(220 ILCS 5/13-401) (from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 13-401)

(Section scheduled to be repealed on December 31, 2026)

Sec. 13-401. Certificate of Service Authority.

(a) No telecommunications carrier not possessing a certificate of public convenience and necessity or certificate of authority from the Commission at the time this Article goes into effect shall transact any business in this State until it shall have obtained a certificate of service authority from the Commission pursuant to the provisions of this Article.

No telecommunications carrier offering or providing, or seeking to offer or provide, any interexchange telecommunications service shall do so until it has applied for and received a Certificate of Interexchange Service Authority pursuant to the provisions of Section 13-403. No telecommunications carrier offering or providing, or seeking to offer or provide, any local exchange telecommunications service shall do so until it has applied for and received a Certificate of Exchange Service Authority pursuant to the provisions of Section 13-405.

Notwithstanding Sections 13-403, 13-404, and 13-405, the Commission shall approve a cellular radio application for a Certificate of Service Authority without a hearing upon a showing by the cellular applicant that the Federal Communications Commission has issued to it a construction permit or an operating license to construct or operate a cellular radio system in the area as defined by the Federal Communications Commission, or portion of the area, for which the carrier seeks a Certificate of Service Authority.

No Certificate of Service Authority issued by the Commission shall be construed as granting a monopoly or exclusive privilege, immunity or franchise. The issuance of a Certificate of Service Authority to any telecommunications carrier shall not preclude the Commission from issuing additional Certificates of Service Authority to other telecommunications carriers providing the same or equivalent service or serving the same geographical area or customers as any previously certified carrier, except to the extent otherwise provided by Sections 13-403 and 13-405.

Any certificate of public convenience and necessity granted by the Commission to a telecommunications carrier prior to the effective date of this Article shall remain in full force and effect, and such carriers need not apply for a Certificate of Service Authority in order to continue offering or providing service to the extent authorized in such certificate of public convenience and necessity. Any such carrier, however, prior to substantially altering the nature or scope of services provided under a certificate of public convenience and necessity, or adding or expanding services beyond the authority contained in such certificate, must apply for a Certificate of Service Authority for such alterations or additions pursuant to the provisions of this Article.

The Commission shall review and modify the terms of any certificate of public convenience and necessity issued to a telecommunications carrier prior to the effective date of this Article in order to ensure its conformity with the requirements and policies of this Article. Any Certificate of Service Authority may be altered or modified by the Commission, after notice and hearing, upon its own motion or upon application of the person or company affected. Unless exercised within a period of two years from the issuance thereof, authority conferred by a Certificate of Service Authority shall be null and void.

(b) The Commission may issue a temporary Certificate which shall remain in force not to exceed one year in cases of emergency, to assure maintenance of adequate service or to serve particular customers, without notice and hearing, pending the determination of an application for a Certificate, and may by regulation exempt from the requirements of this Section temporary acts or operations for which the issuance of a certificate is not necessary in the public interest and which will not be required therefor.

(Source: P.A. 100-20, eff. 7-1-17.)