I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 214 

To promote deployment of and investment in advanced Internet 

communications services. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 4, 2005 

Mr. STEARNS (for himself and Mr. BOUCHER) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To promote deployment of and investment in advanced 

Internet communications services. 

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 ‘‘Advanced Internet 

5 Communications Services Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. REGULATORY TREATMENT. 

7 (a) CONSIDERATION AS INTERSTATE SERVICE.—An 

8 advanced Internet communications service shall be consid9 ered an interstate service. 
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1 (b) REGULATORY TREATMENT.—An advanced Inter2 net communications service shall be considered neither a 

3 telecommunications service nor an information service for 

4 purposes of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

5 151 et seq.). 

6 (c) LIMITATION.—Subject to section 3, but notwith7 standing this section or any other provision of law, neither 

8 the Federal Communications Commission nor any State 

9 may regulate the rates, charges, terms, or conditions for, 

10 or entry into, or exit from, the provision of, any advanced 

11 Internet communications service. 

12 SEC. 3. COMMISSION EXCLUSIVE AUTHORITY REGARDING 

13 ADVANCED INTERNET COMMUNICATIONS 

14 SERVICES. 

15 (a) DETERMINATION REGARDING REQUIREMENTS

16 AND OBLIGATIONS.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall have 

18 exclusive authority regarding advanced Internet 

19 communications services, and shall, by regulation, 

20 impose requirements or obligations on providers of 

21 advanced Internet communications voice service to 

22 carry out the following purposes: 

23 (A) Ensure that appropriate E–911 serv24 ices are available to users of advanced Internet 

25 communications voice services. 
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1 (B) Provide access to such service by per2 sons with disabilities. 

3 (C) Contribute directly to the universal 

4 service fund. 

5 (D) Provide for just and reasonable com6 pensation for use of the public switched tele7 phone network. 

8 (2) STANDARD.—The Commission may estab9 lish regulations imposing requirements or obligations 

10 referred to in paragraph (1) only to the extent that 

11 the Commission determines such regulations are 

12 technically feasible and economically reasonable. 

13 (3) PARITY AMONG PROVIDERS.—The Commis14 sion shall ensure that the requirements or obliga15 tions referred to in paragraph (1) apply equally to 

16 all providers of advanced Internet communications 

17 voice services, and neither the Commission nor any 

18 State may regulate the underlying Internet Protocol 

19 transmission networks, facilities, or equipment that 

20 support or transmit any advanced Internet commu21 nications voice service in a manner that results in 

22 the unequal application of regulation to any Internet 

23 Protocol network, facilities, or equipment as com24 pared to any other such network, facilities, or equip25 ment. 
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1 (b) RULEMAKING PROCEEDING.—Within 180 days 

2 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commis3 sion shall initiate and complete a proceeding to make the 

4 determinations required under subsection (a). 

5 (c) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 60 days after the 

6 completion of the proceeding pursuant to subsection (b), 

7 the Commission shall issue any regulations pursuant to 

8 such proceeding. 

9 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

10 For purposes of this Act: 

11 (1) ADVANCED INTERNET COMMUNICATIONS

12 SERVICE.—The term ‘‘advanced Internet commu13 nications service’’ means an IP network and the as14 sociated capabilities and functionalities, services, and 

15 applications provided over an Internet protocol plat16 form or for which an Internet protocol capability is 

17 an integral component, and services and applications 

18 that enable an end user to send or receive a commu19 nication in Internet protocol format, regardless of 

20 whether the communication is voice, data, video, or 

21 any other form. 

22 (2) ADVANCED INTERNET COMMUNICATIONS

23 VOICE SERVICE.—The term ‘‘advanced Internet com24 munications voice service’’ means an advanced Inter25 net communications service that is offered to the 
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1 public for a fee, and that provides real-time voice 

2 communications, and in which that voice component 

3 is the primary function of the service. 

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

5 means the Federal Communications Commission. 

6 (4) IP NETWORK.—The term ‘‘IP network’’ 

7 means the facilities used to transmit and to encode, 

8 digitize, packetize, or route advanced Internet com9 munications services in an Internet Protocol format, 

10 including routers, softswitches, gateways, packet 

11 switches, and transmission facilities. 

12 (5) INTERNET PROTOCOL.—The term ‘‘Internet 

13 protocol’’ means the Transmission Control Protocol/ 

14 Internet Protocol, or any predecessor or successor 

15 protocols to such protocol. 

16 (6) PUBLIC SWITCHED TELEPHONE NET17 WORK.—The term ‘‘public switched telephone net18 work’’ means the collection of interconnected circuit 

19 switched telecommunications. 

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