LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Federal Communications Commission: Communications Act
built 656 days ago
The Commission supports the efforts of the FCC to provide important information to potential licensees about the FCC telecommunications licensing process, certain aspects of which have been rife with consumer investment fraud for the better part of the past decade. Specifically, the Commission endorses the suggestion in the Second Report that Form 600, the form used to apply for various wireless telecommunications licenses, be modified to include disclosures about the FCC's requirements for licensees and, separately, to require the preparers of applications for these licenses both to disclose their identities to the FCC and to certify that the actual applicants have received pertinent FCC information. See Second Report at 220. The Commission ... recommends that the FCC require frequency coordinators, such as the Personal Communications Industry Association ("PCIA"), to provide disclosures about FCC license requirements to applicants who have submitted license applications to them pursuant to the FCC's mandatory frequency coordination procedure.(1) Id. Finally, the Commission continues to be concerned about the potential for fraud that may stem from wireless license auctions and recommends that the FCC: (1) require bidders at auction to disclose ownership information about the applicants on the auction application form, and (2) take steps to ensure that applicant owners receive material information about the applicable regulations for the licenses at issue. See Second Report at 118, 121, 124 and 128; Bidding Rules Notice at 49-52.
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The FCC can license operators of various services and has recently used auctions as a means of determining who would be awarded licenses for personal communications services. The commission enforces various requirements for wire and wireless communication through the promulgation of rules and regulations. Major issues can come before the entire commission at monthly meetings; less important issues are "circulated" among commissioners for action. Individuals or parties of interest can challenge the legitimacy of the regulations without affecting the validity or constitutionality of the act itself. The language of the act is general enough to serve as a framework for the commission to promulgate new rules and regulations related to a wide variety of technologies and services. Though the agency has broad discretion to determine areas of interest and regulatory concern, the court, in Quincy Cable TV, Inc. v. FCC, reminded the FCC of its requirements to issue rules based on supportable facts and knowledge .
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In a Brief filed today, a coalition of local government and non-profit groups asks the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit to overturn the video franchising Order issued by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in March 2007. The groups argue that the FCC had no statutory authority, acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner, and violated public notice requirements when it issued its Order.
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The FCC was created by the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C.A. § 151 et seq.) to regulate interstate and foreign communications by wire and radio in the public interest. The scope of its regulation includes radio and television broadcasting; telephone, telegraph, and cable TV operation; two-way radio and radio operation; and satellite communication. The FCC is composed of five members who are appointed by the president. The commission is assisted by a review board and an office of general counsel. In addition, administrative law judges conduct evidentiary adjudicatory hearings and write initial decisions.
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The FCC issued an Order regarding the applications of Embarq and Frontier requesting the Commission forbear from applying Title II of the Act and the Computer Inquiry rules to certain broadband services. Consistent with its recent AT&T Title II and Computer Inquiry Forbearance Order, the Commission granted substantial forbearance relief to Embarq and Frontier with regard to their existing packet-switched broadband telecommunications services and their existing optical transmission services. Embarq and Frontier are relieved of their tariffing obligations under the Computer Inquiry rules in connection with these services, but must comply with the Computer Inquiry obligations that apply to all non-incumbent local exchange carrier (LEC), facilities-based wireline carriers. The Commission did not forbear from any statutory or regulatory requirement that applies to common carriers or LECs generally regardless of whether they are incumbents or competing carriers. In addition, Embarq and Frontier must continue to meet their public policy obligations under Title II and the Commission’s implementing rules with respect to the services at issue. The Order is effective on October 24, 2007.
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The FCC is an independent U.S. government agency with jurisdiction over communications in all the states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Originally intended to regulate only radio, telephone, and telegraph industries, today the agency is charged with regulating interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable. It is not that the agency exceeded its charter; rather, the Act's flexibility and a sympathetic Supreme Court have allowed the agency to regulate additional communication media and related industries as they develop. However, when these modifications became too complex, Congress stepped in and passed additional amendments and acts, such as the 1962 Communications Satellite Act, to guarantee that the FCC could keep up with the pace. Congress's changing views on regulation and the market found their way into the agency and its guidelines, as reflected in the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
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