Montana Code 69-3-842. Universal service fund established — purpose
69-3-842. Universal service fund established — purpose. (1) Upon petition for good cause by a telecommunications carrier or the consumer counsel or on the commission‘s own motion, the commission shall investigate the need for a fund to assist eligible telecommunications carriers in providing affordable telecommunications services in high-cost areas. This investigation must take into account the evolving nature of universal service as well as changes in federal and state telecommunications support systems, including but not limited to universal service funds and access reform.
Terms Used In Montana Code 69-3-842
- carrier: means any provider of telecommunications services. See Montana Code 69-3-803
- Commission: means the public service commission. See Montana Code 69-3-803
- Fund: means the universal service fund established in 69-3-842. See Montana Code 69-3-803
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
- Telecommunications: means the transmission, between or among points specified by the user, of information of the user's choosing without a change in the form or content of the information upon receipt. See Montana Code 69-3-803
- Usage: means a reasonable and lawful public custom concerning transactions of the same nature as those which are to be affected thereby, existing at the place where the obligation is to be performed, and either known to the parties or so well established, general, and uniform that the parties must be presumed to have acted with reference thereto. See Montana Code 1-1-206
(2)If the commission determines that a state universal service fund is necessary to promote the policies in 69-3-841 and is consistent with the public interest, the commission shall establish a state universal service fund. The fund must provide support for the following services:
(a)voice grade access to the public switched network, including some usage;
(b)dual-tone multifrequency (DTMF or “touch tone”) signaling or its equivalent;
(c)single-party service;
(d)access to emergency services, including access to 9-1-1, where available, and access to enhanced 9-1-1 when requested by a telecommunications carrier’s local community and when the telecommunications carrier has technical capacity to provide it;
(e)access to operator services;
(f)access to interexchange services; and
(g)access to directory assistance.
(3)The fund must support only access to the services listed in subsections (2)(d) through (2)(g) and not support the services themselves.
(4)The fund must be administered to ensure that its operation is competitively and technologically neutral.
(5)For the purposes of this section, “interexchange services” means telecommunications long-distance services.