238
Stevens, J., dissenting
communications markets; at the same time, the forces of competition would ensure that firms without monopoly power would comply with the Act's prohibitions on "unreasonable rates" and price discrimination. See id., at 334-338. As the Commission explained in 1981, tariff-filing obligations for nondominant firms were simultaneously "superfluous as a consumer protection device, since competition circumscribes the prices and practices of these companies" and inimical to "price competition and service and marketing innovation." Deregulation of Telecommunications Services, 84 F. C. C. 2d 445, 478-479 (1981). Accordingly, in a series of rulings in the early 1980's, the Commission issued orders progressively exempting specified classes of nondominant carriers from the obligation to file tariff schedules. See, e. g., Second Report and Order, 91 F. C. C. 2d 59 (1982); Third Report and Order, 48 Fed. Reg. 46791 (1983). The Commission's Fourth Report and Order, 95 F. C. C. 2d 554 (1983), extended and reaffirmed its "permissive detariffing" policy, under which dominant long-distance carriers must file tariff schedules whereas non-dominant carriers, although subject to the Act's prohibitions on unreasonable rates and price discrimination, may, but need not, file them.
In the instant In re Tariff Filing Requirements for Interstate Common Carriers, 7 FCC Rcd 8072 (1992), the FCC adhered to its policy of excusing nondominant providers of long-distance telephone service from the § 203 filing requirement, and codified that longstanding forbearance policy. The Commission reaffirmed its commitment to "adapt . . . regulation of telecommunications common carriers to the changed circumstances of competition and to develop a regulatory approach that furthers the purposes of the Act while fostering innovation and the efficient development of the telecommunications industry," id., at 8079, and explained once again why, in its view, permissive detariffing furthered these goals, id., at 8079-8080. As it had since its initial
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