promote "competition, innovation, and investment" in communications services and facilities.[1] The FCC's International Bureau administers "international telecommunications and satellite programs and policies, including licensing and regulatory functions,"[2] as well as monitors compliance "with the terms and conditions of authorizations and licenses granted by the Bureau . . . [,]" including authorizations to foreign carriers to operate telecommunications lines to, from, or within the United States.[3]
1. The FCC Authorizes Carriers to Provide Telecommunications Services in the United States Pursuant to Section 214 of the Communications Act of 1934
The FCC authorizes carriers to operate in the United States under Section 214 of the Communications Act of 1934.[4] Specifically, Section 214(a) provides that no telecommunications carrier may construct, extend, acquire, or operate a wire or cable line or engage in transmission over a line unless and until the FCC certifies that such action serves the public interest, convenience, and necessity.[5] Section 214 similarly regulates the transfer of control and assignment of telecommunication lines.[6]
The development of telecommunications technology in the early- and mid-1900s spurred the desire for greater government regulation of the industry.[7] Previously, oversight was effected through the Interstate Commerce Commission ("ICC"), although many viewed the ICC as only supervising routine matters and lacking an effective "legislative mandate to implement its mission."[8] A Department of Commerce interdepartmental committee ultimately recommended that the FCC be established to "centralize the jurisdiction of [the ICC] over wire and radio common carriers . . . and . . . over telegraph companies and telegraph lines."[9]
- ↑ What We Do, Fed. Commc'ns Comm'n, https://www.fcc.gov/about-fcc/what-we-do.
- ↑ International, Fed. Commc'ns Comm'n, https://www.fcc.gov/international. See 47 C.F.R. §§ 0.51, 0.261.
- ↑ Functions of the International Bureau, Fed. Commc'ns Comm'n, https://www.fcc.gov/general/international-bureau-functions. See 47 C.F.R. § 0.51.
- ↑ See 47 U.S.C. § 214(a).
- ↑ See id. FCC authorization is not required for "(1) a line within a single State unless such line constitutes part of an interstate line, (2) local, branch, or terminal lines not exceeding ten miles in length, or (3) any line acquired under section 221 [concerning consolidations and mergers of telephone companies]." Id. See also John Sallet, FCC General Counsel, FCC Transaction Review: Competition and the Public Interest, FCC Blog (Aug. 12, 2014), https://www.fcc.gov/news-events/blog/2014/08/12/fcc-transaction-review-competition-and-public-interest.
- ↑ See 47 U.S.C. § 214(a).
- ↑ See generally Section 214 Legislative Background, supra note 128.
- ↑ Section 214 Legislative Background, supra note 128, at 25.
- ↑ Section 214 Legislative Background, supra note 128, at 25. Thus, the FCC regulates "common carriers," defined as "any person [partnership, association, joint-stock company, trust, or corporation] engaged as a common carrier for hire, in interstate or foreign communication by wire or radio or interstate or foreign radio transmission of energy. . . ." 47 U.S.C. § 153(11). Telecommunications
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