Sec. 162.122.  POWERS RELATING TO PROVISION OF COMMUNICATION SERVICE.  (a)  A telephone cooperative may:
(1)  furnish and improve communication service to its members, to governmental agencies and political subdivisions, to any number of subscribers of other communication systems through interconnection of facilities, and to any number of users through pay stations;
(2)  connect and interconnect its communication lines, facilities, or systems with other communication lines, facilities, or systems;
(3)  make its facilities available to persons furnishing communication service inside or outside this state;  and
(4)  construct, maintain, and operate a communication line along, on, under, or across publicly owned land or a public thoroughfare, subject to the same restrictions and obligations that apply to an electric transmission cooperative under Subchapter C, Chapter 181.
(b)  A telephone cooperative that acquires communication facilities may continue to furnish service to a person who is already receiving service from those facilities without requiring the person to become a member, but the person may become a member on the terms prescribed by the bylaws.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.