Ohio Administrative Code › Title 4901:1 - Utilities › Chapter 4901:1-7 - Local Exchange Carriers › Section 4901:1-7-04 - Rural telephone company exemption

Current through all
			 regulations passed and filed through July 1, 2024
[Comment: For dates of references to a section of either the
				United States Code or a regulation in the Code of Federal Regulations, see rule
				4901:1-7-02 of the
				Administrative Code.]
(A) A rural
			 telephone company is subject to the provisional rural telephone exemption
			 referenced in 47 U.S.C.
			 251(f)(1), until such time
			 as the rural telephone company receives a bona fide request for
			 interconnection, services, or network elements, and the commission terminates
			 the rural telephone company exemption pursuant to paragraph (D) of this rule.
			 Should a nonrural telephone company sell, devise, assign, or otherwise transfer
			 any portion of its facilities to a rural telephone company and such facilities
			 are subject to an interconnection agreement(s) at the time of the transfer,
			 such facilities 
								are to remain subject to all obligations of the
			 existing interconnection agreement(s). Such facilities will be subject to
			 requirements referenced in 47 U.S.C. 252(i),
			 unless the commission rules otherwise.
(B) If a rural telephone company receives a
			 bona fide request for interconnection, services, or network elements pursuant
			 to 47 U.S.C.
			 251(c), and it seeks to
			 maintain a rural telephone company exemption, it 
								can file a UNC
			 application with the commission within fifteen calendar days after receiving
			 the request. The telephone company requesting interconnection
			 
								is to
			 file a response within fifteen calendar days after the rural telephone
			 company's application for exemption. The burden of proof regarding the
			 termination of a rural telephone company exemption pursuant to
			 47 U.S.C.
			 251(f)(1), rests upon the
			 telephone company requesting interconnection.
(C) The commission will review such
			 application for exemption and the response to it on an individual case basis
			 within one hundred twenty calendar days of the commission's notice of the bona
			 fide request for interconnection.
(D) In reviewing the request for a rural
			 telephone company exemption, the commission will review the application and
			 responses and terminate the exemption should the commission find that the
			 interconnection request is not unduly economically burdensome, is technically
			 feasible, and is consistent with
			 47 U.S.C.
			 254.
(E) If the commission terminates the rural
			 telephone company exemption, the timeframes established in rule
			 4901:1-7-07 of the
			 Administrative Code begin anew with the issuance of the commission's
			 order.
(F) If a rural telephone
			 company does not  maintain an
			 exemption,  the negotiation
			 procedures set forth in rule
			 4901:1-7-07 of the
			 Administrative Code applies.
(G) If the commission, pursuant to the review
			 process established in paragraph (C) of rule
			 4901:1-7-04 of the
			 Administrative Code, grants the request for a rural telephone company
			 exemption, the rural telephone company is still obligated to fulfill all the
			 duties set forth in 47
			 U.S.C. 251(a) and (b),
			 including the duty to interconnect and exchange traffic. The rural telephone
			 company's obligations pursuant to
			 47 U.S.C.
			 251(a) and (b) is subject to
			 the commission procedures set forth in rules
			 4901:1-7-06 to
			 4901:1-7-09 of the
			 Administrative Code, as applicable, to implement
			 47 U.S.C.
			 252.