[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 215 (Tuesday, November 7, 1995)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 56124-56125]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-27470]



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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

47 CFR Part 64

[DA 95-2190]


Independent Data Communications Manufacturers Association (IDCMA) 
and AT&T Corp. Petitions Regarding Frame Relay Service

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Final rule; declaratory ruling.

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SUMMARY: This order grants separate Petitions for declaratory ruling 
concluding that: AT&T's InterSpan Frame Relay Service incorporates a 
basic service that must be offered pursuant to tariff; and all 
facilities-based IXCs offering basic frame relay service must also 
tariff the service. The intended effect of this order is that all 
facilities-based IXCs offering basic frame relay service must file 
tariffs within sixty (60) days of the effective date of this order.

EFFECTIVE DATE: December 7, 1995.

ADDRESSES: Federal Communications Commission, 1919 M Street, N.W., 
Washington, D.C. 20554.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Stuart Kupinsky at (202) 418-1587 or Rose Crellin at (202) 418-1581, 
Policy and Program Planning Division, Common Carrier Bureau (202) 418-
1580.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On November 28, 1994, the Independent Data 
Communications Manufacturers Association, Inc. (IDCMA) filed a petition 
for declaratory ruling that AT&T's InterSpan Frame Relay Service 
(InterSpan) is a basic transmission service subject to the tariffing 
and other requirements of Title II of the Communications Act of 1934, 
as amended (Act). Thereafter, on December 5, 1994, AT&T filed a 
separate petition for declaratory ruling that the Commission's decision 
regarding InterSpan should apply to all other interexchange carrier's 
(IXSs) frame relay services.
    IDCMA's petition requested that the Commission declare AT&T's 
InterSpan service to be a basic service that AT&T must offer under 
tariff. Thus, the issue before the Commission was whether AT&T and 
certain other carriers must offer frame relay service as a regulated 
telecommunications service in accordance with the requirements of Title 
II of the Act and the Commission's Computer II, 45 FR 31319, May 13, 
1980, and Computer III, 51 FR 24350, July 3, 1986, proceedings.
    Frame relay is a high-speed packet-switching technology used to 
communicate data between, among other things, disperse local area 
computer networks (LANs). Digital data is divided into individual 
``packets''--each with its own destination information--that are 
transmitted separately. When all the packets of data arrive at this 
destination, they are reassembled into their original form.
    Frame relay technology also serves as the intermediary format for 
data traveling between and among computer systems employing different 
communications protocols. AT&T's InterSpan Service, for example, 
provides a variety of protocol conversion functions permitting 
communication with its frame relay network. That is, a customer may 
provide data to the network in an original protocol, the network 
converts the data into frame relay protocol, transmits the data across 
the network, and then converts the data back to the original protocol 
or a different protocol before delivering the data out of the network.
    The regulatory treatment of data communications services is 
governed by the basic-enhanced services framework established in the 
Commission's Computer II proceeding. Computer II Final Order, 77 FCC2d 
384 (1980), 45 FR 31319, May 13, 1980. Basic services are regulated 
under Title II of the Act and Commission Rules. Common carriers must 
file tariffs for such services. The Commission has previously 
determined that packet-switching networks may provide a basic service.
    In contrast, section 64.702(a) of the Commission's Rules defines 
enhanced services in pertinent part as ``services * * * which employ 
computer processing applications that act on the * * * protocol or 
similar aspects of the subscriber's transmitted information; [or] 
provide the subscriber additional, different, or restructured 
information.'' Thus, the Commission has traditionally treated carrier 
provision of protocol conversion, except in some limited cases, as an 
enhanced service. Enhanced services are not regulated under the 
Commission's Rules.
    For the reasons set forth in the full Order, the Common Carrier 
Bureau (Bureau) concludes that frame relay service is a basic service. 
The Bureau finds that frame relay service offers a transmission 
capability that is virtually transparent in terms of its interaction 
with customer-supplied data. The service is already provided pursuant 
to tariff as a basic service by all but one of the Bell Operating 
companies (BOCs). Accordingly, the Bureau declines to conclude that 
frame relay is an enhanced service.
    The Bureau rejects AT&T's argument that frame relay is an enhanced 
service because modifications to the frame header that occur during 
network transmission--such as changes in discard eligibility or 
location code--render the customer data that is delivered to the 
terminating customer through its frame relay service ``different'' from 
the data transmitted by the originating customer. The Bureau also 
rejects the argument of AT&T and others that the customer receives 
``different'' or ``restructured'' information within the meaning of 
Section 64.702 if the network discards eligible frames in frame relay 
networks.
    The Bureau also concludes that AT&T's InterSpan service in 
particular incorporates a basic frame relay service that AT&T must 
unbundle from its enhanced offering and offer under tariff.
    AT&T requested in its petition that if the Commission finds that 
AT&T frame relay service is a basic service subject to tariff, that the 
ruling be made applicable to the frame relay services offered by all 
other IXCs.
    Having applied Commission Rules and found that frame relay service 
is a basic service, the Bureau concludes that, pursuant to the Computer 
II decision, all facilities-based common carriers providing enhanced 
services in conjunction with basic frame relay service must file 
tariffs for the underlying frame relay service. This requirement 
applies independently of any additional requirements under the Computer 
III proceedings. Further, all 

[[Page 56125]]
facilities-based common carriers providing basic frame relay service 
must file tariffs within sixty (60) days of the effective date of this 
order.

Federal Communications Commission.
Kathleen M.H. Wallman,
Chief, Common Carrier Bureau.
[FR Doc. 95-27470 Filed 11-6-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-M