| (B) Determination. The presiding officer shall, by
order issued no later than 15 days after the request for ELCS is filed,
determine whether the request satisfies either the geographic proximity
requirement set forth in subparagraph (C) of this paragraph or the
community of interest requirement set forth in subparagraph (D) of
this paragraph. If the presiding officer determines that neither the
geographic proximity nor the community of interest requirements are
satisfied, the presiding officer shall dismiss the request in whole,
if appropriate, or in relevant part.
(C) Geographic proximity. The geographic proximity
requirement is satisfied as to each petitioned exchange if the nearest
central switching office in the petitioning exchange is located within
22 miles of the nearest central switching office in the petitioned
exchange as measured using vertical and horizontal (V&H) geographic
coordinates.
(D) Community of interest. A community of interest
statement shall address situations where the nearest central switching
offices in a petitioning and petitioned exchange are more than 22
miles apart and the most distant central offices in a petitioning
and petitioned exchange are 50 or less miles apart. A community of
interest between a petitioning exchange and a petitioned exchange
exists, for purposes of this section, when the community of interest
statement includes information demonstrating that the petitioning
and petitioned exchanges have a relationship because of schools, hospitals,
local governments, or business centers, or that the petitioning or
petitioned exchanges have other relationships that make the unavailability
of ELCS a hardship on residents of the area.
(e) Exemptions.
(1) ILEC requests for exemption. An ILEC serving either
the petitioning or the petitioned exchange may file a request for
exemption from the potential requirement to provide ELCS. Such requests
must be filed no later than 20 days after the filing of the request
for ELCS. The request for exemption shall be accompanied by an affidavit
identifying in detail which conditions described in paragraph (2)
of this subsection exist. If the petition includes more than one petitioned
exchange, the request for exemption shall clearly identify which conditions
apply to which exchanges. The presiding officer shall look to facts
or circumstances existing on the date the ELCS request is filed in
determining whether a request for exemption may be granted.
(2) Types of exemptions. The following conditions shall
be considered by the presiding officer in determining whether to exempt
an ILEC from being required to provide ELCS:
(A) the ILEC serves fewer than 10,000 access lines
statewide; or
(B) the petitioning or petitioned exchange is served
by a telephone cooperative; or
(C) extended area service (EAS) or extended metropolitan
service is currently available between the petitioning exchange and
the petitioned exchange(s); or
(D) the petitioning or petitioned exchange is a metropolitan
exchange as defined in subsection (b) of this section; or
(E) it is technologically or geographically infeasible
to provide ELCS to the area; or,
(F) the request for ELCS proposes to split a petitioning
or petitioned exchange.
(3) Determination. If one or more of the conditions
described in paragraph (2)(A) - (D) or (2)(F) of this subsection exist,
the presiding officer shall, within 40 days after the filing of the
request for ELCS, dismiss the request in whole, if appropriate, or
in relevant part. If the ILEC requests an exemption based on paragraph
(2)(E) of this subsection, the presiding officer shall, by order issued
no later than 40 days after the filing of the request for ELCS, determine
whether the ILEC's affidavit sufficiently demonstrates that technology
is not available in the marketplace to make ELCS feasible. If the
exemption request is granted, the presiding officer shall dismiss
the request for ELCS in whole, if appropriate, or in relevant part.
(f) Balloting. If all applicable requirements contained
in subsections (c) and (d) of this section are met and no exemption
requests are outstanding, the presiding officer shall issue an order
directing the ILEC serving the petitioning exchange to begin balloting
subscribers in that exchange, and the presiding officer shall notify
the designated contact person for the petitioning exchange that balloting
will take place.
(1) Cost of balloting. The cost of preparing and distributing
ballots shall be borne by the ILEC serving the petitioning exchange
as a regulatory case expense.
(2) Ballot format. No later than 30 days after the
presiding officer's order directing the ILEC serving the petitioning
exchange to begin balloting, that ILEC shall distribute a ballot,
written in English and Spanish, to each subscriber in the petitioning
exchange. The ballot shall require a separate vote from each subscriber
for each petitioned exchange. The ballot must be in a standard form
approved by the commission and each ballot shall include:
(A) a statement explaining ELCS;
(B) a statement that subscribers in the petitioning
exchange have petitioned to expand the toll-free local calling area
into the named exchange(s);
(C) a description of the proposed ELCS area, including
the name, area code and prefix of the petitioning exchange and each
petitioned exchange for which toll-free local calling is sought;
(D) a statement that if at least 70% of those subscribers
responding vote "yes" as to any petitioned exchange:
(i) subscribers in the petitioning exchange will be
billed, in addition to the company's local exchange service rates,
a monthly ELCS fee of up to $3.50 per residential line and up to $7.00
per business line for the first five petitioned exchanges granted,
with an additional $1.50 per line for each exchange in excess of five,
whether obtained as the result of one or more petitions; and
(ii) in addition to the ELCS fee billed to petitioning
subscribers, an ELCS surcharge may, if necessary, be billed to all
of the ILEC's Texas subscribers to recover the costs of implementing
ELCS; and
(iii) the amount of the monthly ELCS fee and ELCS surcharge
will depend on the revenue lost and costs incurred by the company
providing the service;
(E) unambiguous instructions for voting, including
the following statement in large print: "It is important that you
return this ballot. If you are in favor of obtaining Expanded Toll-Free
Local Calling to a listed exchange, check the box labeled 'YES' next
to that exchange. If you do not want Expanded Toll-Free Local Calling
to a listed exchange, check the box labeled 'NO' next to that exchange";
(F) a statement that a petitioned exchange will be
included in the expanded toll-free local calling area only if at least
70% of the petitioning subscribers responding vote affirmatively for
ELCS to that exchange;
(G) the date by which the returned ballot must be postmarked,
which shall be 15 days from the date the ballot is mailed to the customer;
(H) the address to which the ballot should be returned
upon completion of voting, identifying the commission as the recipient
of returned ballots; and
(I) a unique identification number assigned by the
ILEC serving the petitioning exchange to each subscriber in that exchange.
(3) Master list of subscribers. No later than 35 days
after the presiding officer's order to the ILEC serving the petitioning
exchange to begin balloting, that ILEC shall submit to the commission
a master list of all subscribers within the petitioning exchange in
an electronic spreadsheet format prescribed by the commission. The
ILEC shall classify the master list as confidential, and the list
shall be treated as such under the provisions of the Government Code,
Title 5, Chapter 552. The master list shall be arranged sequentially
by billing number and shall include for each subscriber in the petitioning
exchange:
(A) the billing name;
(B) the billing number;
(C) the service address;
(D) the mailing address;
(E) the class of service; and
(F) the unique identification number assigned to the
subscriber by the ILEC
(4) Response to balloting. The commission shall, no
later than 15 days after the date stated on the ballot for return
of the ballot, notify the presiding officer, the contact person, and
affected ILEC(s) of the results of the ballot by filing a ballot report.
The ballot report shall specify the results of the ballot for each
petitioned exchange.
(A) Affirmative vote.
Cont'd... |
