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The Supreme Court upheld the Commission’s
classification of cable modem service in National Cable &
Telecommunications Ass’n v. Brand X Internet Services, 545
U.S. 967, 986 (2005). Applying the principles of statutory
interpretation established in Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural
Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837 (1984), the
Court explained that the key statutory term “offering” in the
definition of “telecommunications service” is ambiguous.
Brand X, 545 U.S. at 989. What a company offers, the Court
reasoned, can refer to either the “single, finished product” or
the product’s individual components. Id. at 991. According
to the Court, resolving that question in the context of
broadband service requires the Commission to determine
whether the information service and the telecommunications
components “are functionally integrated . . . or functionally
separate.” Id. That question “turns not on the language of
[the Communications Act], but on the factual particulars of
how Internet technology works and how it is provided,
questions Chevron leaves to the Commission to resolve in the
first instance.” Id. Examining the classification at Chevron’s
second step—reasonableness—the Court deferred to the
Commission’s finding that “the high-speed transmission used
to provide [the information service] is a functionally
integrated component of that service,” id. at 998, and upheld
the order, id. at 1003. Three Justices dissented, arguing that
cable broadband providers offered telecommunications in the
form of the “physical connection” between their computers
and end users’ computers. See id. at 1009 (Scalia, J.,
dissenting).
Following Brand X, the Commission classified other
types of broadband service, such as DSL and mobile
broadband service, as integrated offerings of information
services without a standalone offering of telecommunications.
See, e.g., In re Appropriate Regulatory Treatment for
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