The Idaho Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has ruled that the leasing of "dark" optical fibers in telecommunications cable facilities owned by Idaho Power Co. does not make it a telecommunications carrier under state law because the utility would not transmit data.
Nevertheless, the PUC added that the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 might require future investigation of: 1) whether the utility should make its facilities available to other providers of telecommunications service, and 2) issues relating to universal service fund support of the state's telecommunications network. Re Idaho Power Co., Case No. IPC-E-96-9, Order No. 26514, July 11, 1996 (Idaho P.U.C.).
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