232
Opinion of the Court
to a scheme of rate regulation only where effective competition does not exist. That may be a good idea, but it was not the idea Congress enacted into law in 1934.
Apart from its failure to qualify as a "modification," there is an independent reason why the Commission's detariffing policy cannot come within the § 203(b)(2) authority to modify. That provision requires that when the Commission proceeds "by general order" (as opposed to when it acts "in particular instances") to make a modification, the order can only apply "to special circumstances or conditions." Although that is a somewhat elastic phrase, it is not infinitely so. It is hard to imagine that a condition shared by 40% of all long-distance customers, and by all long-distance carriers except one, qualifies as "special" within the intent of this limitation.5
Both sides of this dispute contend that Congress has manifested in later legislation agreement with their respective interpretations of the Communications Act. Petitioners point to the 1990 amendment of the Act to require operator service providers (OSP's) to file informational tariffs, which can be phased out after four years, see Telephone Operator Consumer Services Improvement Act of 1990 (TOCSIA), 104 Stat. 990, 47 U. S. C. § 226(h) (1988 ed., Supp. IV). Petitioners reason that this must envision a background of permissive filing, since otherwise the permitted phaseout of infor-5 The dissent suggests that we ignore § 203(c) of the Act, which prohibits carriers from providing service in the absence of a filed rate "unless provided by or under the authority of this Act." The dissent asserts that that phrase must refer to the modification authority of § 203(b)(2). See post, at 239-240. Perhaps it does so—though that would not at all contradict our interpretation of § 203(b)(2), which we have acknowledged, see infra, at 234, might in some limited circumstances permit the Commission to waive the filing requirement. But § 203(c) could just as (in fact, more) easily be read as referring to § 203(a)'s express exemption of connecting carriers, §§ 201(b) and 211's authorization of services between carriers pursuant to contractual rates, § 332(c)(1)(A)'s exemptions for mobile carriers, and other express statutory exemptions from filing requirements.
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