Vermont § 227a - Pricing of competitive telecommunications services

§ 227a. Pricing of competitive telecommunications services

• (a) In addition to the Commission’s authority to reduce or suspend any regulatory requirements
  as part of a contract negotiated under section 226a of this title, the Commission may also suspend or reduce such requirements in a competitive market
  under this section. If, after hearing, the Commission determines that a competitive
  market exists for the provision of any telecommunications service offered by a company
  subject to its jurisdiction, the Commission may suspend or reduce any or all of the
  regulatory requirements otherwise applicable to the provision of such service under
  subsection 218(a) and sections 225, 226, and 227 of this title. In determining whether a competitive market exists, the Commission shall find: (1) that no competitor offering such service has sufficient market power to set prices
  for the service, taking into consideration whether competitors to any dominant market
  provider offer a sufficient quantity of similar or equivalent services, whether there
  is reasonable ease of entry into the market for providers of these services; and any
  other relevant indicator of market power; (2) that the competition in the market will afford the public at least as much protection
  as the applicable regulatory requirements being suspended or reduced; (3) that adequate safeguards exist to ensure that any services provided by a competitor
  that continue to be regulated are not supporting or subsidizing any services offered
  in the competitive market, and that no company shall allocate revenues from regulated
  activities to unregulated activities nor allocate costs from unregulated activities
  to regulated activities and, upon request, shall provide the Commission and the Department
  with information, including cost studies indicating whether any regulated services
  are supporting any services which are deregulated; and (4) that adequate safeguards exist to ensure that access to any regulated basic exchange
  services or any other regulated services that must be utilized to provide the competitive
  service is available at the same rates, terms, and conditions at which they are provided
  by the company to its own unregulated affiliates or charged to its own unregulated
  accounts. (b) Nothing in this section shall limit the existing authority of the Commission or Department
  to require provision of or access to information required by this title. (c) The Commission shall upon petition of the Department, and may upon its own initiative,
  investigate whether it should reimpose any regulatory requirements that it has suspended
  or reduced in accordance with subsection (a) of this section; and if the Commission
  finds that it is in the public interest to reapply any such regulatory provisions,
  it may do so if it determines that the standards in subsection (a) are no longer met.
  Pending any final order, the Commission may reimpose any regulatory requirements on
  a preliminary basis as it determines is just and reasonable. The Commission shall
  rule on any request by the Department for a preliminary order within 60 days. The
  Commission shall make a final decision on reimposition of regulatory requirements
  within seven months of the Department’s request or of the date of commencement of
  its own investigation. A preliminary or final order shall be after public notice
  and hearing. (Added 1987, No. 87, § 7; amended 2023, No. 85 (Adj. Sess.), § 375, eff. July 1, 2024.)