A qualifying telecommunications utility may stop operations or drop a nonessential optional service, but it must give required notice first and cannot stop operations in its certificated area unless the statutory conditions are met.
Sec. 54.253. DISCONTINUATION OF SERVICE BY CERTAIN CERTIFICATE HOLDERS. (a) A telecommunications utility that holds a certificate of operating authority or a service provider certificate of operating authority may: (1) cease operations in the utility's certificated area; or (2) discontinue an optional service that is not essential to providing basic local telecommunications service. (b) Before the telecommunications utility ceases operations or discontinues an optional service, the utility, in the manner required by the commission, must give notice of the intended action to: (1) the commission; (2) each affected customer; (3) the Commission on State Emergency Communications; (4) the office; and (5) each wholesale provider of telecommunications facilities or services from which the utility has purchased facilities or services. (c) The telecommunications utility is entitled to discontinue an optional service on or after the 61st day after the date the utility gives the notice. (d) The telecommunications utility may not cease operations in its certificated area unless the commission authorizes the utility to cease operations and: (1) another provider of basic local telecommunications services has adequate facilities and capacity to serve the customers in the certificated area; or (2) the utility is an "exiting utility," as that term is defined by Section 54.301, no other telecommunications utility has facilities sufficient to provide basic local telecommunications service in the defined geographic area, and the utility acts in good faith to provide for a transition of the utility's existing basic local telecommunications service customers to another holder of a certificate for that area. (e) The commission may not authorize the telecommunications utility to cease operations under Subsection (d) before the 61st day after the date the utility gives the notice required by Subsection (b). Unless the commission receives a complaint from an affected person, the commission may enter an order under this subsection administratively. Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997. Amended by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 76, Sec. 3, eff. Sept. 1, 2003.