§ 2701. Transfer of messages and interchange of service

Whenever the Commission, after a hearing had upon its own motion or upon complaint, finds that a physical connection can reasonably be made between the lines of two or more telephone companies or two or more telegraph companies whose lines can be made to form a continuous line of communication, by the construction and maintenance of suitable connections, for the transfer of messages or conversations, and that public convenience and necessity will be subserved thereby, or finds that two or more telegraph or telephone companies have failed to establish joint rates, tolls, or charges for service by or over their lines, and that joint rates, tolls, or charges ought to be established, the Commission may, by its order, (a) require that the connection be made, except where the purpose of the connection is primarily to secure the transmission of local messages or conversations between points within the same city or town, and that conversations be transmitted and messages transferred over the connection under such rules and regulations as the Commission may establish, and (b) may prescribe through lines and joint rates, tolls, and charges to be made and to be used, observed, and enforced in the future. If the telephone or telegraph companies do not agree upon the division of the joint rates, tolls, or charges established by the Commission over the through lines, the Commission may, after further hearing, establish the division by supplemental order. (Amended 1961, No. 180, § 2.)