7-52-403 - Applicability to municipalities Municipalities subject to regulatory laws and rules. - Tennessee Statutes

7-52-403. Applicability to municipalities Municipalities subject to regulatory laws and rules.

(a)  To the extent that it provides any of the services authorized by § 7-52-401, a municipality has all the powers, obligations and authority granted entities providing telecommunications services under applicable laws of the United States or the state of Tennessee. To the extent that such authority and powers do not conflict with the provisions of title 65, chapter 4 or 5, and any rules, regulations, or orders issued under title 65, chapter 4 or 5, a municipality providing any of the services authorized by § 7-52-401 has all the authority and powers with respect to such services as are enumerated in this chapter.

(b)  Notwithstanding the authorization granted in subsection (a), a municipal electric system shall not provide any of the services authorized by § 7-52-401 unrelated to its electric services within the service area of an existing telephone cooperative with fewer than one hundred thousand (100,000) total lines organized and operating under the provisions of title 65, chapter 29, and therefore shall adhere to those regulations of the 1995 Tennessee Telecommunications Act and rules of the Tennessee regulatory authority that are applicable to the telephone cooperatives, and specifically §§ 65-4-101 and 65-29-130.

[Acts 1997, ch. 531, §§ 4, 9.]