The Ky. House was poised for a final vote on a telecom deregulati...
The Ky. House was poised for a final vote on a telecom deregulation bill (HB-337) that would end state rate regulation of retail telecom services other than basic single-line local service. The pending bill would cap basic service rates…
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at current levels for 5 years, except for incumbents under 50,000 lines. Their basic rates would be frozen for one year, then could rise by the annual average of the Consumer Price Index. Rates for nonbasic services would be deregulated. The PSC would keep jurisdiction over quality of basic and nonbasic retail telecom services, 911, Lifeline and universal service. PSC complaint jurisdiction would be limited to basic service obligations, billing disputes, slamming and cramming. Other provisions would remove VoIP entirely from Ky. PSC jurisdiction and require a 30-day trial period for new services, with the right to cancel without penalty during the trial period. Customers only would have to pay for service used during the trial. The bill wouldn’t affect the PSC’s wholesale service jurisdiction. Senate floor amendments would let incumbent telecom carriers match competitors’ offers, bar competitive discrimination in access to wireline facilities and let complaints be referred to binding arbitration.