§201. Service and charges

(a) It shall be the duty of every common carrier engaged in interstate or foreign communication by wire or radio to furnish such communication service upon reasonable request therefor; and, in accordance with the orders of the Commission, in cases where the Commission, after opportunity for hearing, finds such action necessary or desirable in the public interest, to establish physical connections with other carriers, to establish through routes and charges applicable thereto and the divisions of such charges, and to establish and provide facilities and regulations for operating such through routes.

(b) All charges, practices, classifications, and regulations for and in connection with such communication service, shall be just and reasonable, and any such charge, practice, classification, or regulation that is unjust or unreasonable is declared to be unlawful: Provided, That communications by wire or radio subject to this chapter may be classified into day, night, repeated, unrepeated, letter, commercial, press, Government, and such other classes as the Commission may decide to be just and reasonable, and different charges may be made for the different classes of communications: Provided further, That nothing in this chapter or in any other provision of law shall be construed to prevent a common carrier subject to this chapter from entering into or operating under any contract with any common carrier not subject to this chapter, for the exchange of their services, if the Commission is of the opinion that such contract is not contrary to the public interest: Provided further, That nothing in this chapter or in any other provision of law shall prevent a common carrier subject to this chapter from furnishing reports of positions of ships at sea to newspapers of general circulation, either at a nominal charge or without charge, provided the name of such common carrier is displayed along with such ship position reports. The Commission may prescribe such rules and regulations as may be necessary in the public interest to carry out the provisions of this chapter.

(June 19, 1934, ch. 652, title II, §201, 48 Stat. 1070 ; May 31, 1938, ch. 296, 52 Stat. 588 .)

References in Text

This chapter, referred to in subsec. (b), was in the original "this Act", meaning act June 19, 1934, ch. 652, 48 Stat. 1064 , as amended, known as the Communications Act of 1934, which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see section 609 of this title and Tables.

Amendments

1938-Subsec. (b). Act May 31, 1938, inserted proviso relating to reports of positions of ships at sea.

Telephone Rates for Members of Armed Forces Deployed Abroad

Pub. L. 102–538, title II, §213, Oct. 27, 1992, 106 Stat. 3545 , provided that:

"(a) In General.-The Federal Communications Commission shall make efforts to reduce telephone rates for Armed Forces personnel in the following countries: Germany, Japan, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Great Britain, Italy, Philippines, Panama, Spain, Turkey, Iceland, the Netherlands, Greece, Cuba, Belgium, Portugal, Bermuda, Diego Garcia, Egypt, and Honduras.

"(b) Factors To Consider.-In making the efforts described in subsection (a), the Federal Communications Commission, in coordination with the Department of Defense, Department of State, and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration shall consider the cost to military personnel and their families of placing telephone calls by-

"(1) evaluating and analyzing the costs to Armed Forces personnel of such telephone calls to and from American military bases abroad;

"(2) evaluate methods of reducing the rates imposed on such calls;

"(3) determine the extent to which it is feasible for the Federal Communications Commission to encourage the carriers to adopt flexible billing procedures and policies for members of the Armed Forces and their families for telephone calls to and from the countries listed in subsection (a); and

"(4) advise executive branch agencies of methods for the United States to persuade foreign governments to reduce the surcharges that are often placed on such telephone calls."

Section Referred to in Other Sections

This section is referred to in sections 152, 251, 332 of this title.