Communications Law Commons^™

The Telecommunications Act Of 1996, Thomas G. Krattenmaker

Federal Communications Law Journal

The author discusses the primary motivating factors behind the 1996 Telecommunications Act, examines how these factors influenced the final law, and critiques the Act by examining whether it is likely to advance public interest goals. Congress designed the Act to address two problems: "technological convergence" and "legal balkanization." The Act attempts to remedy these problems by: (1) tearing down entry barriers so that legal balkanization no longer stands in the path of technological convergence; (2) changing the mandate of the FCC from deciding who should enter the market to monitoring the conditions under which entry takes place in order to …

A Return To Written Consent: A Proposal To The Fcc To Eliminate Slamming, Nicole C. Daniel

Federal Communications Law Journal

The FCC is charged with the task of encouraging competition in the telecommunications industry, yet it must also assure that competition remains free and fair to consumers. Various long-distance providers are taking advantage of their deregulated freedom by engaging in "slamming." The author proposes a more effective form of consumer protection through the return of a short-lived FCC rule which required written customer authorization before the customer's long-distance service could be switched.

Common Carrier Regulation Of Telecommunications Contracts And The Private Carrier Alternative, Peter K. Pitsch, Arthur W. Bresnahan

Federal Communications Law Journal

The Communications Act of 1934 requires, among other things, that telephone companies as "common carriers" make their services available to the general public at affordable rates. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has the authority to classify telephone services as common carriers as well as the ability to remove common carrier regulation to promote competition, satisfy consumer demand for individually tailored offerings, and avoid unnecessary regulatory costs. The Authors of this Article believe that the FCC should remove the common carrier regulation from certain long-distance service contracts and that such regulation is consistent with the deregulatory aims of the recent Telecommunications …

Mergers In Mobile Telecommunications Services: A Primer On The Analysis Of Their Competitive Effects, John W. Berresford

Federal Communications Law Journal

Mobile telecommunications businesses are undergoing an unprecedented period of mergers which may result in a national network for Personal Communications Services. All of these transactions require the approval of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which is in the process of issuing thousands of local, regional, and nationwide licenses. The FCC grants the licenses under "the public interest" standard of the Communications Act of 1934, which requires an analysis of each proposed merger's effect on competition.

The Author begins his description of the analytic framework used by the FCC by describing its variables. Part I describes the "product market," which must …