To repeal sections 386.020, 392.180, 392.410, 392.450, and 392.530, RSMo 1994, relating to the regulation of telecommunications companies, and to enact in lieu thereof ten new sections, relating to the same subject.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF MISSOURI,

AS FOLLOWS:

Section A. Sections 386.020, 392.180, 392.410, 392.450, and 392.530, RSMo 1994, are repealed and ten new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 386.020, 392.180, 392.185, 392.201, 392.245, 392.248, 392.410, 392.450, 392.455 and 392.530, to read as follows:

386.020. As used in this chapter, the following words and phrases mean:

(1) "Alternative operator services company", any certificated interexchange telecommunications company which receives more than forty percent of its annual Missouri intrastate telecommunications service revenues from the provision of operator services pursuant to operator services contracts with traffic aggregators;

(2) "Basic interexchange telecommunications service", includes, at a minimum, two-way switched voice service between points in different local calling scopes as determined by the commission and shall include other services as determined by the commission by rule upon periodic review and update;

(3) "Basic local telecommunications service", includes, at a minimum, two-way switched voice service within a local calling scope as determined by the commission and shall include other services as determined by the commission by rule upon periodic review and update, but does not include the offering or provision of basic local telecommunications service at private shared tenant service locations;

(4) "Cable television service", the one-way transmission to subscribers of video programming or other programming service and the subscriber interaction, if any, which is required for the selection of such video programming or other programming service;

(5) "Carrier of last resort", any telecommunications company which is obligated to offer basic local telecommunications service to all customers who request service in a geographic area defined by the commission and cannot abandon this obligation without approval from the commission;

[(5)] (6) "Commission", the "Public Service Commission" hereby created;

[(6)] (7) "Commissioner", one of the members of the commission;

[(7)] (8) "Common carrier" includes all railroad corporations, street railroad corporations, express companies, car companies, sleeping car companies, freight companies, freightline companies, steamboat, power boat, vessel boat and ferry companies, and every corporation, company, association, joint stock company or association, partnership, and person, their lessees, trustees, or receivers appointed by any court whatsoever, owning, holding, operating, controlling or managing any such agency for public use in the conveyance of persons or property within this state;

[(8)] (9) "Competitive telecommunications company", a telecommunications company which has been classified as such by the commission pursuant to section 392.361, RSMo;

[(9)] (10) "Competitive telecommunications service", a telecommunications service which has been classified as such by the commission pursuant to section 392.361, RSMo, or which has become a competitive telecommunications service pursuant to section 392.370, RSMo;

[(10)] (11) "Corporation" includes a corporation, company, association and joint stock association or company;

(12) "Customer owned pay telephone", a privately owned telecommunications device that is not owned, leased or otherwise controlled by a local exchange telecommunications company and which provides telecommunications services for a use fee to the general public;

[(11)] (13) "Electric plant" includes all real estate, fixtures and personal property operated, controlled, owned, used or to be used for or in connection with or to facilitate the generation, transmission, distribution, sale or furnishing of electricity for light, heat or power; and any conduits, ducts or other devices, materials, apparatus or property for containing, holding or carrying conductors used or to be used for the transmission of electricity for light, heat or power;

[(12)] (14) "Electrical corporation" includes every corporation, company, association, joint stock company or association, partnership and person, their lessees, trustees or receivers appointed by any court whatsoever, other than a railroad or street railroad corporation generating electricity solely for railroad or street railroad purposes or for the use of its tenants and not for sale to others, owning, operating, controlling or managing any electric plant except where electricity is generated or distributed by the producer solely on or through private property for railroad or street railroad purposes or for its own use or the use of its tenants and not for sale to others;

(15) "Electronic publisher", any person, corporation, company, association, joint stock company or association, or partnership which is primarily engaged in the provision of electronic publishing services but which is not a telecommunications company as defined in this chapter;

(16) "Electronic publishing services", the generation, dissemination, provision, publication, or sale by an electronic publisher, by way of network interconnection with a telecommunications company, to any person of any information which the electronic publisher has or has caused to be originated, authored, compiled, collected or edited or in which the electronic publisher has a direct or indirect financial or proprietary interest. Electronic publishing services include, but are not limited to: news; business and financial reports; editorials; electronic information directories; columns; sports reporting; features; advertising; photos or images; archival and research material; legal notices and public records; scientific, education, instructional, technical, professional, trade or other literary material; and any other similar information. Electronic publishing services, however, shall not include any network information, interconnection, access or transmission services and facilities provided by a telecommunications company to an electronic publisher;

[(13)] (17) "Exchange", a geographical area for the administration of telecommunications services, established and described by the tariff of a telecommunications company providing basic local telecommunications service;

[(14)] (18) "Exchange access service", a service provided by a local exchange telecommunications company which enables a telecommunications company or other customer to enter and exit the local exchange telecommunications network in order to originate or terminate interexchange telecommunications service;

[(15)] (19) "Express corporation" includes every corporation, company, association, joint stock company or association, partnership and person, their lessees, trustees or receivers appointed by any court whatsoever, engaged in or transacting the business of transporting any freight, merchandise or other property for compensation on the line of any common carrier within this state;

[(16)] (20) "Gas corporation" includes every corporation, company, association, joint stock company or association, partnership and person, their lessees, trustees or receivers appointed by any court whatsoever, owning, operating, controlling or managing any gas plant operating for public use under privilege, license or franchise now or hereafter granted by the state or any political subdivision, county or municipality thereof;

[(17)] (21) "Gas plant" includes all real estate, fixtures and personal property owned, operated, controlled, used or to be used for or in connection with or to facilitate the manufacture, distribution, sale or furnishing of gas, natural or manufactured, for light, heat or power;

[(18)] (22) "Heating company" includes every corporation, company, association, joint stock company or association, partnership and person, their lessees, trustees or receivers, appointed by any court whatsoever, owning, operating, managing or controlling any plant or property for manufacturing and distributing and selling, for distribution, or distributing hot or cold water, steam or currents of hot or cold air for motive power, heating, cooking, or for any public use or service, in any city, town or village in this state; provided, that no agency or authority created by or operated pursuant to an interstate compact established under section 70.370, RSMo, shall be a heating company or subject to regulation by the commission;

(23) "High cost area", a geographic area, which shall follow exchange boundaries and be no smaller than an exchange nor larger than a local calling scope, where the cost of providing basic local telecommunications service as determined by the commission, giving due regard to recovery of an appropriate share of joint and common costs as well as those costs related to carrier of last resort obligations, exceeds the rate for basic local telecommunications service found reasonable by the commission;

[(19)] (24) "Interexchange telecommunications company", any company engaged in the provision of interexchange telecommunications service [which company does not also provide basic local telecommunications service];

[(20)] (25) "Interexchange telecommunications service", telecommunications service between points in two or more exchanges;

[(21)] (26) "Line" includes route;

[(22)] (27) "Local exchange telecommunications company", any company engaged in the provision of local exchange telecommunications service. A local exchange telecommunications company shall be considered a "large local exchange telecommunications company" if it has at least one hundred thousand access lines in Missouri and a "small local exchange telecommunications company" if it has less than one hundred thousand access lines in Missouri;

[(23)] (28) "Local exchange telecommunications service", telecommunications service between points within an exchange;

[(24)] (29) "Municipality" includes a city, village or town;

[(25)] (30) "Noncompetitive telecommunications company", a telecommunications company other than a competitive telecommunications company or a transitionally competitive telecommunications company;

[(26)] (31) "Noncompetitive telecommunications service", a telecommunications service other than a competitive or transitionally competitive telecommunications service;

[(27)] (32) "Operator services", operator-assisted interexchange telecommunications service by means of either human or automated call intervention and includes, but is not limited to, billing or completion of calling card, collect, person-to-person, station-to-station or third number billed calls;

[(28)] (33) "Operator services contract", any agreement between a traffic aggregator and a certificated interexchange telecommunications company to provide operator services at a traffic aggregator location;

[(29)] (34) "Person" includes an individual, and a firm or copartnership;

[(30)] (35) "Private shared tenant services" includes the provision of telecommunications and information management services and equipment within a user group located in discrete private premises as authorized by the commission by a commercial shared services provider or by a user association, through privately owned customer premises equipment and associated data processing and information management services and includes the provision of connections to the facilities of local exchange telecommunications companies and to interexchange telecommunications companies;

[(31)] (36) "Private telecommunications system", a telecommunications system controlled by a person or corporation for the sole and exclusive use of such person, corporation or legal or corporate affiliate thereof;

[(32)] (37) "Public utility" includes every common carrier, pipeline corporation, gas corporation, electrical corporation, telecommunications company, water corporation, heat or refrigerating corporation, and sewer corporation, as these terms are defined in this section, and each thereof is hereby declared to be a public utility and to be subject to the jurisdiction, control and regulation of the commission and to the provisions of this chapter;

[(33)] (38) "Railroad" includes every railroad and railway, other than street railroad, by whatsoever power operated for public use in the conveyance of persons or property for compensation, with all bridges, ferries, tunnels, equipment, switches, spurs, tracks, stations, real estate and terminal facilities of every kind used, operated, controlled or owned by or in connection with any such railroad;

[(34)] (39) "Railroad corporation" includes every corporation, company, association, joint stock company or association, partnership and person, their lessees, trustees or receivers appointed by any court whatsoever, owning, holding, operating, controlling or managing any railroad or railway or any cars or other equipment used thereon or in connection therewith;

[(35)] (40) "Rate", every individual or joint rate, fare, toll, charge, reconsigning charge, switching charge, rental or other compensation of any corporation, person or public utility, or any two or more such individual or joint rates, fares, tolls, charges, reconsigning charges, switching charges, rentals or other compensations of any corporation, person or public utility or any schedule or tariff thereof;

[(36)] (41) "Resale of telecommunications service", the offering or providing of telecommunications service primarily through the use of services or facilities owned or provided by a separate telecommunications company, but does not include the offering or providing of private shared tenant services;

[(37)] (42) "Service" includes not only the use and accommodations afforded consumers or patrons, but also any product or commodity furnished by any corporation, person or public utility and the plant, equipment, apparatus, appliances, property and facilities employed by any corporation, person or public utility in performing any service or in furnishing any product or commodity and devoted to the public purposes of such corporation, person or public utility, and to the use and accommodation of consumers or patrons;

[(38)] (43) "Sewer corporation" includes every corporation, company, association, joint stock company or association, partnership or person, their lessees, trustees or receivers appointed by any court, owning, operating, controlling or managing any sewer system, plant or property, for the collection, carriage, treatment, or disposal of sewage anywhere within the state for gain, except that the term shall not include sewer systems with fewer than twenty-five outlets;

[(39)] (44) "Sewer system" includes all pipes, pumps, canals, lagoons, plants, structures and appliances, and all other real estate, fixtures and personal property, owned, operated, controlled or managed in connection with or to facilitate the collection, carriage, treatment and disposal of sewage for municipal, domestic or other beneficial or necessary purpose;

[(40)] (45) "Street railroad" includes every railroad by whatsoever type of power operated, and all extensions and branches thereof and supplementary facilities thereto by whatsoever type of vehicle operated, for public use in the conveyance of persons or property for compensation, mainly providing local transportation service upon the streets, highways and public places in a municipality, or in and adjacent to a municipality, and including all cars, buses and other rolling stock, equipment, switches, spurs, tracks, poles, wires, conduits, cables, subways, tunnels, stations, terminals and real estate of every kind used, operated or owned in connection therewith; and the term "street railroad" when used in this chapter, shall also include all motor bus and trolley bus lines and routes and similar local transportation facilities, and the rolling stock and other equipment thereof and the appurtenances thereto, when operated as a part of a street railroad or trolley bus local transportation system, or in conjunction therewith or supplementary thereto, but such term shall not include a railroad constituting or used as part of a trunk line railroad system and any street railroad as defined above which shall be converted wholly to motor bus operation shall nevertheless continue to be included within the term "street railroad" as used herein;

[(41)] (46) "Street railroad corporation" includes every corporation, company, association, joint stock company or association, partnership and person, their lessees, trustees or receivers appointed by any court whatsoever, owning, holding, operating, controlling or managing any street railroad as herein defined; and any such street railroad, and all of its cars, buses, other equipment, instrumentalities, property and operations, shall be governed by and subject to the provisions of this chapter applicable to street railroads and street railroad corporations and not by the provisions applicable to other types of carriers;

[(42)] (47) "Telecommunications company" includes telephone corporations as that term is used in the statutes of this state and every corporation, company, association, joint stock company or association, partnership and person, their lessees, trustees or receivers appointed by any court whatsoever, owning, operating, controlling or managing any facilities used to provide telecommunications service for hire, sale or resale within this state;

[(43)] (48) "Telecommunications facilities" includes lines, conduits, ducts, poles, wires, cables, crossarms, receivers, transmitters, instruments, machines, appliances and all devices, real estate, easements, apparatus, property and routes used, operated, controlled, [or] owned or obtained through tariff or contract by any telecommunications company to facilitate the provision of telecommunications service;

[(44)] (49) "Telecommunications service", the transmission of information by wire, radio, optical cable, electronic impulses, or other similar means. As used in this definition, "information" means knowledge or intelligence represented by any form of writing, signs, signals, pictures, sounds, or any other symbols. Telecommunications service does not include:

(a) The rent, sale, lease, or exchange for other value received of customer premises equipment except for customer premises equipment owned by a telephone company certificated or otherwise authorized to provide telephone service prior to September 28, 1987, and provided under tariff or in inventory on January 1, 1983, which must be detariffed no later than December 31, 1987, and thereafter the provision of which shall not be a telecommunications service, and except for customer premises equipment owned or provided by a telecommunications company and used for answering 911 or emergency calls;

(b) Answering services and paging services;

(c) The offering of radio communication services and facilities when such services and facilities are provided under a license granted by the Federal Communications Commission under the public mobile services rules and regulations;

(d) Services provided by a hospital, hotel, motel, or other similar business whose principal service is the provision of temporary lodging through the owning or operating of message switching or billing equipment solely for the purpose of providing at a charge telecommunications services to its temporary patients or guests;

(e) Services provided by a private telecommunications system;

(f) Cable television service; [or]

(g) The installation and maintenance of inside wire within a customer's premises;

(h) Electronic publishing services; or

(i) Services provided by federally licensed radio and television operations;

[(45)] (50) "Telephone cooperative", every corporation defined as a telecommunications company in this section, in which at least ninety percent of those persons and corporations subscribing to receive local telecommunications service from the corporation own at least ninety percent of the corporation's outstanding and issued capital stock and in which no subscriber owns more than two shares of the corporation's outstanding and issued capital stock;

[(46)] (51) "Traffic aggregator", any person, firm, partnership or corporation which furnishes a telephone for use by the public and includes, but is not limited to, telephones located in rooms, offices and similar locations in hotels, motels, hospitals, colleges, universities, airports and public or customer-owned pay telephone locations, whether or not coin operated;

[(47)] (52) "Transitionally competitive telecommunications company", an interexchange telecommunications company which provides any noncompetitive or transitionally competitive telecommunications service, except for an interexchange telecommunications company which provides only noncompetitive telecommunications service;

[(48)] (53) "Transitionally competitive telecommunications service", a telecommunications service offered by a noncompetitive or transitionally competitive telecommunications company and classified as transitionally competitive by the commission pursuant to section 392.361 or 392.370, RSMo;

[(49)] (54) "Transportation of persons" includes every service in connection with or incidental to the safety, comfort or convenience of the person transported and the receipt, carriage and delivery of such person and his baggage;

[(50)] (55) "Transportation of property" includes any service in connection with the receiving, delivery, elevation, transfer in transit, ventilation, refrigeration, icing, storage, and handling of the property transported;

[(51)] (56) "Water corporation" includes every corporation, company, association, joint stock company or association, partnership and person, their lessees, trustees, or receivers appointed by any court whatsoever, owning, operating, controlling or managing any plant or property, dam or water supply, canal, or power station, distributing or selling for distribution, or selling or supplying for gain any water;

[(52)] (57) "Water system" includes all reservoirs, tunnels, shafts, dams, dikes, headgates, pipes, flumes, canals, structures and appliances, and all other real estate, fixtures and personal property, owned, operated, controlled or managed in connection with or to facilitate the diversion, development, storage, supply, distribution, sale, furnishing or carriage of water for municipal, domestic or other beneficial use.

392.180. The provisions of section 386.020, RSMo, defining words, phrases and terms, shall apply to and determine the meaning of all such words, phrases and terms as used in sections 392.190 to [392.360] 392.530.

392.185. The provisions of this chapter shall be construed to:

(1) Promote universally available and widely affordable telecommunications services;

(2) Maintain and advance the efficiency and availability of telecommunications services;

(3) Promote diversity in the supply of telecommunications services and products throughout the state of Missouri;

(4) Ensure that customers pay only reasonable charges for telecommunications service;

(5) Permit flexible regulation of competitive telecommunications companies and competitive telecommunications services; and

(6) Allow full and fair competition to function as a substitute for regulation when consistent with the protection of ratepayers and otherwise consistent with the public interest;

(7) Promote one hundred percent universal subscription to basic local telecommunications service;

(8) Promote parity of urban and rural telecommunications services;

(9) Promote economic, educational, health care and cultural enhancements; and

(10) Protect consumer privacy.

392.201. No telecommunications company may provide electronic publishing services or enter into electronic publishing ventures. However, separate subsidiaries of a telecommunications company may enter into electronic publishing ventures, either jointly or individually, if otherwise consistent with applicable law. As used in this section, "separate subsidiary" means a corporation under common ownership or control with a telecommunications company that does not itself own or control a telecommunications company and which corporation is not owned or controlled by a telecommunications company. In addition to any requirements that might otherwise be required by applicable law or regulation, every telecommunications company operating in this state shall charge to any separate subsidiary, or impute to itself, the same quality, price, terms and conditions for the provision of network information, interconnection, access or transmission services and facilities, used in the provision of electronic publishing services, as it charges to any unaffiliated electronic publisher.

392.245. The commission shall have the authority to ensure that rates, charges, tolls and rentals for telecommunications services are just, reasonable and lawful by employing price cap regulation.

392.248. 1. In order to ensure just, reasonable, and affordable rates for reasonably comparable basic local telecommunications services throughout the state, a fund known as the "Universal Service Fund" is hereby established within the state treasury. Funds deposited in the universal service fund shall not be considered a part of total state revenues pursuant to Article X, Section 17 of the Missouri Constitution, nor shall any balance in the universal service fund be subject to transfer pursuant to section 33.080, RSMo. The commission shall adopt rules governing the operations of the universal service fund. The commission shall also retain an independent neutral administrator who will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the universal service fund. The agency, individual, firm, partnership, or corporation that is selected by the commission as the neutral administrator of the universal service fund may neither contribute to nor receive disbursements from the universal service fund, except as provided in subsection 2. The administrator may not have any financial interest in a telecommunications company, as defined in section 386.020, RSMo. The commission shall cause the books and records of the universal service fund administrator to be independently audited on an annual basis. The independent audit shall be paid for from funds held in the universal service fund.

2. The commission shall adopt and enforce rules to be implemented by the universal service fund administrator, governing the system of funding and disbursing funds from the universal service fund in a manner that does not grant a preference or competitive advantage to any telecommunications company or subject a telecommunications company to prejudice or disadvantage. Funds from the universal service fund shall only be used: (1) to ensure the provision of reasonably comparable basic local telecommunications service, as that definition may be updated by the commission by rule throughout the state including high cost areas, at just, reasonable and affordable rates; (2) to assist low-income customers and disabled customers in obtaining affordable basic telecommunications services; and (3) to pay the reasonable, audited costs of administering the universal service fund.

3. The universal service fund shall be funded through assessments on all telecommunications companies in the state which shall be based on Missouri jurisdictional telecommunications services revenue and other nondiscriminatory factors as determined by the commission. The commission shall establish the level of the universal service fund funding requirement necessary to fund the purposes set forth in subsection 2 of this section. The universal service fund funding requirements shall be paid in accordance with procedures approved by the commission. A telecommunications company that fails to pay an assessment that is due and payable pursuant to this section shall have its certificate revoked after notice and hearing.

4. To facilitate provision of basic local telecommunications service, the commission shall determine whether and to what extent any telecommunications company in the state providing basic local telecommunications service in any part of the state, shall be eligible to receive funding. Eligibility shall be determined as follows: (1) A telecommunications company's eligibility to receive support for high cost areas from the universal service fund shall be conditioned upon the telecommunications company offering basic local telecommunications service throughout an entire high cost area and having carrier of last resort obligations in that high cost area; and (2) A telecommunications company's eligibility to receive support to assist low income customers and disabled customers shall be conditioned on the company's providing basic local telecommunications services to such customers pursuant to the discounted rate established by the commission for such customers. Distributions from the universal service fund shall be made by the universal service fund administrator in accordance with rules approved by the commission.

5. In determining whether, and to what extent, universal service fund funding is required to facilitate provision of basic local telecommunications service, the commission shall:

(1) Determine the definition of basic local telecommunications service no later than August 28, 1997, and consider revision of the definition on a periodic basis not to exceed every three years thereafter, with the goal that every citizen of this state shall have access to a wider range of services, that are reasonably comparable between urban and rural areas, at rates that are reasonably comparable between urban and rural areas;

(2) Upon request from an eligible telecommunications company for assistance from the universal service fund for a high cost area, determine if the high cost area qualifies for assistance from the universal service fund. Such request shall be made no more than once every three years for a given high cost area;

(3) Determine for each requesting, eligible local exchange telecommunications company, by high cost area, the costs of providing basic local telecommunications services in those high cost areas and establish support payments necessary to such companies to ensure just, reasonable and affordable rates for basic telecommunications service. Such support payments shall expire after three years and may be renewed upon request as set out in subdivision (2) of this subsection;

(4) Establish a standard to determine whether and to what extent particular end-user customers may be eligible for assistance in paying for basic local telecommunications service.

6. Nothing in this section shall require the commission, the universal service fund administrator, or any other person or agency to take any actions that are inconsistent with federal statutes, administrative rules, or court decisions concerning provision of basic local telecommunications service.

7. The commission may do all things necessary and convenient to implement and administer the universal service fund.

392.410. 1. A telecommunications company not possessing a certificate of public convenience and necessity from the commission at the time this section goes into effect shall have not more than ninety days in which to apply for a certificate of service authority from the commission pursuant to this chapter unless a company holds a state charter issued in or prior to the year 1913 which charter authorizes a company to engage in the telephone business. No telecommunications company not exempt from this subsection shall transact any business in this state until it shall have obtained a certificate of service authority from the commission pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, except that any telecommunications company which is providing telecommunications service on September 28, 1987, and which has not been granted or denied a certificate of public convenience and necessity prior to September 28, 1987, may continue to provide that service exempt from all other requirements of this chapter until a certificate of service authority is granted or denied by the commission so long as the telecommunications company applies for a certificate of service authority within ninety days from September 28, 1987.

2. No telecommunications company offering or providing, or seeking to offer or provide, any interexchange telecommunications service shall do so until it has applied for and received a certificate of interexchange service authority pursuant to the provisions of subsection 1 of this section. No telecommunications company offering or providing, or seeking to offer or provide, any local exchange telecommunications service shall do so until it has applied for and received a certificate of local exchange service authority pursuant to the provisions of section 392.420.

3. No certificate of service authority issued by the commission[, except a grant of authority to provide basic local telecommunications service,] shall be construed as granting a monopoly or exclusive privilege, immunity or franchise. The issuance of a certificate of service authority to any telecommunications company shall not preclude the commission from issuing additional certificates of service authority to another telecommunications company providing the same or equivalent service or serving the same geographical area or customers as any previously certified company, except to the extent otherwise provided by section 392.450.

4. Any certificate of public convenience and necessity granted by the commission to a telecommunications company prior to September 28, 1987, shall remain in full force and effect unless modified by the commission, and such companies need not apply for a certificate of service authority in order to continue offering or providing service to the extent authorized in such certificate of public convenience and necessity. Any such carrier, however, prior to substantially altering the nature or scope of services provided under a certificate of public convenience and necessity, or adding or expanding services beyond the authority contained in such certificate, must apply for a certificate of service authority for such alterations or additions pursuant to the provisions of this section.

5. The commission may review and modify the terms of any certificate of public convenience and necessity issued to a telecommunications company prior to September 28, 1987, in order to ensure its conformity with the requirements and policies of this chapter. Any certificate of service authority may be altered or modified by the commission after notice and hearing, upon its own motion or upon application of the person or company affected. Unless exercised within a period of one year from the issuance thereof, authority conferred by a certificate of service authority or a certificate of public convenience and necessity shall be null and void.

6. The commission may issue a temporary certificate which shall remain in force not to exceed one year to assure maintenance of adequate service or to serve particular customers, without notice and hearing, pending the determination of an application for a certificate.

392.450. The commission shall approve an application for a certificate of local exchange service authority to provide basic local telecommunications service or for the resale of basic local telecommunications service only upon a showing by the applicant, and a finding by the commission, after notice and hearing that:

[(1) The applicant possesses sufficient technical, financial and managerial resources and abilities to provide basic local telecommunications service; and

(2) Reasonably safe and adequate service is not being offered by the principal provider of basic local telecommunications service.]

(1) For exchanges served at the time of application by large local exchange telecommunications companies, the applicant has complied with the certification process established pursuant to section 392.455;

(2) For exchanges served at the time of application by small local exchange telecommunications companies, that certification of a new applicant in an exchange or exchanges is in the public interest and that the applicant has complied with the certification procedures established pursuant to section 392.455.

392.455. Upon enactment of this section, the commission shall immediately begin a proceeding to establish a basic local telecommunications certification process. The commission may grant certificates to new entrants to provide basic local telecommunications service on a common carriage basis, subject to the provisions of sections 392.380 and 392.390. Such process shall include, but not be limited to:

(1) A requirement that the applicant possess sufficient technical, financial and managerial resources and abilities to provide basic local telecommunications service;

(2) A requirement that the applicant demonstrate that the services it proposes to offer satisfy the minimum standards established by the commission;

(3) A requirement that the applicant set forth the geographic area in which it proposes to offer service and demonstrate that such area follows exchange boundaries and is no smaller than an exchange;

(4) A requirement that all providers must offer basic local telecommunications service as a separate and distinct service;

(5) A requirement that the commission give due consideration to the equitable access for all Missourians, regardless of where they live or their income, to affordable telecommunications services.

392.530. [1. The provisions of this chapter shall be construed to:

(1) Promote universally available and widely affordable telecommunications services;

(2) Maintain and advance the efficiency and availability of telecommunications services;

(3) Promote diversity in the supply of telecommunications services and products throughout the state of Missouri;

(4) Ensure that customers pay only reasonable charges for telecommunications service;

(5) Permit flexible regulation of competitive telecommunications companies and competitive telecommunications services; and

(6) Allow full and fair competition to function as a substitute for regulation when consistent with the protection of ratepayers and otherwise consistent with the public interest.

2.] Sections 392.361 to 392.520 are enacted in part to clarify and specify the law existing prior to September 28, 1987. Any specific grant of authority to the commission contained in those provisions shall not be construed as indicating or meaning that the commission did not possess such authority under the law existing prior to September 28, 1987.