[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2919 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

  2d Session
                                S. 2919

To promote the accurate transmission of network traffic identification 
                              information.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 24, 2008

Mr. Stevens (for himself, Mr. Inouye, Mr. Smith, Mr. Dorgan, Mr. Thune, 
Mr. Pryor, and Ms. Snowe) introduced the following bill; which was read 
     twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
                             Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To promote the accurate transmission of network traffic identification 
                              information.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Signaling Modernization Act of 
2008''.

SEC. 2. PHANTOM TRAFFIC.

    Title VII of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:

    ``SEC. 715. NETWORK TRAFFIC IDENTIFICATION ACCOUNTABILITY 
              STANDARDS.

            ``(a) Duties of Voice Communications Service Providers.--A 
        provider of voice communications service shall ensure that all 
        voice communications service traffic that originates on its 
        network contains the signaling information reasonably needed to 
        facilitate intercarrier billing in accordance with industry 
        standards, as determined by the Commission. Except as otherwise 
        permitted by the Commission, a provider that transports or 
        transits traffic between voice communications service providers 
        shall forward without altering the signaling information it 
        receives from another provider that is reasonably needed to 
        facilitate intercarrier billing in accordance with industry 
        standards.
            ``(b) Definitions.--In this section:
                    ``(1) Voice communications service.--The term 
                `voice communications service' means telecommunications 
                service or IP-enabled voice service.
                    ``(2) IP-enabled voice service.--The term `IP-
                enabled voice service' means the provision of real-time 
                two-way voice communications offered to the public, or 
                such classes of users as to be effectively available to 
                the public, transmitted through customer premises 
                equipment using Internet protocol, or a successor 
                protocol, with two-way transmission capability such 
                that the service can originate traffic to, and 
                terminate traffic from, the public switched telephone 
                network.''.

SEC. 3. RULEMAKING.

    Within 12 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
Federal Communications Commission shall complete all actions necessary 
to establish rules and enforcement provisions to implement the 
requirements of section 715 of the Communications Act of 1934. In 
determining the signaling information that is reasonably needed to 
facilitate intercarrier billing, the Commission shall consider, at a 
minimum--
    (1) industry standards regarding the transmission of call detail 
information;
    (2) the technical limitations of signaling equipment used in the 
industry; and
    (3) the costs and resources required to modify equipment or 
procedures to accommodate any changes from industry standards.
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