§ 35-A §7221 — Designation of service providers

1.
Initial designation of service providers.
An entity that was an incumbent local exchange carrier as of January 1, 2012 shall provide provider of last resort service within its service area.
2.
Reassignment of service provider obligation.
A service provider may petition the commission for authorization to assign its provider of last resort service obligation for a given geographic area to another voice service provider. The commission shall by rule develop a process for identifying and approving replacement service providers, but in no event may a voice service provider be designated as a replacement service provider without the express consent of the voice service provider. Before authorizing the reassignment of the provider of last resort service obligation to another voice service provider, the commission shall ensure that the voice service provider possesses the financial and technical capability to meet all provider of last resort service standards set by the commission by rule. The commission may not reassign the provider of last resort service obligation to any entity that would provide the service only as a reseller, as determined by the commission by rule.
3.
Modification of service obligations.
Notwithstanding section 7201, subsection 7, the commission, in an adjudicatory proceeding, may relieve a service provider of the requirement that it have the capacity to maintain uninterrupted voice service during a power failure, either through the incorporation into the network or network interface devices of suitable battery backup or through electric current. The commission may grant the relief only if it finds that doing so is in the public interest. In determining that granting relief under this section is in the public interest, the commission must find that the benefits that would accrue to customers of the provider of last resort service from providing the relief would exceed the benefits to those customers of preserving the requirement.
4.
Removal of the provider of last resort service obligation in select municipalities.
This subsection governs the removal of the obligation of a price cap ILEC to provide provider of last resort service in certain municipalities.
5.
Relief of provider of last resort service obligation.
After a price cap ILEC has been relieved of the obligation to provide provider of last resort service in all the municipalities listed in subsection 4, the price cap ILEC may petition the commission under this subsection to be relieved of its provider of last resort service obligation in one or more additional municipalities.
6.
Abandonment.
A price cap ILEC may not discontinue, reduce or impair the service that it provides in a municipality, or part of a municipality, where it has previously served as the provider of provider of last resort service unless the commission approves the discontinuance, reduction or impairment. The commission may approve the discontinuance, reduction or impairment only if it finds that neither the present nor future public convenience and necessity will be adversely affected by such discontinuance, reduction or impairment of service.
7.
Rules.
Rules adopted pursuant to this section are major substantive rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2‑A.

Legislative History

PL 2011, c. 623, Pt. A, §18 (NEW). PL 2015, c. 462, §3 (AMD).