(a) Notwithstanding any provision of a special act or municipal charter to the contrary, any municipality that owns or operates one or more plants for the manufacture or distribution of electricity pursuant to section 7-213 or any special act, may provide telecommunications service, as defined in section 16-247a, other than community antenna television service, to inhabitants within the territorial limits of the area in which the municipality is authorized to provide electric service. No municipality may seek authority to provide telecommunications service pursuant to this section until affirmative action for that purpose has been approved by the chief executive officer and has received a two-thirds vote of its legislative body or in any town in which the legislative body is a town meeting, by the board of selectmen.

(b) Any municipality seeking to exercise the authority granted by this section shall be subject to all certification requirements imposed by statute or order of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority upon certified telecommunications providers, as defined in section 16-1.

(c) Any municipality exercising the authority granted by this section may finance any capital expenditures necessary to provide telecommunications service other than community antenna television service, including but not limited to, the costs to acquire or construct necessary systems or facilities, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 109.

(P.A. 97-313, S. 4, 5; P.A. 99-286, S. 15, 19; P.A. 11-80, S. 1.)

History: P.A. 97-313 effective July 1, 1997; P.A. 99-286 amended Subsec. (b) by changing reference to persons, firms or corporations certified to provide intrastate telecommunications services to “certified telecommunications providers”, effective July 19, 1999; pursuant to P.A. 11-80, “Department of Public Utility Control” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “Public Utilities Regulatory Authority” in Subsec. (b), effective July 1, 2011.