Broadband Investment and Consumer Choice Act

Bill: 109-s-1504
Sponsor: Sen. Ensign, John [R-NV]
Introduced: 2005-07-27 in the Senate
Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications
Subjects: Administrative fees
Administrative procedure
Administrative remedies
Broadband
Cable television
Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues
Civil actions and liability
Commerce
Competition
Consumer protection
Copyright
Damages
Deaf
Disabled
Educational television
Emergency Management
Emergency communication systems
Federal Communications Commission
Fines (Penalties)
Government Operations and Politics
Hearing disorders
Housing and Community Development
Independent regulatory commissions
Injunctions
Intellectual property
Land use
Law
Parties to actions
Public broadcasting
Punitive damages
Quality of products
Right of privacy
Right-of-way
Standards
State laws
Telecommunication industry
Telecommunication rates
Telemarketing
Telephone
Television
Television programs
Television relay systems
Transportation and Public Works
Wireless communication

Summary:
action_date: 2005-07-27
text: 
Broadband Investment and Consumer Choice Act - Subjects any telecommunications conduct, activity, service, or service provider only to the requirements of this Act, and not to any other federal, state, or local common carrier law or regulation concerning telecommunications or information services.
 
Prohibits any state or local government from regulating direct-to-home satellite services. Directs the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to forbear from regulating mobile services unless determined necessary because of lack of competition or for the protection of public health and safety.
 
Requires each telecommunications carrier deemed to be an incumbent local exchange carrier (LEC) and each eligible telecommunications carrier (a carrier eligible for federal universal service support) to offer basic telephone service (BTS) to business and residential customers throughout the LEC's service territory. Directs the FCC to establish federal quality standards for BTS service relating to reasonable uptime, installation and repair intervals, and voice quality. Provides penalties for standards violations.
 
Prohibits (with exceptions): (1) a consumer from being denied access to any content provided over facilities used to provide broadband communications service (the transmission of communications at a capacity greater than 64 kilobits per second); and (2) a broadband service provider from blocking subscriber access to such content. Prohibits a broadband service provider from preventing a customer from using voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) applications offered by a competitor.
 
Requires the FCC, with respect to service providers, to develop rules and regulations regarding telecommunications services, including billing and access for persons with disabilities.
 
Requires: (1) facilities-based providers to establish commercial arrangements regarding their ability to interconnect with other facilities-based providers; and (2) the FCC to govern interconnectivity between such providers and narrowband communications service providers.
 
Requires an incumbent LEC to provide unbundled access to copper local loops at commercially reasonable rates, terms, and conditions.
 
Allows an incumbent local exchange provider serving less than two percent of the access lines of the country to elect to continue to be subject to current federal and state statutory and regulatory requirements.
 
Prohibits a video service provider (VSP) from being required to: (1) obtain a state or local video franchise; (2) build out its video distribution system in any particular manner; or (3) provide access to its distribution facilities and equipment to any other VSP. Authorizes state and local government charges against VSPs for the cost of managing public rights-of-way used by VSPs.
 
Requires the FCC to prescribe regulations to promote: (1) competition and diversity in the multichannel video programming market; and (2) the continuing development of communications technologies.
 
Sets forth requirements for state- or locally-owned networks seeking to provide communications service and requires such governments to have an open bidding process allowing non-governmental entities to compete for the provision of such service.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2005-07-27
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
action_date: 2005-07-27
text: Introduced in Senate