II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 877

To encourage the provision of advanced service, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

APRIL 26, 1999

Mr. BROWNBACK (for himself, Mr. NICKLES, and Mr. CRAIG) introduced the

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on

Commerce, Science, and Transportation

A BILL

To encourage the provision of advanced service, and for

other purposes.

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 ‘‘Broadband Internet

5 Regulatory Relief Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 3 of the Communications

8 Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 153) is amended by—

9 (1) redesignating paragraph (1) through (51)

10 as paragraphs (3) through (53), respectively;
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1 (2) inserting before paragraph (3), as redesig2 nated, the following:

3 ‘‘(1) ADVANCED SERVICE.—The term ‘advanced

4 service’ means a communications service or combina5 tion of such services providing a digitally encoded

6 signal downstream from a provider to a consumer at

7 a rated speed of 200 kilobits per second or above

8 and upstream from a consumer to a provider at a

9 rated speed of 128 kilobits per second or above for

10 access to the Internet or other interstate information

11 and data services.

12 ‘‘(2) ADVANCED SERVICE PROVIDER.—The

13 term ‘advanced service provider’ means any provider

14 of advanced services.’’;

15 (3) redesignating paragraphs (19) through

16 (53), as redesignated by paragraph (1) of this sub17 section, as paragraphs (20) through (54), respec18 tively; and

19 (4) inserting before paragraph (20), as redesig20 nated by paragraph (3) of this subsection, the fol21 lowing:

22 ‘‘(19) DSL-CAPABLE LOOP.—The term ‘DSL23 capable loop’ means a loop capable of transporting

24 an advanced service.’’.
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1 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section

2 271(c)(1)(A) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47

3 U.S.C. 271(c)(1)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘3(47)(A),’’

4 and inserting ‘‘3(50)(A),’’.

5 SEC. 3. REGULATION OF ADVANCED SERVICE.

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part II of title II of the Commu7 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 251 et seq.) is amended

8 by adding at the end thereof the following:

9 ‘‘SEC. 262. PROVISION OF ADVANCED SERVICE BY INCUM10 BENT LOCAL EXCHANGE CARRIER.

11 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Nothwithstanding section 2(b)

12 of this Act, or any other provision of law, an incumbent

13 local exchange carrier shall not be subject to the require14 ments of—

15 ‘‘(1) section 251(c)(3) with respect to facilities

16 and equipment used exclusively to provide advanced

17 service; and

18 ‘‘(2) section 251(c)(4) for the provision of ad19 vanced service,

20 in any State in which 70 percent of the incumbent local

21 exchange carrier’s loops in its service territory are DSL22 capable, as determined by that State.

23 ‘‘(b) PRICING FLEXIBILITY.—

24 ‘‘(1) COMPETITION FOR ADVANCED SERVICE.—

25 Except as provided in paragraph (4), the prices,
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1 terms, and conditions of any advanced service by an

2 incumbent local exchange carrier shall not be subject

3 to regulation if the Commission determines that ad4 vanced service is being offered by an unaffiliated ad5 vanced service provider in competition with the in6 cumbent local exchange carrier within a geographic

7 area served by a central office.

8 ‘‘(2) PETITION.—An incumbent local exchange

9 carrier seeking pricing flexibility under paragraph

10 (1) may file a petition with the Commission seeking

11 such relief. A petition under this paragraph is

12 deemed to have been approved if the Commission

13 does not act on it within 30 days after it is filed.

14 ‘‘(3) UNCONDITIONAL RELIEF.—If the Commis15 sion determines under paragraph (1) that advanced

16 service is being offered by an unaffiliated provider in

17 the manner described in that paragraph, the Com18 mission shall approve the petition of the incumbent

19 local exchange carrier unconditionally.

20 ‘‘(4) ADVANCED SERVICE OUTSIDE AN INCUM21 BENT’S TERRITORY.—The rates, terms, and condi22 tions of advanced service offered by an incumbent

23 local exchange carrier or its affiliate are not subject

24 to regulation in any geographic area in which that
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1 carrier, its successor, or assigns was not the local in2 cumbent exchange carrier on February 8, 1996.

3 ‘‘(5) SCHEDULE OF CHARGES.—For any ad4 vanced service that has not been determined by the

5 Commission to be subject to competition under para6 graph (1), the incumbent local exchange carrier fur7 nishing such advanced service shall file with the

8 Commission a schedule of charges and practices for

9 such advanced service in a manner prescribed by the

10 Commission under section 204. Any such schedule of

11 charges and practices shall be deemed lawful and

12 shall be effective 2 days after the date on which it

13 was filed with the Commission unless the Commis14 sion takes action under section 204(a)(1) before the

15 end of that 2-day period.

16 ‘‘(c) DEFINITION OF INCUMBENT LOCAL EXCHANGE

17 CARRIER.—For purposes of this section, the term ‘incum18 bent local exchange carrier’ has the meaning given to that

19 term by section 251(h).

20 ‘‘SEC. 263. PROVISION OF ADVANCED SERVICE NOT SUB21 JECT TO CERTAIN RESALE REQUIREMENTS.

22 ‘‘Notwithstanding section 2(b), or any other provision

23 of law, section 251(b)(1) does not apply to a local ex-
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1 change carrier with respect to its provision of advanced

2 service.’’.

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