b), 396(h)(1), 406, 407, 409(g), 410(b), 410(c), 412, 413, 415,
503(a), 503(b), 806, and 810 of this Act.
[to add savings clause somewhere re any FCC Title II or other authority
stemming from changes to AT&T Consent Decree, as below:
["(e) Nothing in this Title shall be construed as altering the
Commission's
regulation of the activities of the Bell Operating Companies under Title II that
pertain to regulation of [long distance], manufacturing, electronic publishing,
and
alarm monitoring services.]
"SEC. 704. STREAMLINED REGULATORY APPROACH FOR TITLE VII SERVICES.
"(a) Title VII firms shall provide open access to their networks so that
anyone, including end users and information service providers, can use Title VII
services to transmit information, including voice, data, and video programming,
on
a non-discriminatory basis. The Commission may establish rules, as needed to
ensure that Title VII firms comply with this provision.
"(b) The Commission shall adopt rules, in consultation with the states, to
establish universal service obligations applicable to Title VII firms. Such
obligations
may include contributions, either financial or in-kind, to the preservation and
advancement of universal service consistent with universal service obligations
imposed under other Titles of this Act, whether or not the Title VII firms are
subject
to the rate regulation provisions of this Title.
"(c) The Commission shall seek to promote the interconnection and
interoperability of networks providing Title VII services. To further this
goal, the
Commission is authorized to take actions that facilitate industry
standards-setting
processes, including the promulgation of procedures and timetables for the
adoption of industry standards. The Commission shall have the authority to
establish interconnection and interoperability standards or requirements by rule
if it
finds that the industry standards-setting process is not functioning to
accomplish
this goal within a reasonable period of time, or that promulgating such
standards or
requirements is necessary to advance the goals of this Title.
"(d) The Commission shall adopt rules as are necessary and feasible to
ensure that Title VII services are accessible and usable by individuals with
disabilities, including individuals with functional limitations of hearing,
vision,
movement, manipulation, speech and interpretation, and are available to all
educational institutions in the nation.
"(e) The Commission shall regulate the rates for Title VII services only if
it
finds that a Title VII firm has market power with respect to such services. The
Commission shall conduct proceedings to establish guidelines or standards for
defining "market power" for the offering of Title VII services. The Commission
is
also authorized to adopt transitional rules, as needed, for the application of
such
rate regulation before it has made a determination regarding a Title VII firm's
market power. However, the Commission shall impose such transitional rate
regulation only on Title VII firms that, at the time of their application for
Title VII
status, are regulated by the Commission under Title II as a common carrier with
market power, or under Title VI as a cable operator that is not subject to
effective
competition.
"(f) For any Title VII services subject to rate regulation, the Commission
has
the authority to impose requirements to provide public notice regarding such
rates,
through tariffing or some other appropriate means, and to establish, by rule,
procedures and standards to ensure that rates are just and reasonable.
"(g) With respect to the offering of Title VII services, the Commission
shall
promulgate rules, as necessary, to address the concerns reflected in Sections
223
through 229 of Title II.
"(h) The Commission may adopt such regulations as necessary to ensure
that the delivery of video programming directly to subscribers via Title VII
services
is consistent with the principles and objectives of sections 325(b), 611, 614,
615,
and 632 of this Act. Providers of video programming directly to subscribers via
Title VII services shall be subject to the payment of fees imposed by a local
franchising authority, in lieu of the fees required of a cable operator under
section
622. The rate at which such fees are imposed shall not exceed the rate at which
franchise fees are imposed on any cable operator transmitting video programming
in the same service area.
"(i) The Commission may also impose additional requirements by rule, or
issue such orders, as necessary, to carry out the purposes of this Title.
"(j) The Commission shall establish procedures for resolving expeditiously
any complaints filed by any entity against a Title VII firm and alleging a
violation of
the terms of Title VII, or a Commission order issued pursuant to its Title VII
authority.
"SEC. 705. STATE AUTHORITY TO REGULATE TITLE VII SERVICES.
"(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, no state or local
government may regulate entry into the market for the provision of any Title VII
services.
"(b) State governments may regulate rates for any Title VII services only
pursuant to the authority provided under this Title.
"(c) No state or local government may regulate rates for any Title VII
service
if the Commission finds, or has found, that the Title VII firm lacks market
power in
the provision of such service.
"(d) States may regulate rates for intrastate services, subject to the
following conditions:
"(1) For those intrastate Title VII broadband services for which the
Commission finding in subsection (c) has not been made, a state may
regulate the rates for such services pursuant to models or standards
established by the Commission for rate regulation. The Commission shall,
after notice and comment, establish such models or standards in
consultation with the states. A Title VII firm subject to state regulation
under this subsection, or any other interested party, may petition the
Commission for review of the state's compliance with the Commission's
models or standards for rate regulation. If the Commission declines to
review the state's action, it may do so in an order without stating its
reasons, and such order is not subject to appeal in the U.S. courts. If
the
Commission accepts the petition for review, it must provide the state, the
Title VII firm, and other interested parties an opportunity to comment.
Following its review of such comments, the Commission shall issue an order,
including findings on whether the state has so complied, an explanation of
the Commission's reasons, and directions for such relief as its finds
necessary, and such order shall be subject to appeal in the U.S. courts.
"(2) For those intrastate other Title VII services for which the
Commission finding in subsection (c) has not been made, states may
regulate the rates for such services; provided that the Commission may
preempt such state regulation, but only to the extent necessary to avoid
direct conflict between state regulatory actions and the policies
implemented
under this Title.
"(e) The Commission is granted the authority to preempt other state or
local
regulations concerning other terms or conditions of a Title VII firm's offering,
but
only to the extent such regulation is found to conflict with the policies and
provisions established under this Title.
"SEC. 706. REMEDIES.
"The Commission may award damages to any person claiming to be
damaged by a Title VII firm for a violation of, or failure to comply with, any
provision of this Title or any Commission order issued pursuant to this Title.
SEC. 705. CONFORMING AMENDMENT.
(a) Section VII of the Communications Act of 1934, which is labeled
"Miscellaneous Provisions" and includes Sections 701 through 713, is changed to
Title VIII and the Sections renumbered to be Sections 801 through 813.
(b) Section 2(b) of the Communications Act is amended to read "Except as
provided in sections 223 through 227, inclusive, and subject to the provisions
of
section 301, title VI, and Section 705.
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