I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1312

To recognize the unique status of local exchange carriers in providing the

public switched network infrastructure and to ensure the broad availability of advanced public switched network infrastructure.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 11, 1993

Mr. BOUCHER (for himself, Mr. FIELDS of Texas, Mr. SLATTERY, Mr. OXLEY,

Mr. RICHARDSON, Mr. BARTON of Texas, Mr. LEHMAN, Mr. GILLMOR,

Mr. HUGHES, Mr. HUTCHINSON, Mr. SPRATT, Mr. BLILEY, and Mr.

HALL of Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly

to the Committees on Energy and Commerce and the Judiciary

A BILL

To recognize the unique status of local exchange carriers

in providing the public switched network infrastructure

and to ensure the broad availability of advanced public

switched network infrastructure.

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 ‘‘Local Exchange Infra5 structure Modernization Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds that—
2

•HR 1312 IH

1 (1) a ubiquitous high quality public switched

2 network will promote—

3 (A) universal service at reasonable rates;

4 (B) the universal availability of advanced

5 public switched network capabilities and infor6 mation services;

7 (C) the public health, safety, national de8 fense, education, security, and emergency pre9 paredness;

10 (D) the economic development and quality

11 of life by bringing access to advanced public

12 switched network capabilities to the American

13 people regardless of their location;

14 (E) new services and motivate new service

15 providers by providing uniform network acces16 sibility and interoperability;

17 (F) the international competitiveness of

18 American industry; and

19 (G) a seamless, nationwide, coordinated

20 communications infrastructure that will en21 hance the quality of life for all Americans;

22 (2) the increasing technological complexity and

23 need for ubiquitous infrastructure capability and

24 interoperability of the public switched network re25 quires—
3

•HR 1312 IH

1 (A) sharing of the public switched network

2 infrastructure and functionality between and

3 among local exchange carriers;

4 (B) joint coordinated network planning,

5 design and cooperative implementation among

6 all local exchange carriers; and

7 (C) development of standards for inter8 connection between the local exchange carrier

9 public switched network and any other person

10 by appropriate standards-setting bodies;

11 (3) the access provided by the local exchange

12 carrier public switched network to competitor car13 riers, information service providers and others, tie

14 these diverse elements into an interoperable national

15 telecommunications network;

16 (4) a ubiquitous, advanced local exchange car17 rier public switched network enhances the function

18 and availability of services provided by all carriers

19 and all other persons using the network; and

20 (5) it is in the public interest to promote devel21 opment of the public switched network by local ex22 change carriers because they—

23 (A) have universal service obligations for

24 geographically specific serving areas for which

25 they must construct a ubiquitous infrastructure;
4

•HR 1312 IH

1 (B) provide public switched network serv2 ices that are subject to regulation with respect

3 to rates, terms and conditions;

4 (C) must provide network access to their

5 own competitors on nondiscriminatory rates,

6 terms, and conditions; and

7 (D) are suppliers of last resort to cus8 tomers in their serving areas.

9 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE COMMUNICATIONS ACT OF

10 1934.

11 (a) AMENDMENT TO SECTION 1.—Section 1 of the

12 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151) is amend13 ed—

14 (1) by inserting ‘‘(a)’’ after ‘‘SECTION 1; and

15 (2) by adding at the end thereof the following

16 new subsection:

17 ‘‘(b) The Commission shall exercise its authority so

18 as to—

19 ‘‘(1) preserve and enhance universal service at

20 reasonable rates;

21 ‘‘(2) achieve universal availability of advanced

22 network capabilities and information services;

23 ‘‘(3) assure a seamless nationwide distribution

24 network through joint network planning, coordina-
5

•HR 1312 IH

1 tion, and service arrangements between and among

2 local exchange carriers;

3 ‘‘(4) maintain high standards of quality for ad4 vanced network services; and

5 ‘‘(5) assure adequate communication for the

6 public health, safety, defense, education, national se7 curity and emergency preparedness.’’.

8 (b) AMENDMENT TO SECTION 2.—Section 2(b) of the

9 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 152(b)) is

10 amended by striking ‘‘227’’ and inserting ‘‘229’’.

11 (c) AMENDMENT TO SECTION 3.—Section 3 of the

12 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 153) is amended

13 by adding at the end thereof the following:

14 ‘‘(hh) The term ‘local exchange carrier’ means a car15 rier which—

16 ‘‘(1) is required to provide upon request, under

17 tariff or subject to other government oversight (by

18 the Commission or a State commission), interstate

19 or intrastate access services and telephone exchange

20 service;

21 ‘‘(2) is, or was, a participant in one or more

22 interstate pools established by the Commission, or

23 would have been required to participate in one or

24 more such pools had the carrier been engaged in

25 interstate and intrastate access and telephone ex-
6

•HR 1312 IH

1 change service while such participation was manda2 tory;

3 ‘‘(3) is subject to the requirements imposed by

4 the Commission or a State commission related to the

5 provision of equal access; and

6 ‘‘(4) conforms with the provisions of the North

7 American Numbering Plan applicable to the assign8 ment of numbering resources for telephone exchange

9 service, as defined by the Plan’s Administrator.

10 ‘‘(ii) The term ‘Modification of Final Judgment’

11 means the decree entered August 24, 1982, in United

12 States v. Western Electric, Civil Action No. 82–0192

13 (United States District Court, District of Columbia).’’.

14 (d) AMENDMENT TO TITLE II.—Title II of the Com15 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) is

16 amended by adding at the end thereof the following new

17 sections:

18 ‘‘SEC. 228. NETWORK PLANNING AND STANDARDS.

19 ‘‘The Commission shall, within 180 days following

20 the date of the enactment of this section, prescribe regula21 tions that require—

22 ‘‘(1) joint coordinated network planning, design

23 and cooperative implementation among all local ex24 change carriers in the provision of public switched

25 network infrastructure and services; and
7

•HR 1312 IH

1 ‘‘(2) development of standards for interconnec2 tion between the local exchange carrier public

3 switched network and any other person by appro4 priate standard-setting bodies.

5 ‘‘SEC. 229. INFRASTRUCTURE SHARING ARRANGEMENTS

6 BETWEEN OR AMONG LOCAL EXCHANGE CAR7 RIERS.

8 ‘‘(a) SHARING ARRANGEMENT REGULATIONS.—

9 Within 180 days following the date of the enactment of

10 this section, the Commission shall prescribe regulations

11 that require local exchange carriers to share public

12 switched network infrastructure and functionality with re13 questing local exchange carriers lacking economies of scale

14 or scope, as defined in subsection (b).

15 ‘‘(b) DEFINITION.—For the purposes of this section,

16 the term ‘local exchange carrier lacking economies of scale

17 or scope’ means any local exchange carrier which serves

18 a geographic area for which it lacks economies of scale

19 or scope for the particular required network functionality.

20 ‘‘(c) CONTENT OF REGULATIONS.—The regulations

21 governing such sharing between or among local exchange

22 carriers shall—

23 ‘‘(1) promote economically efficient decision24 making by local exchange carriers;
8

•HR 1312 IH

1 ‘‘(2) not require any local exchange carrier to

2 make any decision that is uneconomic or adverse to

3 the public interest;

4 ‘‘(3) permit, but not require, joint ownership

5 and operation of public switched network infrastruc6 ture and services by or among local exchange car7 riers;

8 ‘‘(4) limit their applicability to local exchange

9 carriers;

10 ‘‘(5) ensure that a local exchange carrier, when

11 sharing any infrastructure or providing any

12 functionality to other local exchange carriers pursu13 ant to this section, shall not be deemed a common

14 carrier for hire when acting in this capacity, and

15 such arrangements shall not be deemed common car16 rier services by the Commission or by any State

17 commission;

18 ‘‘(6) contain general guidelines to ensure that

19 fair and reasonable terms and conditions for and in

20 connection with the business arrangement described

21 in this section are determined by local exchange car22 riers;

23 ‘‘(7) establish conditions that promote coopera24 tion between local exchange carriers; and
9

•HR 1312 IH

1 ‘‘(8) ensure that all regulatory rights and obli2 gations for and in connection with the business ar3 rangements described in this section shall be deter4 mined exclusively in accordance with the regulations

5 prescribed pursuant to this section.

6 ‘‘(d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act

7 shall be construed to enact into law any economic support

8 currently provided to telephone exchange service or enact

9 into law any prohibition with regard to new economic sup10 port mechanisms for telephone exchange service or any

11 service other than telephone exchange service.

12 ‘‘SEC. 230. SIGNALLING.

13 ‘‘Notwithstanding any other provision of law or any

14 restriction or obligation imposed before the date of enact15 ment of this section pursuant to the Modification of Final

16 Judgment, no local exchange carrier shall be prohibited

17 from transporting or processing signalling and informa18 tion for another local exchange carrier in adjoining or rea19 sonably proximate serving areas upon request of that local

20 exchange carrier to the same extent that the providing

21 local exchange carrier is permitted to engage in such ac22 tivities for itself.

23 ‘‘SEC. 231. INTRASTATE COMMUNICATION.

24 ‘‘Except as provided in section 2, nothing in this Act

25 shall be construed to alter, limit, or supersede the author-
10

•HR 1312 IH

1 ity of any State with respect to the regulation of intrastate

2 communication service.’’.

3 SEC. 4. ANTITRUST IMMUNITY FOR LOCAL EXCHANGE CAR4 RIERS.

5 (a) INAPPLICABILITY OF ANTITRUST LAWS.—Noth6 ing contained in any Federal or State antitrust law shall

7 render unlawful any individual or concerted action taken

8 by a local exchange carrier, or its directors, officers,

9 agents, employees, affiliates, subsidiaries, joint ventures,

10 counsel or other persons purporting to act on behalf of

11 such carrier, pursuant to sections 228, 229, and 230 of

12 the Communications Act of 1934, including (but not lim13 ited to) lobbying before Congress or the Federal Commu14 nications Commission or communicating by any means

15 with other local exchange carriers.

16 (b) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this Act, the fol17 lowing terms are defined:

18 (1) The term ‘‘Federal antitrust laws’’ means

19 the Acts known as the Sherman Act (15 U.S.C. 1

20 et seq.), the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 12 et seq.), the

21 Robinson-Patman Act (15 U.S.C. 13 et seq.), the

22 Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et

23 seq.), all subsequent amendments of such Acts, and

24 any and all other laws which have been or are here25 after enacted to regulate or prevent contracts, com-
11

•HR 1312 IH

1 binations, or conspiracies in restraint of trade or

2 monopolistic practices.

3 (2) The term ‘‘State antitrust laws’’ means all

4 laws enacted by States or territories within the Unit5 ed States or their political subdivisions which are

6 patterned after the Federal laws known as the Sher7 man Act (15 U.S.C. 1 et seq.), the Clayton Act (15

8 U.S.C. 12 et seq.), the Robinson-Patman Act (15

9 U.S.C. 13 et seq.), the Federal Trade Commission

10 Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.), or any subsequent

11 amendments to such Acts, or any other State laws

12 which are not patterned after such Federal Acts or

13 amendments but which are designed to regulate or

14 prevent contracts, combinations, or conspiracies in

15 restraint of trade or monopolistic practices.

Æ