Cite as: 512 U. S. 218 (1994)
Stevens, J., dissenting
wise provided by or under authority of this chapter," may not provide communication services except according to a filed schedule, §§ 203(c), (d). The tariff-filing section of the Act, however, contains a proviso that states:
"(b) Changes in schedule; discretion of Commission to modify requirements.
. . . . . "(2) The Commission may, in its discretion and for good cause shown, modify any requirement made by or under the authority of this section either in particular instances or by general order applicable to special circumstances or conditions except that the Commission may not require the notice period specified in paragraph (1) to be more than one hundred and twenty days." 47 U. S. C. § 203(b)(2) (1988 ed., Supp. IV).
Congress doubtless viewed the filed rate provisions as an important mechanism to guard against abusive practices by wire communications monopolies. But it is quite wrong to suggest that the mere process of filing rate schedules—rather than the substantive duty of reasonably priced and nondiscriminatory service—is "the heart of the common-carrier section of the Communications Act." Ante, at 229.
II
In response to new conditions in the communications industry, including stirrings of competition in the long-distance telephone market, the FCC in 1979 began re-examining its regulatory scheme. The Commission tentatively concluded that costly tariff-filing requirements were unnecessary and actually counterproductive as applied to nondominant carriers, i. e., those whose lack of market power leaves them unable to extract supracompetitive or discriminatory rates from customers. See Competitive Carrier Rulemaking, 77 F. C. C. 2d 308 (1979). Relaxing the regulatory burdens upon new entrants would foster competition into the tele-
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