(a) Application. This section applies to any electing
company as the term is defined in the Public Utility Regulatory Act
(PURA) §58.002. Other sections applicable to an electing company
include, but are not limited to, §26.224 of this title (relating
to Requirements Applicable to Basic Network Services for Chapter 58
Electing Companies), §26.226 of this title (relating to Requirements
Applicable to Pricing Flexibility for Chapter 58 Electing Companies),
and §26.227 of this title (relating to Procedures Applicable
to Nonbasic Services and Pricing Flexibility for Basic and Nonbasic
Services for Chapter 58 Electing Companies). PURA §55.003 and §55.004
do not apply to the retail services offered by an electing company,
or to the retail nonbasic services offered by a transitioning company,
as defined by PURA §65.002.
(b) Purpose. The purpose of this section is to establish
requirements for nonbasic services.
(c) Nonbasic services.
(1) Consistent with PURA §58.151 and §58.024,
these services are nonbasic services:
(A) flat rate business local exchange telephone service,
including primary directory listings and the receipt of a directory,
and any applicable mileage or zone;
(B) business tone dialing service;
(C) service connection for all business services;
(D) direct inward dialing (DID) for basic business
services;
(E) public pay telephone services, 0+ and 0- operator
services and directory assistance services;
(F) call forwarding, call return, caller identification,
call waiting and other custom calling services and call control options,
except that residential call waiting is a basic network service until
July 1, 2006;
(G) speed dialing and three-way calling;
(H) central office based PBX-type services;
(I) billing and collection services, including installment
billing and late payment plans for electing company customers;
(J) integrated services digital network (ISDN) services;
(K) new services;
(L) 1-plus intraLATA message toll service (MTS);
(M) services described in the WATS tariff of an electing
company as the tariff existed on January 1, 1995;
(N) 800 service and foreign exchange service;
(O) private line services and special access services;
(P) paging services and mobile services (IMTS);
(Q) 911 service provided to a local authority, if the
service is available from a provider other than the electing company;
(R) all other services subject to the commission's
jurisdiction that are not specifically classified as basic network
services in PURA §58.051;
(S) any basic network service reclassified by the commission
as a nonbasic service pursuant to PURA §58.024.
(2) Consistent with PURA §58.155, neither interconnection
to competitive providers nor interconnection for commercial mobile
service providers is addressed in this section.
(d) Substantive requirements. An electing company that
seeks to introduce or modify rates, terms or conditions of a nonbasic
service tariff shall follow the substantive requirements in this section
and the procedural requirements in §26.227 of this title. Additionally,
an electing company that seeks to flexibly price a nonbasic service
shall follow the requirements in §26.226 of this title.
(1) Pricing standards. The price of a nonbasic service
may not be preferential, prejudicial, discriminatory, predatory, or
anticompetitive.
(A) Price ceilings. This subparagraph specifies the
price ceilings for certain nonbasic services. Except as specified
in this subparagraph, nonbasic services have no price ceiling.
(i) Until September 1, 2005, a nonbasic service listed
in subsection (c)(1)(A) - (D) of this section shall be priced at or
below the price in effect on September 1, 1999.
(ii) Until September 1, 2005, a Basic Rate Interface
(BRI) ISDN service, which comprises up to two 64 Kbps B-channels and
one 16 Kbps D-channel, shall be priced at or below the price in effect
on September 1, 1999.
(iii) An electing company shall provide to a residential
customer the first three local directory assistance inquiries in a
monthly billing cycle at a maximum price of zero dollars ($.00) until
July 1, 2006.
(iv) Consistent with PURA §58.302, switched access
services shall be priced at or below the lesser of the rates in effect
on September 1, 1999, or the applicable rates described in PURA §58.301
as those rates were further reduced when the Texas universal service
fund was implemented on July 1, 2000.
(B) Price floors. A price that is set at or above the
long run incremental cost of providing a service is presumed not to
be a predatory price. The long run incremental cost of a nonbasic
service must be established before the price floor of a nonbasic service
can be determined, pursuant to PURA §58.152. Establishment of
a long run incremental cost requires commission approval of a cost
study prepared by an electing company pursuant to the standards in §26.214
of this title (relating to Long Run Incremental Cost (LRIC) Methodology
for Services Provided by Certain Incumbent Local Exchange Companies
(ILECS)) or §26.215 of this title (relating to Long Run Incremental
Cost Methodology for Dominant Certificated Telecommunications Utility
(DCTU) Services), as applicable. Any application to establish or modify
a long run incremental cost shall be filed by an electing company
with the commission's Filing Clerk on or before the date a related
informational notice is filed. Such an application shall be filed
separately from the related informational notice. The minimum price
of a nonbasic service shall be the lesser of:
(i) the price for the service in effect on September
1, 1999, except that this clause shall not be considered for services
that had either a rate of zero or no existing rate on September 1,
1999; or
(ii) the long run incremental cost of the service in
accordance with the imputation rules and requirements prescribed by
or under PURA, Chapter 60, Subchapter D.
(2) Separately tariffed services. Any nonbasic service
offered by an electing company to customers as a component of a package
or other pricing flexibility offering shall also be offered by the
electing company as a separately tariffed service.
(e) New service.
(1) A new service, as the term is defined in §26.5
of this title (relating to Definitions), is a nonbasic service under
subsection (c)(1)(K) of this section.
(2) To introduce a new service tariff, an electing
company shall follow the requirements in this section and the procedures
in §26.227 of this title. If a new service is offered by an electing
company as a component of a package, the new service shall also be
offered as a separately tariffed service and the separately tariffed
service shall be subject to the pricing standards in subsection (d)
of this section.
(3) A package of services that includes one or more
new services and one or more existing services shall not be considered
a new service. To introduce such a package, an electing company shall
follow the requirements in this section, the requirements in §26.226
of this title and the procedures in §26.227 of this title.
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