§ 227a - Pricing of competitive telecommunications services - Vermont Statutes

§ 227a. Pricing of competitive telecommunications services

(a) In addition to the board's authority to reduce or suspend any regulatory requirements as part of a contract negotiated under section 226a of this title, the board may also suspend or reduce such requirements in a competitive market under this section. If, after hearing, the board determines that a competitive market exists for the provision of any telecommunications service offered by a company subject to its jurisdiction, the board may suspend or reduce any or all of the regulatory requirements otherwise applicable to the provision of such service under subsection 218(a) and sections 225, 226, and 227 of this title. In determining whether a competitive market exists, the board shall find:

(1) that no competitor offering such service has sufficient market power to set prices for the service; taking into consideration whether competitors to any dominant market provider offer a sufficient quantity of similar or equivalent services, whether there is reasonable ease of entry into the market for providers of these services, and any other relevant indicator of market power;

(2) that the competition in the market will afford the public at least as much protection as the applicable regulatory requirements being suspended or reduced;

(3) that adequate safeguards exist to assure that any services provided by a competitor which continue to be regulated are not supporting or subsidizing any services offered in the competitive market, and that no company shall allocate revenues from regulated activities to unregulated activities nor allocate costs from unregulated activities to regulated activities and, upon request, shall provide the board and the department with information including, but not limited to, cost studies indicating whether any regulated services are supporting any services which are deregulated; and

(4) that adequate safeguards exist to assure that access to any regulated basic exchange services or any other regulated services that must be utilized to provide the competitive service is available at the same rates, terms and conditions at which they are provided by the company to its own unregulated affiliates or charged to its own unregulated accounts.

(b) Nothing in this section shall limit the existing authority of the board or department to require provision of or access to information required by this title.

(c) The board shall upon petition of the department, and may upon its own initiative, investigate whether it should reimpose any regulatory requirements which it has suspended or reduced in accordance with subsection (a) of this section; and if the board finds that it is in the public interest to reapply any such regulatory provisions it may do so if it determines that the standards in subsection (a) are no longer met. Pending any final order, the board may reimpose any regulatory requirements on a preliminary basis as it determines is just and reasonable. The board shall rule on any request by the department for a preliminary order within 60 days. The board shall make a final decision on reimposition of regulatory requirements within seven months of the department's request or of the date of commencement of its own investigation. A preliminary or final order shall be after public notice and hearing. (Added 1987, No. 87, § 7.)