(a) Application. This section applies to incumbent
local exchange companies (ILECs), as defined in the Public Utility
Regulatory Act (PURA) §51.002(3), with markets deregulated pursuant
to PURA Chapter 65 who choose to offer services through one-day informational
notice filings pursuant to PURA §§65.151 - 65.153. Except
as provided in subsection (i) of this section, a transitioning company,
as defined in PURA §65.002(5), which does not choose to offer
services through a one-day informational notice filing must either
offer services through ten-day informational notice filings pursuant
to §§26.227 - 26.229 of this title (relating to Costs, Rates
and Tariffs) or through filings pursuant to §§26.207 - 26.211
of this title (relating to Costs, Rates and Tariffs).
(b) Purpose. The purpose of this section is to establish
the requirements for a transitioning ILEC that chooses to provide
an informational notice to introduce new services, and/or to exercise
pricing flexibility for basic and non-basic retail telecommunications
services, and to outline the procedures for processing complaints
regarding service offerings introduced by such informational notice
filings.
(c) Pricing standards.
(1) In a market that remains regulated, the transitioning
ILEC shall price its retail services in accordance with the provisions
as set forth in §§26.224 - 26.226 of this title (relating
to Costs, Rates and Tariffs).
(2) In a deregulated market, the transitioning ILEC
shall price its retail services as follows:
(A) for all services, other than residential service,
at a price equal to or higher than the service's long run incremental
costs (LRIC); and
(B) for basic local telecommunications service, at
any price higher than the lesser of the service's LRIC or the tariffed
price on the date the market was deregulated.
(3) Notwithstanding any other long-run incremental
cost filing requirements in this subchapter, a transitioning company,
upon written notice to the commission, is not required to comply with
a direct or indirect requirement to price a residential service at,
above, or according to the long-run incremental cost of the service
or to otherwise use long-run incremental cost in establishing prices
for residential services or to file with the commission a long-run
incremental cost study for any service.
(4) Notwithstanding paragraphs (2) and (3) of this
subsection, a transitioning company may not:
(A) establish a retail rate, term, or condition that
is anticompetitive or unreasonably preferential, prejudicial, or discriminatory;
(B) establish a retail rate for a basic or non-basic
service in a deregulated market that is subsidized either directly
or indirectly by a basic or non-basic service provided in an exchange
that is not deregulated; or
(C) engage in predatory pricing or attempt to engage
in predatory pricing. A rate or price for a basic local telecommunications
service is not anticompetitive, predatory, or unreasonably preferential,
prejudicial, or discriminatory if the rate or price is equal to or
greater than the rate or price in the transitioning company's tariff,
or price list, for that service in effect on the date the transitioning
company submits notice to the commission under paragraph (3) of this
subsection.
(5) In each deregulated market, a transitioning company
shall make available to all residential customers throughout that
market the same price, terms, and conditions for all basic and non-basic
retail telecommunications services, consistent with any pricing flexibility
available to the company on or before August 31, 2005.
(6) A rate that meets the pricing requirements of paragraph
(2) of this subsection is deemed compliant with paragraph (4)(B) of
this subsection.
(7) A transitioning company may offer to an individual
residential customer a promotional offer that is not available uniformly
throughout the market if the company makes the offer through a medium
other than direct mail or mass electronic media and the offer is intended
to retain or obtain a customer.
(d) Procedures related to the filing of one-day informational
notices and associated tariffs. The provisions of this subsection
apply to ILECs choosing to introduce new services and/or exercise
pricing and packaging flexibility through one-day informational notice
filings.
(1) Notice requirements.
(A) A transitioning ILEC shall provide notice of an
impending informational notice filing to the commission, the Office
of Public Utility Counsel (OPC), and to any person who holds a certificate
of operating authority in the transitioning ILEC's certificated area
or areas, or who has an effective interconnection agreement with the
transitioning ILEC. Such notice shall inform the recipient of the
nature and material terms of the impending filing.
(B) Unless an interconnection agreement contract specifies
otherwise, an incumbent local exchange carrier shall continue to provide
to affected resellers of retail services the same notice of rate changes
or withdrawal of detariffed services that it was required to provide
prior to detariffing.
(2) Filing requirements.
(A) Filing of informational notice and confidential
information. At the time the informational notice is filed in Central
Records, a copy of the informational notice shall be delivered to
OPC. Copies of confidential information shall be filed in Central
Records in accordance with §22.71(d) of this title (relating
to Filings of Pleadings, Documents and Other Materials).
(B) Format of filing. An informational notice under
this section must include the same elements as set forth in §26.227(c)(2)(D)
of this title (relating to Procedures Applicable to Nonbasic Services
and Pricing Flexibility for Basic and Nonbasic Services for Chapter
58 Electing Companies) and the following:
(i) For retail services offered in regulated markets,
the transitioning company must demonstrate that the rates, terms,
and conditions comply with the requirements of subsection (c)(1) of
this section and affirm that the said rates, terms and conditions
comply with requirements in subsection (c)(4) of this section.
(ii) For retail services offered in deregulated markets,
the transitioning company must demonstrate that the rates, terms,
and conditions comply with requirements in subsection (c)(2) and (4)
- (7) of this section.
(C) Access to confidential information. Access to confidential
information filed with the commission as part of an informational
notice filing shall be available to commission staff and OPC, upon
execution of a commission approved protective agreement.
(D) Effective date. A transitioning ILEC's service
offering shall be effective one day after the transitioning ILEC files
an informational notice with the commission.
(e) Notice of deficiencies and disputes as to sufficiency
or appropriateness of one-day informational notice filings.
(1) The commission staff may file a notice of deficiency
for incomplete filings or non-compliant filings or a pleading alleging
that the service offering is inappropriately filed as a one-day informational
notice.
(2) Within five working days after the date of the
commission staff's filing, an applicant shall file an explanation
of the actions it has taken or intends to take in response to the
notice or pleading filed under paragraph (1) of this subsection.
(3) Disputes as to sufficiency or appropriateness of
one-day informational notice filings shall be subject to the provisions
of §26.227(d) of this title.
(f) Complaints.
(1) An affected person may file a complaint at the
commission challenging whether a transitioning company is complying
with subsection (c) of this section.
(2) Notwithstanding subsection (c)(3) of this section,
the commission may require a transitioning company to submit a long-run
incremental cost study for a business service that is the subject
of a complaint submitted under paragraph (1) of this subsection.
(g) A telecommunications provider that is not subject
to rate-of-return regulation under PURA, Chapter 53:
(1) may, but is not required to, maintain on file with
the commission tariffs, price lists, or customer service agreements
governing the terms of providing service;
(2) may make changes in its tariffs, price lists, and
customer service agreements in relation to services that are not subject
to regulation without commission approval; and
(3) may cross-reference its federal tariff in its state
tariff if the provider's intrastate switched access rates are the
same as the provider's interstate switched access rates.
(h) A telecommunications provider may withdraw a tariff,
price list, or customer service agreement not required to be filed
or maintained with the commission under this section if the provider:
(1) files written notice of the withdrawal with the
commission; and
(2) notifies its customers of the withdrawal and posts
the current tariffs, price lists, or generic customer service agreements
on its Internet website.
(i) A deregulated company or a transitioning company
is not required to obtain advance approval for a filing with the commission
or a posting on the company's Internet website that adds, modifies,
withdraws, or grandfathers:
(1) a nonbasic retail service or the service's rates,
terms or conditions; or
(2) for a market that has been deregulated, a basic
network service or the service's rates, terms or conditions.
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