A. A competitive telephone company that is an incumbent telephone carrier shall have the duty in its incumbent territory to extend or expand its facilities to furnish retail voice service and facilities when the person, firm, or corporation does not have service available from one or more alternative providers of wireline or terrestrial wireless communications services at prevailing market rates.

Terms Used In Virginia Code 56-54.6

  • Commission: means the State Corporation Commission. See Virginia Code 56-1
  • company: includes all corporations created by acts of the General Assembly of Virginia, or under the general incorporation laws of this Commonwealth, or doing business therein, and shall exclude all municipal corporations, other political subdivisions, and public institutions owned or controlled by the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 56-1
  • Competitive telephone company: means (i) an incumbent local exchange telephone company whose residential dial tone lines (a) were deemed competitive by the Commission throughout the company's incumbent service territory prior to January 1, 2014, or (b) are declared competitive by the Commission throughout its incumbent service territory on or after January 1, 2014, in a proceeding pursuant to § 56-235. See Virginia Code 56-54.2
  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Incumbent territory: means the area in which an incumbent local exchange telephone company was providing local exchange telephone service prior to July 1, 2002, except as its incumbent certificate may have been amended by the Commission after that date pursuant to subdivision B 1 of § 56-265. See Virginia Code 56-54.2
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Local exchange telephone service: means telephone service provided in a geographical area established for the administration of communication services and consists of one or more central offices together with associated facilities which are used in providing local exchange service. See Virginia Code 56-1
  • Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
  • Person: includes individuals, partnerships, limited liability companies, and corporations. See Virginia Code 56-1

B. A competitive telephone company shall continue to have the powers and duties provided in the first sentence of subdivision A 2 of § 56-234.

C. For the purposes of subsections A and B, the Commission shall have the authority, upon request of an individual, corporation, or other entity, or a competitive telephone company, to determine whether the wireline or terrestrial wireless communications service available to the party requesting service is a reasonably adequate alternative to local exchange telephone service.

D. The use by a competitive telephone company of wireline and terrestrial wireless technologies shall not be construed to grant any additional jurisdiction or authority to the Commission over such technologies.

E. For purposes of subsection A, “prevailing market rates” means rates similar to those generally available to consumers in competitive areas for the same services.

F. A competitive telephone company shall have the obligation to provide access to emergency 911 service to its end-user retail customers.

2014, cc. 340, 376.

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