[Cybertel-Ann] FCC Classifies Wireless Broadband Internet Access Service as an Info Service

[Robert Cannon]

    http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-271695A1.doc
 
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                                NEWS MEDIA CONTACT:
  March 22, 2007                                                   Chelsea Fallon:  (202) 418-7991
                                                                                   
 
      FCC CLASSIFIES WIRELESS BROADBAND INTERNET ACCESS SERVICE 
AS AN INFORMATION SERVICE 
  Washington, D.C. – Today, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) declared that wireless broadband Internet access service is an information service under the Communications Act (Act).  This action places wireless broadband Internet access service on the same regulatory footing as other broadband services, such as cable modem service, wireline broadband (DSL) Internet access service, and Broadband over Power Line (BPL)-enabled Internet access service.  It thus ensures that wireless broadband Internet access services are similarly free from unnecessary regulatory burdens.  Competition among all of these broadband services will provide consumers with more and better services at lower prices.
                 Wireless broadband Internet access service is defined in today’s Ruling as a service that uses spectrum, wireless facilities, and wireless technologies to provide subscribers with high speed Internet access capabilities.  Wireless broadband Internet access service can be provided using mobile, portable, or fixed technologies, and wireless broadband technologies can transmit data over short, medium, or long ranges.    
    Specifically, the Ruling finds that the transmission component underlying wireless broadband Internet access service is “telecommunications,” and that the provision of this telecommunications transmission component as part of a functionally integrated wireless Internet access service is an information service.  This approach is consistent with the framework that the Commission already has established for cable modem service, wireline broadband Internet access service, and BPL-enabled Internet access service, thus furthering the goal of regulating like services in a similar manner.  The FCC also found that wireless broadband Internet access service using mobile technologies is not a “commercial mobile service,” as that term is defined in the Act and implemented in the FCC’s rules.   
  In reaching these determinations, the FCC provided regulatory certainty regarding the classification of this service, thereby encouraging deployment of wireless broadband Internet access to consumers. 
  Action by the Commission on March 22, 2007, by Declaratory Ruling (FCC 07-30).  Chairman Martin and Commissioners Tate and McDowell, with Commissioners Copps and Adelstein concurring.  Separate statements issued by Chairman Martin and Commissioners Copps, Adelstein, Tate, and McDowell.
   
  For additional information, contact Jennifer Salhus at (202) 418-2823 or Jennifer.Salhus at fcc.gov, or Nese Guendelsberger at (202) 418-0634 or Nese.Guendelsberger at fcc.gov. 
   
  WT Docket No. 07-53.
   
  – FCC –
     
  News and other information about the Federal Communications Commission
 is available at www.fcc.gov.
   
  
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