Cybertelecom Federal Internet Law & Policy An Educational Project

Internet over Wireless

Appropriate Regulatory Treatment for Broadband Access to the Internet Over Wireless Networks, 22 F.C.C.R. 5901 (2007) 

Press Release FCC CLASSIFIES WIRELESS BROADBAND INTERNET ACCESS SERVICEAS AN INFORMATION SERVICE

Washington, D.C. – Today, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) declared that wireless broadband Internet access service is an information service under the Communications Act (Act). This action places wireless broadband Internet access service on the same regulatory footing as other broadband services, such as cable modem service , wireline broadband (DSL) Internet access service, and Broadband over Power Line (BPL)-enabled Internet access service. It thus ensures that wireless broadband Internet access services are similarly free from unnecessary regulatory burdens. Competition among all of these broadband services will provide consumers with more and better services at lower prices. Wireless broadband Internet access service is defined in today's Ruling as a service that uses spectrum, wireless facilities, and wireless technologies to provide subscribers with high speed Internet access capabilities. Wireless broadband Internet access service can be provided using mobile, portable, or fixed technologies, and wireless broadband technologies can transmit data over short, medium, or long ranges.

Specifically, the Ruling finds that

• the transmission component underlying wireless broadband Internet access service is "telecommunications ," and
• the provision of this telecommunications transmission component as part of a functionally integrated wireless Internet access service is an information service.
  • Internet over wireless is an information service
    • PRECEDENT: "The Commission determined that cable, wireline, and BPL providers offered broadband Internet access as a single, integrated service (i.e., Internet access) that inextricably combined the transmission of data over cable or wireline networks with computer processing, information provision, and computer interactivity, enabling end users to run a variety of Internet applications such as email, newsgroups, and interaction with or hosting of web pages. These applications, the Commission held, “encompass the capability for ‘generating, acquiring, storing, transforming, processing, retrieving, utilizing, or making available information via telecommunications,’ and taken together constitute an information service as defined by the Act.” In Brand X, the Supreme Court upheld the Commission’s findings that broadband Internet access service offered via cable modem is an integrated information service, and that the transmission component of that service is not a telecommunications service."[Internet over Wireless para 25 (emphasis added)]
    • ANALYSIS OF FACTS: "wireless broadband Internet access service offers a single, integrated service to end users, Internet access, that inextricably combines the transmission of data with computer processing, information provision, and computer interactivity, for the purpose of enabling end users to run a variety of applications." [Internet over Wireless para 26 (emphasis added)]
  • Internet over wireless is not a telecom service
    • PRECEDENT: "in the Cable Modem Declaratory Ruling, the Commission determined that the transmission component of cable modem service was “telecommunications” but not a “telecommunications service” because, as provided to the user, the transmission component was “part and parcel of cable modem service” and was not being offered as a stand-alone offering of transmission for a fee directly to the public, or to such classes of users as to be effectively available directly to the public."[Internet over Wireless para 30 (emphasis added)]
    • ANALYSIS OF FACTS: "We conclude ... that the use of this telecommunications transmission component as part of a provider’s offering of wireless broadband Internet access service to end users using its own transmission facilities is not a “telecommunications service” because it is part and parcel of the Internet access service’s information service capabilities. Specifically, we find that an end user subscribing to wireless broadband Internet access service expects to receive (and pay for) a finished, functionally integrated service that provides access to the Internet, rather than receive (and pay for) two distinct services – Internet access service and a distinct transmission service." [Internet over Wireless para 31 (emphasis added)]

This approach is consistent with the framework that the Commission already has established for cable modem service, wireline broadband Internet access service, and BPL-enabled Internet access service, thus furthering the goal of regulating like services in a similar manner.

The FCC also found that wireless broadband Internet access service using mobile technologies is not a "commercial mobile service," as that term is defined in the Act and implemented in the FCC's rules.

In reaching these determinations, the FCC provided regulatory certainty regarding the classification of this service, thereby encouraging deployment of wireless broadband Internet access to consumers.

Action by the Commission on March 22, 2007, by Declaratory Ruling (FCC 07-30). Chairman Martin and Commissioners Tate and McDowell, with Commissioners Copps and Adelstein concurring. Separate statements issued by Chairman Martin and Commissioners Copps, Adelstein, Tate, and McDowell.

WT Docket No. 07-53.

CITE AS: Appropriate Regulatory Treatment for Broadband Access to the Internet over Wireless Networks, Declaratory Ruling, 22 FCC Rcd 5901 (2007)

News

• Wireless Broadband As Information Service: Brand X Is Not Enough, Tales from the Sausage Factory 2/9/2007
• Martin To Deregulate Wireless Broadband - Classify it as information service, like DSL, Cable & BPL before it, Broadband Reports 2/6/2007
• FCC Order Would Make Wireless Broadband an Information Service, Phone+ 2/6/2007