374:22-p Affordable Telephone Service; Rulemaking; Standards. –
I. (a) For the purposes of this section, "Federal Telecommunications Act" means the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996, Public Law 104-104, 110 Stat. 56.
(b) For purposes of this section "basic service" means:
(1) Safe and reliable single-party, single line voice service;
(2) The ability to receive all noncollect calls, at telephone lines capable of receiving calls, without additional charge;
(3) The ability to complete calls to any other telephone line, which is capable of receiving calls, in the state;
(4) The opportunity to presubscribe to interLATA toll carriers;
(5) The opportunity to presubscribe to intraLATA toll carriers;
(6) Dialing parity;
(7) Number portability;
(8) Enhanced 911, pursuant to the requirements of the department of safety, bureau of emergency communications, or its successor agency;
(9) Access to statewide directory assistance;
(10) Telecommunications relay service (TRS);
(11) A published directory listing, at the customer's election;
(12) A caller identification blocking option, on a per-call basis;
(13) A caller identification line blocking option that is available to all customers without a recurring charge and is provided upon customer request without charge to customers who have elected nonpublished telephone numbers and is available without a nonrecurring charge to customers who certify that caller identification threatens their health or safety and is available without a nonrecurring charge when requested with installation of basic service;
(14) A blocking option for pay-per-call calls, such as blocking all 900 or all 976 area code calls;
(15) The ability to report service problems to the customer's basic service provider on a 24-hour basis, 7 days a week; and
(16) Automatic Number Identification (ANI) to other carriers which accurately identifies the telephone number of the calling party.
(c) Any combination of basic service along with any other service or feature offered by the telecommunications service provider is nonbasic service and shall not be regulated by the commission.
(d) Any telecommunications service provider which is not an incumbent local exchange carrier shall not be required to provide basic service.
II. Subject to RSA 362:6, the department of energy shall require every provider of intrastate telephone service to participate in outreach programs designed to increase the number of low-income telephone customers on the network through increased participation in any universal service program approved by the department and statutorily established by the legislature. Statewide outreach programs shall continue until further order of the department.
III. The department of energy shall seek to ensure that affordable basic telephone services are available to consumers throughout all areas of the state at reasonably comparable rates.
IV. (a) The department of energy shall maintain and update rules to implement this section and shall, after the statutory establishment of a universal service fund, require every provider of intrastate telephone services to contribute to a state universal service fund to support programs consistent with the goals of applicable provisions of this title and the Federal Telecommunications Act.
(b) If the department of energy, upon statutory establishment of a universal service program, establishes a state universal service fund pursuant to this section, the department shall contract with an appropriate independent fiscal agent that is not a state entity to serve as administrator of the state universal service fund. Program administration shall be designed in the most cost-effective manner possible. Funds contributed to a state universal service fund are not state funds and therefore are not subject to provisions of law relating to the general fund. Rules and any state universal service fund requirements established by legislative enactment and by the department pursuant to this section shall:
(1) Be reasonably designed to maximize federal assistance available to the state for universal service purposes.
(2) Meet the state's obligations under the Federal Telecommunications Act.
(3) Be consistent with the goals of the Federal Telecommunications Act.
(4) Ensure that any requirements regarding contributions to a state universal service fund be nondiscriminatory and competitively neutral.
(5) Require explicit identification on customer's bills of contributions to and in the event of fund termination, refunds from, any state universal service fund established pursuant to the section.
(6) Allow consideration in appropriate rulemaking proceedings of contributions to and in the event of fund termination, refunds from, any state universal service fund established pursuant to this section.
(c) For purposes of this section, "providers of intrastate telephone services" includes providers of radio paging service and, subject to the provisions of the Federal Communications Act as amended and codified at 47 U.S.C. sec. 332(c)(3)(A), mobile telecommunications services.
(d) Prior to requiring that providers of intrastate telephone service contribute to a state universal service fund and prior to statutory establishment of a universal service fund, the department of energy shall report to the general court its determination of the expected program costs, the amount and type of the funding mechanism, the number of people proposed to be served, the level of proposed service, and the administrative design of the proposed fund.
V. The department of energy, annually, shall assess the penetration rate of basic telephone services. If this penetration rate ever falls below the national average penetration rate, the department shall commence an investigation and take steps to enhance telephone market penetration. The department, annually, shall assess the success of any action taken by the department to achieve the purpose of this section. The public policy goal should be to raise the low income penetration level as close as reasonably possible to the statewide average.
VI, VII. [Repealed.]
VIII. Notwithstanding the provisions of RSA 374:1-a:
(a) Incumbent local exchange carriers, whether qualified as an excepted local exchange carrier or otherwise, may not discontinue residential basic service, regardless of technology used, in any portion of their franchise area unless the department of energy determines that the public good will not be adversely affected by such withdrawal of service;
(b) Rates for basic service of incumbent local exchange carriers which qualify as excepted local exchange carriers may not increase by more than 5 percent for Lifeline Telephone Assistance customers and by more than 10 percent for all other basic service customers in each of the 8 years after the effective date of this paragraph or the effective date of an existing alternative plan of regulation, except for additional rate adjustments, with department of energy review and approval, to reflect changes in federal, state, or local government taxes, mandates, rules, regulations, or statutes; and
(c) Incumbent local exchange carriers which qualify as excepted local exchange carriers shall report the rates for basic service to the department of energy within 60 days of the effective date of this paragraph and upon any changes to the rates.
Source. 2001, 220:3. 2004, 132:6, eff. July 18, 2004. 2012, 177:11, 12, eff. Aug. 10, 2012. 2013, 279:6, eff. July 27, 2013. 2021, 91:270, eff. July 1, 2021.