Rules & Regulations of the State of Tennessee
Title 1220 - Tennessee Public Utility Commission
Subtitle 1220-04 - Division of Public Utilities
Chapter 1220-04-06 - Ten Year Master Plan for Technology Deployment by Telephone Companies
Section 1220-04-06-.01 - PURPOSE

(1) Digital switching and fiber optic transmission systems are only the most visible elements of ever more complex and capable telecommunications systems. These technologies can support a wide variety of new services if widely deployed. Interactive two-way video services for education; high resolution, high speed color facsimile for medical and other commercial applications as well as for home shopping; high definition television, with movies on demand; high speed data communications services for business use; caller identification services; video telephone; secure voice; and user friendly, responsive home information services can be offered if equipment embodying these new technologies is put in place. Wide development is essential if the full benefit of such services is to be realized since telecommunications services often involve pairwise interactions and become most valuable when the number of users is large.

(2) The Tennessee Regulatory Authority, in exercising its responsibility to regulate telecommunications service in the State of Tennessee, has reexamined the current approach to regulation and deployment of new technology. The result is a Ten Year Master Plan for Technology Deployment that will serve as a platform for new service capabilities into Tennessee and as a guide for reinvesting some of the expected benefits of the Authority's regulatory reform policy.

(3) A report containing the Master Plan is on file at the Authority. The report also contains an assessment of current market needs, an evaluation of the existing telecommunications network as well as network currently planed by Tennessee's telephone companies, and a technological forecast.