A.  Corporations, domestic or foreign, formed for the purpose of transmitting intelligence by telegraph or telephone or other system of transmitting intelligence, may construct and maintain telegraph, telephone or other lines necessary to transmit intelligence along all public roads or public works, and along and parallel to any of the railroads in the state, and along and over the waters of the state, if the ordinary use of the roads, works, railroads, and waters are not obstructed, and along the streets of any city, with the consent of the city council or trustees.  Such companies, shall be entitled to the right of way over all lands belonging to the state and over the lands, privileges and servitudes of other persons, and to the right to erect poles, piers, abutments, and other works necessary for constructing and maintaining lines and works, upon making just compensation therefor.  If the company fails to secure such right by consent, contract or agreement upon just and reasonable terms, then the company has the right to proceed to expropriate as provided by law for railroads and other works of public utility, but shall not impede the full use of the highways, navigable waters, or the drainage or natural servitudes of the land over which the right of way may be exercised.  No company, operating under the provisions of this Section, shall contract with the owners of land or with any other corporation for the right to erect and maintain any telephone, telegraph or other line for transmission of intelligence over its lands, privileges or servitudes, to the exclusion of the lines of other companies operating under the provisions of this Section.

B.  Nothing provided in Section A herein shall affect the right granted to parish governing authorities to grant franchises for the regulation of cable television outside municipalities.

Amended by Acts 1976, No. 573, §2.