[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 70 (Wednesday, April 13, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19466-19467]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-7181]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

[WC Docket No. 03-251; FCC 05-78]


BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc. Request for Declaratory Ruling 
that State Commissions May Not Regulate Broadband Internet Access 
Services by Requiring BellSouth to Provide Wholesale or Retail 
Broadband Services to Competitive LEC UNE Voice Customers

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This document initiates an inquiry on whether the Commission 
should consider developing policies or rules regarding the separate 
provision of services that are offered as a service bundle by 
communications providers and seeks comment on the appropriate statutory 
authority under which the Commission could implement such policies or 
rules, if warranted.

DATES: Comments are due on or before June 13, 2005 and reply comments 
are due on or before July 12, 2005.

ADDRESSES: Federal Communications Commission, 445 12th Street, SW., 
Washington, DC 20554. See Supplementary Information for further filing 
instructions.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ian Dillner, Attorney, Competition 
Policy Division, Wireline Competition Bureau, at (202) 418-1191, or at 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Commission's Notice 
of Inquiry (NOI) in WC Docket No. 03-251, adopted March 17, 2005, and 
released March 25, 2005. The complete text of this NOI is available for 
inspection and copying during normal business hours in the FCC 
Reference Information Center, Portals II, 445 12th Street, SW., Room 
CY-A257, Washington, DC, 20554. This document may also be purchased 
from the Commission's duplicating contractor, Best Copy and Printing, 
Inc., Portals II, 445 12th Street, SW., Room CY-B402, Washington, DC 
20554, telephone 1-800-378-3160. It is also available on the 
Commission's Web site at http://www.fcc.gov.
    Comments may be filed using the Commission's Electronic Comment 
Filing System (ECFS) or by filing paper copies. All filings should 
refer to WC Docket No. 03-251. Comments filed through ECFS can be sent 
as an electronic file via the Internet at http://www.fcc.gov/e-file/ecfs.html. Only one copy of an electronic submission must be filed. In 
completing the transmittal screen, commenters should include their full 
name, postal

[[Page 19467]]

service mailing address, and the applicable docket numbers, which in 
this instance are WC Docket No. 03-251. Parties may also submit an 
electronic comment by Internet e-mail. To get filing instructions for 
e-mail comments, commenters should send an e-mail to [email protected], 
and should include the following words in the regarding line of the 
message: ``get form.'' A sample form and 
directions will be sent in reply.
    Parties who choose to file by paper must file an original and four 
copies of each filing. Parties filing by paper must also send five (5) 
courtesy copies to the attention of Janice M. Myles, Wireline 
Competition Bureau, Competition Policy Division, 445 12th Street, SW., 
Suite 5-C327, Washington, DC 20554, or via e-mail [email protected]. 
Paper filings and courtesy copies must be delivered in the following 
manner. Filings can be sent by hand or messenger delivery, by 
commercial overnight courier, or by first-class or overnight U.S. 
Postal Service mail (although we continue to experience delays in 
receiving U.S. Postal Service mail).
    The Commission's contractor, Natek, Inc., will receive hand-
delivered or messenger-delivered paper filings for the Commission's 
Secretary at 236 Massachusetts Avenue, NE., Suite 110, Washington, DC 
20002. The filing hours at this location are 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. All hand 
deliveries must be held together with rubber bands or fasteners. Any 
envelopes must be disposed of before entering the building. This 
facility is the only location where hand-delivered or messenger-
delivered paper filings or courtesy copies for the Commission's 
Secretary and Commission staff will be accepted. Commercial overnight 
mail (other than U.S. Postal Service Express Mail and Priority Mail) 
must be sent to 9300 East Hampton Drive, Capitol Heights, MD 20743. 
U.S. Postal Service first-class mail, Express Mail, and Priority Mail 
should be addressed to 445 12th Street, SW., Washington, DC 20554.
    All filings must be addressed to the Commission's Secretary, Office 
of the Secretary, Federal Communications Commission.
    Each comment and reply comment must include a short and concise 
summary of the substantive arguments raised in the pleading. Comments 
and reply comments must also comply with section 1.48 and all other 
applicable sections of the Commission's rules. We direct all interested 
parties to include the name of the filing party and the date of the 
filing on each page of their comments and reply comments. All parties 
are encouraged to utilize a table of contents, regardless of the length 
of their submission.

Synopsis of the Notice of Inquiry

    1. The NOI seeks comment on a broad range of issues regarding the 
tying or bundling of services in general that have been raised before 
the Commission. In the NOI, the Commission seeks to examine the 
competitive consequences when providers bundle their legacy services 
with new services, or ``tie'' such services together such that the 
services are not available independent from one another to end users. 
The Commission seeks comment on how such bundling might affect both 
intramodal and intermodal competition and the effect that it might have 
on the public interest, including benefits to consumers. Several 
commenters in Commission proceedings have raised the possibility that 
bundling services potentially harms competition because consumers have 
to purchase redundant or unwanted services. As the communications 
marketplace continues to move toward bundled solutions for consumers, 
the Commission asks commenters to address specifically whether 
competition is supplying sufficient incentives for providers to 
disaggregate bundles to maximize consumer choice. The Commission seeks 
comment on whether such bundling behavior is harmful to competition, 
particularly unaffiliated providers of new services, such as voice over 
Internet protocol (VoIP), and if so, how this is related to several 
previous decisions or ongoing proceedings relating to dominance and 
classification issues. Finally, the Commission seeks comment on its 
authority to impose remedies, the adequacy and costs of any potential 
regulatory remedies, and the least invasive regulations that could 
effectively remedy any potential competitive concerns.

Paperwork Reduction Act

    2. This NOI does not contain proposed information collection(s) 
subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), Pub. L. 104-13. 
In addition, therefore, it does not contain any proposed ``information 
collection burden for small business concerns with fewer than 25 
employees,'' pursuant to the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 
2002, Pub. L. 107-198, see 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(4).

Ordering Clause

    Accordingly, it is ordered that the Notice of Inquiry is adopted.

Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene H. Dortch,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 05-7181 Filed 4-12-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P