Electric
Telecommunications
Cable
Gas
Water
Renewables & EfficiencyTelecommunications Division
The Telecommunications Division is charged with implementing the statutory telecommunications policy objectives of the State of Vermont, which include:
- Supporting the universal availability of appropriate infrastructure and affordable services for transmitting voice and high-speed data.
- Supporting the availability of modern mobile wireless telecommunications services along the state's travel corridors and in the state's communities.
- Providing for high-quality, reliable telecommunications services for Vermont businesses and residents.
- Providing the benefits of future advances in telecommunications technologies to Vermont residents and businesses.
- Supporting competitive choice for consumers among telecommunications service providers.
- Supporting the application of telecommunications technology to maintain and improve governmental and public services, public safety, and the economic development of the state.
The Telecom Division reviews all tariffs filed by telecom carriers to introduce new services or to modify terms and conditions upon which services are offered. The Telecom Division works with carriers and the PSB to implement rate design changes as underlying costs change. In recent years, those changes have included: eliminating surcharges for touch-tone capability, reducing in-state toll service rates, reducing wholesale access charges, expanding local calling areas, and decreasing monthly charges for basic exchange service.
The Telecom Division assists the Board in developing and implementing policies and procedures to remove barriers competition in all telecommunications markets, addressing regulatory changes required by state and federal legislation, and resolving disputes between carriers over competitive issues, such as the extent of one carrier's obligations to lease elements of their network to a competing carrier.
Other projects include evaluating and advocating for improved reliability and diversity of carriers' networks, crafting alternative regulation plans for specific companies; and working with the Board and carriers to design a non-dominant carriers' regulatory framework in which tariff filings and Board review of various corporate financing and restructuring transactions would be streamlined or waived or companies that operate in fully competitive markets.
Cable Television
Under Vermont law, the Public Service Board is the "local franchising
authority" for cable television systems operating in Vermont. Most
cable television franchises are issued for an eleven-year term. (A few,
older franchises have no expiration date. The Telecom Division prepares
and presents the Department's recommendations concerning the terms on which
cable franchises should be renewed or transferred to other companies. Among
other tasks, the Telecom Division monitors cable operators' compliance with
various franchise requirements, such as extension of cable service to unserved
areas and adequate support for public access television. The Telecom Division
also works with cable operators to interpret franchise requirements and
to revise or streamline reporting processes.
More telecommunications resources