Appeal of Omni Communications, Inc.

Omni Communications, Inc., appeals from the public utilities commission’s (PUC) denial of its petition for permission to tie its radio-paging system into telephone lines in New Hampshire. We hold that the PUC has no authority to regulate the use of radio pagers.

Omni Communications, Inc. d/b/a Page Call (Omni) is a Massachusetts corporation which is attempting to extend its paging or “beeper” service into New Hampshire. A “beeper” system enables a person wishing to contact another person to dial a telephone number which has been assigned by the paging company and is connected with the paging…