The Authority shall hold a hearing on all petitions for the provision of extended local calling between contiguous exchanges to determine if the following requirements are satisfied:

1. (1) That the petition in all respects satisfies the criteria set forth in Section 16-1-120;
2. (2) That the toll messages on the route requested average greater than or equal to four (4) calls per customer per month from the petitioning exchange over a six month period;

3. (3) That a previous petition has not been rejected nor a subscriber vote conducted in the 18-month period prior to the petition.

   Provided, however, that if a petition for a contiguous route encompasses two or more exchanges serving the same regional school district and said petition is sponsored by the superintendent for that district or the chief administrative officer for any town served by said district, or encompasses two or more exchanges in a split town; or is from an exchange in the lowest exchange classification; the requirement that the number of toll calls per customer per month exceed any given level need not be met.

(Effective June 12, 1980)