Five rural telephone companies prevailed last week in a ruling by the Maine Public Utilities Commission, which rejected an effort by Time Warner Cable to terminate the so-called “rural exemption” under the national Telecommunications Act.

Four of the small telephone companies, including Lincolnville Networks, Tidewater Telecom, Oxford Telephone Company and Oxford West Telephone Company, which serve rural parts of Maine, were represented in the legal procedings by Preti Flaherty law firm.

Time Warner Cable sought to end the exemption in order to more easily bring its digital phone service to portions of the areas serviced by the local companies, a written release from Preti Flaherty said. “The decision of the Maine PUC may signal a change to a history of the Rural Exemption being seldom upheld by state regulators,” the firm wrote.

In its ruling, the PUC explained it was concerned about the economic effect on the small rural companies and on their ability to continue to serve all customers at reasonable rates, the reason Congress passed the federal law in 1996.