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Home » US Law » 2022 Massachusetts General Laws » Part I - Administration of the Government » Title XXII - Corporations » Chapter 166 - Telephone and Telegraph Companies, and Lines for the Transmission of Electricity

Section 11 – Annual Return

Section 11. Every telephone or telegraph company doing business in the commonwealth shall annually, on or before March thirty-first or such subsequent date as the department of telecommunications and cable, for good cause shown in any case, may fix, file with said department a report of its doings for the year ending December thirty-first preceding, […]

Section 12 – Failure to Make Annual Return; Penalty

Section 12. Any such company neglecting to make the annual return required by the preceding section shall, for the first fifteen days or portion thereof during which such neglect continues, forfeit five dollars a day; for the second fifteen days or any portion thereof, ten dollars a day; and for each day thereafter a sum […]

Section 12a – Condensed Return of Business and Financial Condition

Section 12A. Every company subject to the requirements of section eleven shall file with the department, with its annual return required under said section, a condensed return of its business and financial condition, in such form and with such detail as the department requires, signed and sworn to by the treasurer and by the chief […]

Section 13 – Telephone Companies; Connections With Exchanges; Equal Facilities for All Companies; Definition of ''person'' or ''company''

Section 13. A person owning, controlling or operating a telephone exchange or service in the commonwealth shall, upon application of a telegraph company, furnish such company with the use of telephones and telephone service, and connection with his exchanges, with the subscribers thereto, and with his telephone service, without discrimination between telegraph companies as to […]

Section 14a – Enhanced 911 Service

Section 14A. (a) In order to establish statewide enhanced 911 service, upon the written request of the state 911 department, established by section 18B of chapter 6A, hereinafter referred to as the department, each telephone company providing local exchange service in the commonwealth shall provide and maintain enhanced 911 service in compliance with a schedule […]

Section 15a – Entitlement to Hand Sets as Station Equipment

Section 15A. A telephone company, upon request therefor by a subscriber who has paid to such company, for a period of not less than thirty-six months, an extra charge for the use of a hand telephone set, so called, furnished to him by such company, in lieu of a wall or desk set, shall continue […]

Section 15b – Sales and Transfers to Similar Corporations

Section 15B. A corporation organized under the laws of the commonwealth for the transmission of intelligence by electricity or by telephone, whether by electricity or otherwise, hereinafter called the vendor corporation, may, pursuant to a vote of stockholders owning not less than two thirds of its capital stock, at a meeting duly called for the […]

Section 15e – Definitions; Required Equipment and Services for Disabled Subscribers; Advisory Committee on Disabled Persons' Accessibility to Telephone Service

Section 15E. (a) As used in this section, the following words shall, unless the context requires otherwise, have the following meanings:— ”Captioned telephone”, an amplified telecommunications device with a text display that permits the user to both listen to what is said over the telephone and simultaneously read captions of what the other person is […]

Section 16 – Receipt and Transmission of Despatches

Section 16. A telegraph company shall receive despatches from and for other telegraph companies and associations, and from and for any person; and, upon payment of the usual charges for transmitting despatches according to the regulations of the company, shall transmit them faithfully and impartially.

Section 17 – Rates to Other Telegraph Companies or by Mail

Section 17. A telegraph company shall receive, compute and transmit despatches received at its offices from another telegraph company or by mail, at the same rates of charge as for despatches received for transmission from individuals on the same day and at the same place.

Section 18 – Violations; Penalties

Section 18. A telegraph company which wilfully neglects or refuses to comply with any provision of the two preceding sections shall forfeit not more than one hundred dollars to the company or person who sends or desires to send the despatch.

Section 19 – Liability for Negligent Transmission; Claim; Exceptions

Section 19. A telegraph company shall be liable for damages to the amount of one hundred dollars actually caused by its negligence, or that of its agents, in transmitting, receiving or delivering telegraphic messages, and any limit of such liability by contract or regulation shall apply only to the damages in each case in excess […]

Section 2 – Debt Limitation

Section 2. Such company shall not at any time contract or owe debts to a larger amount than one half of its capital stock actually paid in.

Section 20 – Indication of Time Filed and Received on Addressee's Copy

Section 20. Every person engaged in the business of transmitting communications by telegraph in the commonwealth and charging tolls therefor, shall cause to appear plainly upon the addressee’s copy of every telegram originating at and destined for a point within the commonwealth, the hour and minute of the day on which it was filed for […]