§ 54-4-12. Telegraph and telephone -- Connections -- Joint rates -- Division of costs.

     Whenever the commission shall find, after a hearing, that a physical connection can reasonably be made between the lines of two or more telephone corporations, or two or more telegraph corporations, whose lines can be made to form a continuous line of communication by the construction and maintenance of suitable connections for the transfer of messages or conversations, and that public convenience and necessity will be subserved thereby, or shall find that two or more telegraph or telephone corporations have failed to establish joint rates, tolls or charges for service by or over their said lines and that joint rates, tolls or charges ought to be established, the commission may, by its order, require that such connection be made, except where the purpose of such connection is primarily to secure the transmission of local messages or conversations between points within the same city or town, and that conversations be transmitted and messages transferred over such connections under such rules and regulations as the commission may establish and prescribe, and that through lines and joint rates, tolls and charges be made and be used, observed and be in force in the future. If such telephone or telegraph corporations do not agree upon the division between themselves of the cost of such physical connection or connections, or upon the division of the joint rates, tolls or charges established by the commission over such through lines, the commission shall have authority, after a further hearing, to establish such division by supplemental order.

No Change Since 1953