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Finally, the finding that mobile broadband today “gives
subscribers the capability to communicate with all NANP
endpoints,” id. (emphasis added), confirms the immateriality
of the Commission’s removal of the word “all” from its
regulatory definition of “interconnected service.”
As
mentioned earlier, that regulation, until the Order, defined
interconnected service as a service “that gives subscribers the
capability to communicate to or receive communication from
all other users on the public switched network.” 47 C.F.R.
§ 20.3 (prior version effective through June 11, 2015)
(emphasis added). In the updated definition, the Commission
left that language unchanged except that it removed the word
“all.” See 47 C.F.R. § 20.3 (current version effective June 12,
2015). Mobile petitioners attach great significance to the
removal of “all,” assuming that the change enabled the
Commission to find mobile broadband to be an
“interconnected service” even though, according to mobile
petitioners, broadband users have no capability to
communicate with telephone users. By excising the word
“all,” mobile petitioners assert, the Commission could find
that mobile broadband is an interconnected service based on
the ability of users to communicate only with some in the
network (fellow broadband users) notwithstanding the lack of
any capability to communicate with others in the network
(telephone users). Absent the latter ability, mobile petitioners
argue, mobile broadband cannot actually be considered
“interconnected” with the telephone network.
Mobile petitioners’ argument rests on a mistaken
understanding of the Commission’s actions. The Commission
did not rest its finding that mobile broadband is an
“interconnected service” solely on an assumption that it
would be enough for broadband subscribers to be able to
communicate with some in the network (only fellow IP users),
even if there were no capability at all to communicate with
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