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23-17-120. Establishment of calling plans.
Arkansas Code — all titles (historical 2020) · legal_authorities
23-17-120. Establishment of calling plans.
(a)(1) The Arkansas Public Service Commission by rule shall establish calling plans in telephone exchanges in the state.
(2) The commission shall determine the size of exchanges that will be eligible for the calling plan.
(b)(1) The commission may establish end-user charges for the plan in an amount not to exceed two dollars and fifty cents ($2.50) per month per access line to be applied in the affected exchanges. In addition the commission may establish usage-based charges or other end-user charges as appropriate to fund the plan.
(2) The plan shall be funded by customer charges under subdivision (b)(1) of this section and by the Arkansas Calling Plan Fund established by § 23-17-404(e).
(c) The plan may vary among telephone exchanges based on factors determined by the commission.
(d) In establishing the calling plan, the commission shall consider basic local exchange rates, calling scopes, the ability of customers to call the county seat, access to industry and business, the cost of providing the calling plan, and the availability of funding from the Arkansas Calling Plan Fund.
(e) The plan provided to different telephone exchanges may vary in minutes in the plan and the cost to customers for the plan and may be either mandatory or optional plans.
(f) Any mandatory plan shall be subject to approval through a balloting process by the customers of the exchanges that would be subject to the monthly end-user charge associated with the proposed plan. A minimum of fifty-one percent (51%) of the ballots returned must be in favor of the proposed calling plan in order for the proposed calling plan to be implemented.
(g)(1) Incumbent local exchange carriers shall not be entitled to Arkansas Universal Service Fund [supe
Source: Arkansas Code — historical release 78 (November 6, 2020) · 23-17-120
Stored review status: Historical 2020-11-06 source release; later amendments not reconciled; machine-extracted, not independently legally reviewed; source heading status: text_in_historical_source. A text match is a research starting point; applicability is not established.
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Record provenance
Stable record: arkansas_code:legal_authorities:23-17-120
Source file: gov.ar.code.title.23.odt
Pages: Not recorded – Not recorded
Passage SHA-256: 8a4c8a3d4deb6dd91306a3156acd5d7d62b04fad2eae3210cd17b3171a5f249c
Source location: content.xml paragraph 11746
Stored source content
23-17-120. Establishment of calling plans.
(a)(1) The Arkansas Public Service Commission by rule shall establish calling plans in telephone exchanges in the state.
(2) The commission shall determine the size of exchanges that will be eligible for the calling plan.
(b)(1) The commission may establish end-user charges for the plan in an amount not to exceed two dollars and fifty cents ($2.50) per month per access line to be applied in the affected exchanges. In addition the commission may establish usage-based charges or other end-user charges as appropriate to fund the plan.
(2) The plan shall be funded by customer charges under subdivision (b)(1) of this section and by the Arkansas Calling Plan Fund established by § 23-17-404(e).
(c) The plan may vary among telephone exchanges based on factors determined by the commission.
(d) In establishing the calling plan, the commission shall consider basic local exchange rates, calling scopes, the ability of customers to call the county seat, access to industry and business, the cost of providing the calling plan, and the availability of funding from the Arkansas Calling Plan Fund.
(e) The plan provided to different telephone exchanges may vary in minutes in the plan and the cost to customers for the plan and may be either mandatory or optional plans.
(f) Any mandatory plan shall be subject to approval through a balloting process by the customers of the exchanges that would be subject to the monthly end-user charge associated with the proposed plan. A minimum of fifty-one percent (51%) of the ballots returned must be in favor of the proposed calling plan in order for the proposed calling plan to be implemented.
(g)(1) Incumbent local exchange carriers shall not be entitled to Arkansas Universal Service Fund [superseded] recovery for lost toll revenues associated with the implementation of these calling plans.
(2) In establishing the plans, the commission is required to ensure that all costs to incumbent local exchange carriers of implementing such plans, including, but not limited to, lost toll and access revenues, network and equipment costs, and costs incurred to terminate associated plan traffic are fully compensated by the combination of end-user charges and funds provided to each incumbent local exchange carrier from the Arkansas Calling Plan Fund.
(3) Lost toll revenues shall be determined by a two-month study of actual toll usage and revenues for traffic on the proposed route.
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Arkansas Code — all titles (historical 2020) · legal_authorities
23-17-404. Preservation and promotion of universal service.
(a)(1) The Arkansas High Cost Fund (AHCF) is established by this section in order to promote and assure the availability of universal service at rates that are reasonable and affordable and to provide for reasonably comparable services and rates between rural and urban areas.
(2) The AHCF shall provide funding to an eligible telecommunications carrier that provides basic local exchange services and other supported services using its own facilities or a combination of its own facilities and another carrier's facilities by the eligible telecommunications carrier within its study area.
(3) The AHCF shall be designed to provide predictable, sufficient, and sustainable funding to eligible telecommunications carriers serving rural or high-cost areas of the state.
(4) The AHCF shall also be used to accelerate and promote the incremental extension and expansion of broadband services and other advanced services in rural or high-cost areas of the state beyond what would normally occur and support the Lifeline Assistance Program to eligible low-income customers.
(b)(1) The AHCF is to provide a mechanism to restructure the present system of telecommunication service rates in the state as provided herein, and all telecommunications providers, except as prohibited by federal law, shall be charged for the direct and indirect value inherent in the obtaining and preserving of reasonable and comparable access to telecommunications services in the rural or high-cost areas. The value and utility of access to and interconnection with the public switched network will be lessened if the rural or high-cost areas do not have comparable access and subscribership.
(2)(A)(i) This AHCF charge for all telecommunications provider
Source: Arkansas Code — historical release 78 (November 6, 2020) · 23-17-404
Stored review status: Historical 2020-11-06 source release; later amendments not reconciled; machine-extracted, not independently legally reviewed; source heading status: text_in_historical_source. The source passage cites 23-17-404. This identifies an authority to review, not proof of applicability.