Section 392.410

Title XXV INCORPORATION AND REGULATION OF CERTAIN UTILITIES AND CARRIERS

Chapter 392

Effective - 28 Aug 2008, 3 histories   

  392.410.  Certificate of public convenience and necessity required, exception — certificate of interexchange service authority, required when — duration of certificates — temporary certificates, issued when — political subdivisions restricted from providing certain telecommunications services or facilities. — 1.  A telecommunications company not possessing a certificate of public convenience and necessity from the commission at the time this section goes into effect shall have not more than ninety days in which to apply for a certificate of service authority from the commission pursuant to this chapter unless a company holds a state charter issued in or prior to the year 1913 which charter authorizes a company to engage in the telephone business.  No telecommunications company not exempt from this subsection shall transact any business in this state until it shall have obtained a certificate of service authority from the commission pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, except that any telecommunications company which is providing telecommunications service on September 28, 1987, and which has not been granted or denied a certificate of public convenience and necessity prior to September 28, 1987, may continue to provide that service exempt from all other requirements of this chapter until a certificate of service authority is granted or denied by the commission so long as the telecommunications company applies for a certificate of service authority within ninety days from September 28, 1987.

  2.  No telecommunications company offering or providing, or seeking to offer or provide, any interexchange telecommunications service shall do so until it has applied for and received a certificate of interexchange service authority pursuant to the provisions of subsection 1 of this section.  No telecommunications company offering or providing, or seeking to offer or provide, any local exchange telecommunications service shall do so until it has applied for and received a certificate of local exchange service authority pursuant to the provisions of section 392.420.

  3.  No certificate of service authority issued by the commission shall be construed as granting a monopoly or exclusive privilege, immunity or franchise.  The issuance of a certificate of service authority to any telecommunications company shall not preclude the commission from issuing additional certificates of service authority to another telecommunications company providing the same or equivalent service or serving the same geographical area or customers as any previously certified company, except to the extent otherwise provided by section 392.450.

  4.  Any certificate of public convenience and necessity granted by the commission to a telecommunications company prior to September 28, 1987, shall remain in full force and effect unless modified by the commission, and such companies need not apply for a certificate of service authority in order to continue offering or providing service to the extent authorized in such certificate of public convenience and necessity.  Any such carrier, however, prior to substantially altering the nature or scope of services provided under a certificate of public convenience and necessity, or adding or expanding services beyond the authority contained in such certificate, shall apply for a certificate of service authority for such alterations or additions pursuant to the provisions of this section.

  5.  The commission may review and modify the terms of any certificate of public convenience and necessity issued to a telecommunications company prior to September 28, 1987, in order to ensure its conformity with the requirements and policies of this chapter.  Any certificate of service authority may be altered or modified by the commission after notice and hearing, upon its own motion or upon application of the person or company affected.  Unless exercised within a period of one year from the issuance thereof, authority conferred by a certificate of service authority or a certificate of public convenience and necessity shall be null and void.

  6.  The commission may issue a temporary certificate which shall remain in force not to exceed one year to assure maintenance of adequate service or to serve particular customers, without notice and hearing, pending the determination of an application for a certificate.

  7.  No political subdivision of this state shall provide or offer for sale, either to the public or to a telecommunications provider, a telecommunications service or telecommunications facility used to provide a telecommunications service for which a certificate of service authority is required pursuant to this section.  Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to restrict a political subdivision from allowing the nondiscriminatory use of its rights-of-way including its poles, conduits, ducts and similar support structures by telecommunications providers or from providing to telecommunications providers, within the geographic area in which it lawfully operates as a municipal utility, telecommunications services or telecommunications facilities on a nondiscriminatory, competitively neutral basis, and at a price which covers cost, including imputed costs that the political subdivision would incur if it were a for-profit business.  Nothing in this subsection shall restrict a political subdivision from providing telecommunications services or facilities:

  (1)  For its own use;

  (2)  For 911, E-911 or other emergency services;

  (3)  For medical or educational purposes;

  (4)  To students by an educational institution; or

  (5)  Internet-type services.

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(L. 1987 H.B. 360, A.L. 1996 S.B. 507, A.L. 1997 H.B. 620, A.L. 2002 H.B. 1402, A.L. 2007 H.B. 801 merged with S.B. 22, A.L. 2008 H.B. 1426)

(2004) Section barring political subdivisions from providing telecommunication services is not preempted by Telecommunications Act of 1996.  Nixon v. Missouri Municipal League, 541 U.S. 125.