II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1695 

To require accurate disclosures to consumers of the terms and conditions 

of 4G service and other advanced wireless mobile broadband service. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 12, 2011 

Mr. BLUMENTHAL (for himself, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, and Mr. FRANKEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To require accurate disclosures to consumers of the terms 

and conditions of 4G service and other advanced wireless 

mobile broadband service. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Next Generation Wire5 less Disclosure Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) In 2011, the President set a goal of bring9 ing next generation wireless broadband Internet acmstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

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1 cess service to not less than 98 percent of people in 

2 the United States within 5 years. 

3 (2) The Federal Communications Commission’s 

4 National Broadband Plan sets a minimum target of 

5 delivering universal, affordable broadband Internet 

6 access service with actual download speeds of not 

7 less than 4 megabits per second and actual upload 

8 speeds of not less than 1 megabit per second. 

9 (3) The 4 largest wireless service providers ad10 vertise 4G service using different wireless mobile 

11 broadband technologies. 

12 (4) Although the International Telecommuni13 cation Union has expanded its definition of 4G serv14 ice to include these technologies, theoretical peak 

15 speeds and actual speeds experienced by consumers 

16 vary widely across technologies and service pro17 viders. 

18 (5) In 2010, the United States wireless indus19 try generated almost $160,000,000,000 in revenue, 

20 with approximately $50,000,000,000 of this total de21 rived from wireless data. 

22 (6) Consumers need accurate information be23 fore selecting a provider of wireless mobile 

24 broadband service. 

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1 (7) Providers and other sellers of advanced 

2 wireless mobile broadband service should be required 

3 to make accurate and reasonable disclosures of the 

4 terms and conditions of such service in order to give 

5 consumers the necessary information to make in6 formed decisions about such service and to promote 

7 greater transparency in the market. 

8 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

9 In this Act: 

10 (1) 4G SERVICE.—The term ‘‘4G service’’ in11 cludes wireless mobile broadband service that utilizes 

12 technologies that fulfill the requirements set forth in 

13 the International Mobile Telecommunications Ad14 vanced standard promulgated by the International 

15 Telecommunication Union, any forerunner tech16 nologies for which the designation ‘‘4G’’ has been 

17 approved by the International Telecommunication 

18 Union, and any technologies that are broadly mar19 keted as ‘‘4G’’ service. 

20 (2) ADVANCED WIRELESS MOBILE BROADBAND

21 SERVICE.—The term ‘‘advanced wireless mobile 

22 broadband service’’ means 4G service or any wireless 

23 mobile broadband service that utilizes a successor 

24 technology to 4G technology. 

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1 (3) BEST-EFFORT DELIVERY.—The term ‘‘best2 effort delivery’’ means the common Internet protocol 

3 network model in which a network service routes 

4 Internet protocol packets on a first-in, first-out basis 

5 and does not distinguish based on the source, type, 

6 or other unique characteristics of the Internet pro7 tocol packets for the purpose of establishing dif8 ferent levels of delivery priority. 

9 (4) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

10 means the Federal Communications Commission. 

11 (5) ON-NETWORK HOST.—The term ‘‘on-net12 work host’’ means any networking routing equip13 ment owned, operated, or within the control of a 

14 wireless mobile broadband service provider that 

15 transmits or receives Internet protocol packets or 

16 any points in a network before a subscriber’s data 

17 traffic travels to a centralized routing facility that 

18 interconnects at an exchange point with broadband 

19 service providers that are not affiliated with such 

20 wireless mobile broadband service provider. 

21 (6) POSTPAID.—The term ‘‘postpaid’’ means, 

22 with respect to advanced wireless mobile broadband 

23 service, that the service is not prepaid. 

24 (7) PREPAID.—The term ‘‘prepaid’’ means, 

25 with respect to advanced wireless mobile broadband 

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1 service, that the consumer of such service pays for 

2 a specified quantity of service (whether measured by 

3 volume of data transferred, amount of time the serv4 ice is in use, or otherwise) before gaining access to 

5 such service and must affirmatively purchase any 

6 additional quantities of service before gaining access 

7 to such additional quantities. 

8 SEC. 4. REQUIRED DISCLOSURES OF TERMS AND CONDI9 TIONS OF ADVANCED WIRELESS MOBILE 

10 BROADBAND SERVICE. 

11 (a) SALE TO CONSUMERS.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—A person who sells advanced 

13 wireless mobile broadband service directly to a con14 sumer shall accurately disclose the terms and condi15 tions of such service by displaying such terms and 

16 conditions consistently, clearly, and prominently in 

17 all marketing materials for such service, at the point 

18 of sale of such service, and (in the case of postpaid 

19 advanced wireless mobile broadband service) in all 

20 bills for such service. The terms and conditions dis21 closed shall include the information described in sub22 section (c). 

23 (2) SPECIAL RULES FOR PREPAID SERVICE.— 

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1 (A) OFF-THE-SHELF TRANSACTIONS.— 

2 Paragraph (1) does not apply in the case of a 

3 transaction in which both— 

4 (i) the consumer receives a device that 

5 allows the consumer to access a specified 

6 quantity of prepaid advanced wireless mo7 bile broadband service; and 

8 (ii) the consumer’s interaction with 

9 the agents of the person from whom the 

10 consumer makes the purchase is such that 

11 the average consumer would not expect 

12 such agents to have expertise regarding the 

13 terms and conditions of such service. 

14 (B) PACKAGERS OF PREPAID SERVICE.—A 

15 person who packages prepaid advanced wireless 

16 mobile broadband service for ultimate sale to a 

17 consumer in a transaction described in subpara18 graph (A) shall accurately disclose the terms 

19 and conditions of such service by displaying 

20 such terms and conditions consistently, clearly, 

21 and prominently in all marketing materials for 

22 such service and on the packaging of the device 

23 described in subpargraph (A)(i). The terms and 

24 conditions disclosed shall include the informa25 tion described in subsection (c). 

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1 (b) SALE TO RESELLERS.—A person who sells ad2 vanced wireless mobile broadband service wholesale to an3 other person for ultimate sale to consumers shall disclose 

4 to such other person the information necessary to permit 

5 such other person to comply with subsection (a). 

6 (c) INFORMATION DESCRIBED.—The information de7 scribed in this subsection is the following: 

8 (1) The guaranteed minimum transmit and re9 ceive data rates for Internet protocol packets to and 

10 from on-network hosts for the service, expressed in 

11 megabits per second. For purposes of the preceding 

12 sentence, a minimum data rate is not guaranteed 

13 unless it is available for a percentage of the time in 

14 a calendar month to be established by the Commis15 sion. 

16 (2) The reliability rating of the service. The 

17 Commission shall establish a standard method that 

18 shall be used to calculate the reliability rating of the 

19 service, which shall be based on the data session 

20 start success percentage (network accessibility) and 

21 the data session completion success percentage (net22 work retainability) of the service. 

23 (3) The price of the service stated in terms of— 

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1 (A) in the case of service that is priced 

2 based on the volume of data sent or received, 

3 the price per unit of data sent or received; or 

4 (B) in the case of service for which a flat 

5 rate is charged for service over a given time pe6 riod— 

7 (i) the flat rate; and 

8 (ii) a detailed description of any limits 

9 on the use of such service over such time 

10 period, by volume of data sent or received 

11 or otherwise. 

12 (4) Any other charges that the consumer of the 

13 service will incur that are not included in the price 

14 as stated pursuant to paragraph (3). 

15 (5) The network management policies of the 

16 service with respect to Internet protocol packets to 

17 and from on-network hosts, including the following: 

18 (A) Any business practices or technical 

19 mechanisms employed by the service provider, 

20 other than standard best-effort delivery, that al21 locate capacity or prioritize traffic differently on 

22 the basis of the source of the applications, con23 tent, or services. 

24 (B) Any limits or prohibitions on the use 

25 of certain applications or services. 

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1 (C) Any traffic shaping or throttling mech2 anisms that affect the service as a result of ex3 ceeding certain usage limits. 

4 (6) The technology used to provide the service. 

5 (7) The uniform resource locator of a website 

6 (together with a brief description of the contents of 

7 the website) on which is located the following: 

8 (A) The complete terms of service, accept9 able use policy, and any other documentation 

10 related to the network management policies of 

11 the service provider. 

12 (B) A map of the coverage area of the 

13 service. If different technologies are used to 

14 provide the service in different geographic 

15 areas, the map shall indicate the technology 

16 used in each area. 

17 (d) MANNER AND FORM OF DISCLOSURES.—The 

18 Commission may prescribe the manner and form of the 

19 disclosures required by this section. 

20 (e) REGULATIONS.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

22 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

23 Commission shall promulgate regulations imple24 menting this section. 

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1 (2) COVERAGE AREA DEFINED.—For purposes 

2 of this section, the term ‘‘coverage area’’ shall have 

3 the meaning given the term by the Commission. The 

4 Commission shall set minimum signal strength and 

5 data rate requirements in order for a location to be 

6 considered to be within the coverage area of an ad7 vanced wireless mobile broadband service. 

8 SEC. 5. STUDY BY FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMIS9 SION. 

10 (a) STUDY.—Not later than 1 year after the date of 

11 the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the 

12 Commission shall complete a study evaluating the speed 

13 and pricing of advanced wireless mobile broadband service 

14 offered in the United States by the 10 largest providers 

15 of such service, as measured by the number of consumers 

16 to whom a provider provides such service in coverage areas 

17 that include any part of the United States. 

18 (b) INITIAL REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 

19 10 days after completing the initial study required by sub20 section (a), the Commission shall submit to Congress a 

21 report on the results of such study. 

22 (c) INCLUSION IN ANNUAL CMRS COMPETITION RE23 PORTS.—The Commission shall include the results of each 

24 study conducted under subsection (a) in the next report 

25 on the findings of the review required by section 

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1 332(c)(1)(C) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

2 U.S.C. 332(c)(1)(C)) that is adopted after the completion 

3 of such study. 

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