62-605. PROCEDURE FOR NOTICE OF ELECTION — COMMISSION CONTINUING AUTHORITY. (1) A telephone corporation which held a certificate of public convenience and necessity on January 1, 1988, may file with the commission a notice that such telephone corporation elects to be subject to the provisions of this chapter for all, or part of its telecommunication services, which notice shall include the following:

(a) The name and address of the telephone corporation;

(b) A narrative description of the telecommunication services provided by the telephone corporation and the geographic area and market served by the telephone corporation and a description of the telecommunication services for which the election is made.

(2) Upon the expiration of thirty (30) days from the filing of such notice of election, said telephone corporation shall, as to telecommunication services set forth in the notice of election, be exempt from the provisions of title 61, Idaho Code, and such telecommunication services shall thereafter be subject to the provisions of this chapter with the exception of the provisions of section 62-622(1) through (3), Idaho Code.

(3) Nothing contained in the provisions of this chapter or title 61, Idaho Code, shall be construed to prevent any person or entity from providing telecommunication services in competition with a telephone corporation as to those services which have been excluded from regulation under title 61, Idaho Code, pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, or with a telephone corporation, other than a mutual, nonprofit or cooperative telephone corporation, which was not, on the effective date of this act, subject to regulation by the commission pursuant to title 61, Idaho Code.

(4) Nothing contained in the provisions of this chapter shall be construed to prevent any telephone corporation from maintaining on file with the commission a tariff or price list describing the details of its services.

(5) (a) For any telecommunication service which was subject, on July 1, 1988, to title 61, Idaho Code, and which at the election of the telephone corporation became subject to this chapter, the commission shall have continuing authority to regulate the telephone corporation to the extent necessary to implement the federal communications act of 1996, in accordance with section 62-615, Idaho Code.

(b) The commission shall have the continuing authority to determine the noneconomic regulatory requirements relating to basic local exchange service for all telephone corporations providing basic local exchange service including, but not limited to, such matters as service quality standards, provision of access to carriers providing message telecommunication service, filing of price lists, customer notice and customer relation rules, and billing practices and procedures, which requirements shall be technologically and competitively neutral.

(c) In addition, if a telephone corporation has made an election pursuant to section 62-604, Idaho Code, and this section with reference to basic local exchange service, the maximum price the telephone corporation may charge for stand-alone basic local exchange service, as defined in section 62-607A, Idaho Code, during the transition period, shall, in the first year of the transition period, be capped at a rate ten percent (10%) above the rate in effect at the time of the election. Thereafter, in each succeeding year of the transition period, the price cap shall be increased by an additional amount that is equal to the difference between the rate at the time of the election and the price cap established hereunder for the first year of the transition period. However, during the transition period, the price cap established herein shall in no event exceed the maximum basic local exchange rate that was in effect and authorized or approved by the commission for any telephone corporation regulated pursuant to title 61, Idaho Code, or section 62-622(1), Idaho Code, for residence and business basic local exchange service rates, respectively, on the date the telephone corporation made the election pursuant to section 62-604, Idaho Code, and this section with reference to basic local exchange service.

(d) The term "transition period," as used in this section, means a period of three (3) years from the effective date of the election by a telephone corporation to exclude basic local exchange services from regulation pursuant to title 61, Idaho Code, or section 62-622(1), Idaho Code. Provided however, the commission may, during the one hundred eighty (180) day period prior to the expiration of the initial three (3) year transition period, by order, extend the transition period for a period of two (2) additional years if the commission finds that such action is necessary to protect the public interest. The commission shall, if the transition period is extended, as herein provided, file a copy of the commission’s order with the governor and the legislature.

(e) For the purpose of calculating the weighted statewide average rates for residence and business basic local exchange service rates to enable the commission to determine eligibility for distributions to eligible telecommunications carriers from the universal service fund established pursuant to chapter 6, title 62, Idaho Code, the residence and business basic local exchange rates in effect on July 1, 2005, shall constitute the basis for such calculation, unless the commission determines that changes in basic local exchange rates subsequent to July 1, 2005, should be used for such calculation for the purpose of determining the eligibility of telecommunications carriers for distributions from the universal service fund.

History:

[62-605, added 1988, ch. 195, sec. 1, p. 361; am. 2005, ch. 200, sec. 2, p. 606.]