FCC will be acting in arbitrary and capricious manner if it regul...
FCC will be acting in arbitrary and capricious manner if it regulates “functionally equivalent services” such as DSL and cable modems in “disparate ways,” USTA Pres. Walter McCormick said in responding to our interview with Cable Bureau Chief Kenneth…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
Ferree (CD March 12 p1). In interview, Ferree said it wasn’t job of bureau to make sure regulation of 2 services matched. Cable modem regulation is by Cable Bureau, DSL by Common Carrier Bureau. Ferree said in interview that bureaus did some coordination, but their job wasn’t necessarily to create same rules for each. McCormick issued statement saying FCC decision expected Thurs. on classifying cable modem service would give Commission “an opportunity to show that it understands the real world, where there is intermodal competition between cable, satellite and wireline service providers… These high-speed Internet services are offered as functionally equivalent.” He said FCC should ask itself why cable modems and DSLs were regulated by separate bureaus. Ferree said Tues. it was “unfortunate that there was a misunderstanding. As I said in the interview, the Bureau, in preparing the cable modem access item, was not trying to craft rules for both wireline and cable providers. That said, the Commissioners have a broader perspective that encompasses concerns about regulatory consistency, and the Bureau will continue to coordinate as necessary to address those issues.”