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Texas Utilities Code - Section 54.253. Discontinuation Of Service By Certain Certificate Holders

Legal Research Home > Texas Lawyer > Utilities Code > Texas Utilities Code - Section 54.253. Discontinuation Of Service By Certain Certificate Holders

§ 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, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.  Amended 
by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 76, § 3, eff. Sept. 1, 2003.

Last modified: August 10, 2007