A. Except as otherwise provided in the Rural Telecommunications Act of New Mexico or the federal act, each public telecommunications service is declared to be affected with the public interest and, as such, subject to the provisions of those acts, including the regulation thereof as provided in those acts.
B. The commission has exclusive jurisdiction to regulate incumbent rural telecommunications carriers only in the manner and to the extent authorized by the Rural Telecommunications Act of New Mexico, and Section 63-7-1.1 NMSA 1978 does not apply; provided, however, that the commission's jurisdiction includes the regulation of wholesale rates, including access charges and interconnection agreements consistent with federal law and its enforcement and a determination of participation in low-income telephone service assistance programs pursuant to the Low Income Telephone Service Assistance Act [Chapter 63, Article 9C NMSA 1978].
C. The commission shall adopt rules consistent with the requirement for relaxed regulation for incumbent rural telecommunications carriers set forth in the Rural Telecommunications Act of New Mexico that provide for:
(1) reduced filing requirements for applicants in rate increase proceedings under the Rural Telecommunications Act of New Mexico and proceedings under that act seeking payments from the fund; and
(2) expedited consideration in all proceedings initiated pursuant to the Rural Telecommunications Act of New Mexico in order to reduce the cost and burden for incumbent rural telecommunications carriers and other applicants.
History: Laws 1999, ch. 295, § 4; 2013, ch. 194, § 3.
ANNOTATIONSThe 2013 amendment, effective June 14, 2013, provided for the adoption of rules for the relaxed regulation of incumbent rural telecommunications carriers; in Subsection B, after "jurisdiction to regulate", added "incumbent"; and added Subsection C.