S.L. 1997-207

1997 SESSION

S.L. 1997-207

AN ACT TO ALLOW PAY TELEPHONE PROVIDERS TO OBTAIN LINE ACCESS FROM COMPETITIVE LOCAL PROVIDERS OF TELEPHONE SERVICE AND TO ELIMINATE THE STATUTORY REQUIREMENT THAT LINE ACCESS RATES BE SET ON A MEASURED RATE BASIS.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1. G.S. 62-110(c) reads as rewritten:

"(c) The Commission shall be authorized, consistent with the public interest, to adopt procedures for the issuance of a special certificate to any person for the limited purpose of offering telephone service to the public by means of coin, coinless, or key-operated pay telephone instruments. This service may be in addition to or in competition with public telephone services offered by the certificated telephone company in the service area. The certificated local exchange telephone company in the service area where any new pay telephone service is proposed shall be the only provider of the access line from the pay instrument to the network, and the rates approved by the Commission for this access line shall be fully compensatory, reflect the business nature of the service, and shall be set on a measured usage rate basis where facilities are available or on a message rate basis otherwise. The access line from the pay instrument to the network may be obtained from the local exchange telephone company in the service area where the pay instrument is located, from any certificated competitive local provider, or any other provider authorized by the Commission. The Commission shall promulgate rules to implement the service authorized by this section, recognizing the competitive nature of the offerings and, notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Commission shall determine the extent to which such services shall be regulated and to the extent necessary to protect the public interest regulate the terms, conditions, and rates for such service and the terms and conditions for interconnection to the local exchange network."

Section 2. This act becomes effective July 1, 1997.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 9th day of June, 1997.

s/ Dennis A. Wicker

President of the Senate

s/ Harold J. Brubaker

Speaker of the House of Representatives

s/ James B. Hunt, Jr.

Governor

Approved 5:20 p.m. this 19th day of June, 1997