Sec. 4. Requirements relating to charges for covered services
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Title VII of the Communications Act of 1934 ( 47 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: A provider of a covered service may not advertise the price of the covered service unless the advertised price is the total amount that the provider will charge for or relating to the provision of the covered service, including any related taxes, administrative fees, equipment rental fees, or other charges, to a consumer who accepts the offer made in the advertisement. Paragraph
(1)does not require a provider of a covered service to include in the advertised price of the covered service any tax, fee, or other charge that— the provider is required to charge under any provision of Federal law or of the law of a State or political subdivision of a State; and is not uniform throughout the United States. If a provider of a covered service provides a bill to a consumer in an electronic format, the provider shall include in the bill and in any notification that the bill is available— an itemized statement that breaks down the total amount charged for or relating to the provision of the covered service by the amount charged for the provision of the service itself and the amount of any related taxes, administrative fees, equipment rental fees, or other charges, in the same level of detail as would be provided in a paper bill; and the termination date of the contract for the provision of the covered service entered into between the consumer and the provider. In the case of a provider of a covered service that enters into a contract with a consumer for the provision of a covered service, if the provider increases the total amount charged for or relating to the provision of the service under the contract, regardless of the amount of the increase or whether the increase is in the amount charged for the provision of the service itself or in any related taxes, administrative fees, equipment rental fees, or other charges, the provider shall— provide the consumer with clear notice of the increase not later than 21 days before the increase takes effect, in the same manner in which the provider provides to the consumer a notification that the consumer’s bill is available (or, if no separate notification is provided, in the same manner as the provider provides the consumer’s bill to the consumer); and unless the increase is the result of an increase in a tax, fee, or other charge that the provider is required to charge under any provision of Federal law or of the law of a State or political subdivision of a State, or an additional such tax, fee, or other charge, permit the consumer to terminate the contract without paying any early termination fee or other penalty. Paragraph
(1)does not apply with respect to an increase resulting from the provision, at the request of the consumer, of a service that is in addition to, or an upgrade of, a service covered by the contract. A provider of a covered service may not charge a consumer for— using covered equipment provided by the consumer; or renting, leasing, or otherwise providing to the consumer covered equipment if— the provider has not provided the equipment to the consumer; or the consumer has returned the equipment to the provider, except to the extent that the charge relates to the period beginning on the date when the provider provided the equipment to the consumer and ending on the date when the consumer returned the equipment to the provider. In this section: The term covered equipment means equipment (such as a router) employed on the premises of a person (other than a provider of a covered service) to provide a covered service. The term covered service — means— internet access service; voice service (as defined in section 227(e)(8)); commercial mobile service (as defined in section 332); commercial mobile data service (as defined in section 6001 of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 ( 47 U.S.C. 1401 )); and service provided by a multichannel video programming distributer (as defined in section 602), to the extent such distributor is acting as a multichannel video programming distributor; and includes any other service offered or provided as part of a bundle or package with any service referred to in subparagraph (A). The term internet access service — means a mass-market retail service by wire or radio that provides the capability to transmit data to and receive data from all or substantially all internet endpoints, including any capabilities that are incidental to and enable the operation of the communications service; and also includes any service that— the Commission finds to be providing a functional equivalent of the service described in subparagraph (A); or is used to evade the protections set forth in this section. . Subsection (e)(2)(A)(ii) of section 723 of the Communications Act of 1934, as added by subsection
(a)of this section, shall apply before the effective date of the amendment made to subsection (e)(8) of section 227 of such Act ( 47 U.S.C. 227 ) by subparagraph
(C)of section 503(a)(2) of division P of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 ( Public Law 115–141 ) as if such amendment was already in effect. Section 723 of the Communications Act of 1934, as added by subsection
(a)of this section, shall apply beginning on the date that is 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, except that subsection
(c)of such section 723 shall not apply with respect to a contract entered into, and as in effect, before the date that is 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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Sec. 4
Requirements relating to charges for covered services
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