4927.03 [Effective Until 9/13/2010] Exemption orders.
4927.03 [Effective Until 9/13/2010] Exemption orders.
(A)(1) The public utilities commission, upon its own initiative or the application of a telephone company or companies, after notice, after affording the public and any affected telephone company a period for comment, and after a hearing if it considers one necessary, may, by order, exempt any such telephone company or companies, as to any public telecommunications service , including basic local exchange service, from any provision of Chapter 4905. or 4909., or sections 4931.01 to 4931.35 of the Revised Code or any rule or order adopted or issued under those provisions, or establish alternative regulatory requirements to apply to such public telecommunications service and company or companies; provided the commission finds that any such measure is in the public interest and either of the following conditions exists:
(a) The telephone company or companies are subject to competition with respect to such public telecommunications service;
(b) The customers of such public telecommunications service have reasonably available alternatives.
(2) In determining whether the conditions in division (A)(1)(a) or (b) of this section exist, factors the commission shall consider include, but are not limited to:
(a) The number and size of alternative providers of services;
(b) The extent to which services are available from alternative providers in the relevant market;
(c) The ability of alternative providers to make functionally equivalent or substitute services readily available at competitive rates, terms, and conditions;
(d) Other indicators of market power, which may include market share, growth in market share, ease of entry, and the affiliation of providers of services.
(3) To authorize an exemption or establish alternative regulatory requirements under division (A)(1) of this section with respect to basic local exchange service, the commission additionally shall find that there are no barriers to entry. Further, as to an exemption with respect to basic local exchange service, the commission shall not exempt a telephone company from sections 4905.20, 4905.21, 4905.22, 4905.231, 4905.24, 4905.241, 4905.242, 4905.243, 4905.244, 4905.25, 4905.26, 4905.30, 4905.32, 4905.33, 4905.35, and 4905.381 of the Revised Code.
(B) In carrying out this section, the public utilities commission may prescribe different classifications, procedures, terms, or conditions for different telephone companies and for the public telecommunications services they provide, provided they are reasonable and do not confer any undue economic, competitive, or market advantage or preference upon any telephone company.
(C) The public utilities commission has jurisdiction over every telephone company providing a public telecommunications service that has received an exemption or for which alternative regulatory requirements have been established pursuant to this section. As to any such company, the commission, after notice and hearing, may abrogate or modify any order so granting an exemption or establishing alternative requirements if it determines that the findings upon which the order was based are no longer valid and that the abrogation or modification is in the public interest. No such abrogation or modification shall be made more than five years after the date an order granting an exemption or establishing alternative requirements under this section was entered upon the commission’s journal, unless the affected telephone company or companies consent.
(D) The public utilities commission shall adopt such rules as it finds necessary to carry out this section. It shall adopt rules initially implementing the amendment of this section by H.B. No. 218 of the 126th general assembly within one hundred twenty days after the effective date of the amendment. In adopting those rules, the commission shall consider the establishment of elective alternative regulation specific to a telephone company that is an incumbent local exchange carrier as defined in 47 U.S.C. 251(h) having fewer than fifty thousand access lines.
Repealed by 128th General Assembly File No. 43, SB 162, § 2, eff. 9/13/2010.
Effective Date: 03-17-1989; 11-04-2005
This section is set out twice. See also § 4927.03, as added by 128th General Assembly File No. 43, SB 162, § 1, eff. 9/13/2010.
4927.03 [Effective 9/13/2010] Authority over VOIP-enabled service and other telecommunications services
(A) Except as provided in divisions (A) and (B) of section 4927.04 of the Revised Code and except to the extent required to exercise authority under federal law, the commission has no authority over any interconnected voice over internet protocol-enabled service or any telecommunications service that is not commercially available on the effective date of this section and that employs technology that became available for commercial use only after the effective date of this section, unless the commission, upon a finding that the exercise of the commission’s authority is necessary for the protection, welfare, and safety of the public, adopts rules specifying the necessary regulation. A consumer purchase of a service that is not commercially available on the effective date of this section and that employs technology that became available for commercial use only after the effective date of this section shall constitute a consumer transaction for purposes of sections 1345.01 to 1345.13 of the Revised Code, notwithstanding any provision of those sections to the contrary, unless the commission exercises jurisdiction over the service in accordance with this division. Notwithstanding any contrary provision of Chapter 4911. of the Revised Code, to the extent that the commission adopts rules under division (A) of this section regarding any interconnected voice over internet protocol enabled service provided to residential customers or regarding any telecommunications service that is provided to residential customers, that is not commercially available on the effective date of this section, and that employs technology that became available for commercial use only after the effective date of this section, the office of the consumers’ counsel shall have authority to assist and represent residential customers in the implementation and enforcement of those rules.
(B)(1) The commission has no authority over wireless service, resellers of wireless service, or wireless service providers, except as follows:
(a) As provided under sections 4905.84, 4931.40 to 4931.70, and 4931.99 of the Revised Code;
(b) With respect to division (C) of section 4927.15 of the Revised Code;
(c) As provided in divisions (B)(2), (3), and (4) of this section.
(2) The commission has authority over wireless service and wireless service providers as follows, but only to the extent authorized by federal law, including federal regulations:
(a) To the extent that the commission carries out the acts described in divisions (A), (B), (C), (D), and (F) of section 4927.04 of the Revised Code;
(b) As provided in sections 4927.05, 4927.20, and 4927.21 of the Revised Code.
(3) The requirements of sections 4905.10, 4905.14, and 4911.18 of the Revised Code shall apply to a wireless service provider.
(4) The commission has such authority as is necessary to enforce division (B) of this section.
(C) For purposes of sections 4927.01 to 4927.21 of the Revised Code, sections 4903.02, 4903.03, 4903.24, 4903.25, 4905.04, 4905.05, 4905.06, 4905.13, 4905.15, 4905.16, 4905.17, 4905.22, 4905.26, 4905.27, 4905.28, 4905.29, 4905.31, 4905.32, 4905.33, 4905.35, 4905.37, 4905.38, 4905.39, 4905.48, 4905.54, 4905.55, 4905.56, and 4905.60 of the Revised Code do not apply to a telephone company or, as applicable, to an officer, employee, or agent of such company or provider, except to the extent necessary for the commission to carry out sections 4927.01 to 4927.21 of the Revised Code.
(D) Except as specifically authorized in sections 4927.01 to 4927.21 of the Revised Code, the commission has no authority over the quality of service and the service rates, terms, and conditions of telecommunications service provided to end users by a telephone company.
(E) The commission shall initially adopt the rules required by this chapter not later than one hundred twenty days after the effective date of this section. Subject to the authority granted to the commission under this chapter, the commission may adopt other rules, including rules regarding the removal from tariffs of services that were required to be filed in tariffs prior to the effective date of this section, as it finds necessary to carry out this chapter.
Added by 128th General Assembly File No. 43, SB 162, § 1, eff. 9/13/2010.
Effective Date: 03-17-1989; 11-04-2005
This section is set out twice. See also § 4927.03, effective until 9/13/2010.