[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 47, Volume 3]
[Revised as of October 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 47CFR63.10]

[Page 229-231]
 
                       TITLE 47--TELECOMMUNICATION
 
        CHAPTER I--FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED)
 
Sec.  63.10  Regulatory classification of U.S. international carriers.

    (a) Unless otherwise determined by the Commission, any party 
authorized to provide an international communications service under this 
part shall be classified as either dominant or non-dominant for the 
provision of particular international communications services on 
particular routes as set forth in this section. The rules set forth in 
this section shall also apply to determinations of regulatory status

[[Page 230]]

pursuant to Sec. Sec.  63.11 and 63.13. For purposes of paragraphs 
(a)(2) and (a)(3) of this section, the relevant markets on the foreign 
end of a U.S. international route include: international transport 
facilities or services, including cable landing station access and 
backhaul facilities; inter-city facilities or services; and local access 
facilities or services on the foreign end of a particular route.
    (1) A U.S. carrier that has no affiliation with, and that itself is 
not, a foreign carrier in a particular country to which it provides 
service (i.e., a destination country) shall presumptively be considered 
non-dominant for the provision of international communications services 
on that route;
    (2) Except as provided in paragraph (a)(4) of this section, a U.S. 
carrier that is, or that has or acquires an affiliation with a foreign 
carrier that is a monopoly provider of communications services in a 
relevant market in a destination country shall presumptively be 
classified as dominant for the provision of international communications 
services on that route; and
    (3) A U.S. carrier that is, or that has or acquires an affiliation 
with a foreign carrier that is not a monopoly provider of communications 
services in a relevant market in a destination country and that seeks to 
be regulated as non-dominant on that route bears the burden of 
submitting information to the Commission sufficient to demonstrate that 
its foreign affiliate lacks sufficient market power on the foreign end 
of the route to affect competition adversely in the U.S. market. If the 
U.S. carrier demonstrates that the foreign affiliate lacks 50 percent 
market share in the international transport and the local access markets 
on the foreign end of the route, the U.S. carrier shall presumptively be 
classified as non-dominant.
    (4) A carrier that is authorized under this part to provide to a 
particular destination an international switched service, and that 
provides such service solely through the resale of an unaffiliated U.S. 
facilities-based carrier's international switched services (either 
directly or indirectly through the resale of another U.S. resale 
carrier's international switched services), shall presumptively be 
classified as non-dominant for the provision of the authorized service. 
A carrier regulated as non-dominant pursuant to this subparagraph shall 
notify the Commission at any time that it begins to provide such service 
through the resale of an affiliated U.S. facilities-based carrier's 
international switched services. The carrier will be deemed a dominant 
carrier on the route absent a Commission finding that the carrier 
otherwise qualifies for non-dominant regulation pursuant to this 
section.
    (b) Any party that seeks to defeat the presumptions in paragraph (a) 
of this section shall bear the burden of proof upon any issue it raises 
as to the proper classification of the U.S. carrier.
    (c) Any carrier classified as dominant for the provision of 
particular services on particular routes under this section shall comply 
with the following requirements in its provision of such services on 
each such route:
    (1) Provide services as an entity that is separate from its foreign 
carrier affiliate, in compliance with the following requirements:
    (i) The authorized carrier shall maintain separate books of account 
from its affiliated foreign carrier. These separate books of account do 
not need to comply with Part 32 of this chapter; and
    (ii) The authorized carrier shall not jointly own transmission or 
switching facilities with its affiliated foreign carrier. Nothing in 
this section prohibits the U.S. carrier from sharing personnel or other 
resources or assets with its foreign affiliate;
    (2) File quarterly reports on traffic and revenue, consistent with 
the reporting requirements authorized pursuant to Sec.  43.61, within 90 
days from the end of each calendar quarter;
    (3) File quarterly reports summarizing the provisioning and 
maintenance of all basic network facilities and services procured from 
its foreign carrier affiliate or from an allied foreign carrier, 
including, but not limited to, those it procures on behalf of customers 
of any joint venture for the provision of U.S. basic or enhanced 
services in which the authorized carrier and the foreign carrier 
participate,

[[Page 231]]

within 90 days from the end of each calendar quarter. These reports 
should contain the following: the types of circuits and services 
provided; the average time intervals between order and delivery; the 
number of outages and intervals between fault report and service 
restoration; and for circuits used to provide international switched 
service, the percentage of ``peak hour'' calls that failed to complete;
    (4) In the case of an authorized facilities-based carrier, file 
quarterly circuit status reports within 90 days from the end of each 
calendar quarter in the format set out by the Sec.  43.82 annual circuit 
status manual, with two exceptions: activated or idle circuits must be 
reported on a facility-by-facility basis; and the derived circuits need 
not be specified in the three quarterly reports due on June 30, 
September 30, and December 31.
    (5) If authorized to provide facilities-based service, comply with 
paragraph (e) of this section.
    (d) A carrier classified as dominant under this section shall file 
an original and two copies of each report required by paragraphs (c)(3), 
(c)(4), and (c)(5) of this section with the Chief, International Bureau. 
The carrier shall also file one copy of these reports with the 
Commission's copy contractor. The transmittal letter accompanying each 
report shall clearly identify the report as responsive to the 
appropriate paragraph of Sec.  63.10(c).
    (e) Except as otherwise ordered by the Commission, a carrier that is 
classified as dominant under this section for the provision of 
facilities-based services on a particular route and that is affiliated 
with a carrier that collects settlement payments for terminating U.S. 
international switched traffic at the foreign end of that route may not 
provide switched facilities-based service on that route unless the 
current rates the affiliate charges U.S. international carriers to 
terminate traffic are at or below the Commission's relevant benchmark 
adopted in IB Docket No. 96-261. See FCC 97-280 (rel. Aug. 18, 1997) 
(available at the FCC's Reference Operations Division, Washington, D.C. 
20554, and on the FCC's World Wide Web Site at http://www.fcc.gov).

[62 FR 64752, Dec. 9, 1997, as amended at 64 FR 19062, Apr. 19, 1999; 64 
FR 46593, Aug. 26, 1999; 64 FR 47702, Sept. 1, 1999; 66 FR 16881, Mar. 
28, 2001; 67 FR 45390, July 9, 2002]