Current through Reg. 50, No. 13; March 28, 2025
(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.
