DAR File No. 27859

Public Service Commission, Administration

R746-356

Intrastate (IntraLATA) Equal Access to Toll Calling Services By Telecommunications Carriers

NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULE

DAR File No.: 27859
Filed: 05/02/2005, 04:46
Received by: NL

RULE ANALYSIS

Purpose of the rule or reason for the change:

The reason for this change is to eliminate references for activities which have already occurred and update terminology.

Summary of the rule or change:

This change eliminates references to equal access implementation activities which occurred in 2001 and updates names for current terminology.

State statutory or constitutional authorization for this rule:

Sections 54-8b-2.2, 54-4-1, and 54-3-1

Anticipated cost or savings to:

the state budget:

None--Because there is no substantive change to state activities.

local governments:

None--Because there is no substantive change to local government activities.

other persons:

None--Because no current or future conduct is affected.

Compliance costs for affected persons:

There are no compliance costs anticipated as the change eliminates references to activities that were to be completed prior to the end of 2001 and updates rule language for current terminology.

Comments by the department head on the fiscal impact the rule may have on businesses:

These changes were merely to eliminates references to activities that were to be completed prior to the end of 2001 and updates rule language for current terminology. There will be no fiscal impact on businesses. Ric Campbell, Chairman

The full text of this rule may be inspected, during regular business hours, at the Division of Administrative Rules, or at:

Direct questions regarding this rule to:

Barbara Stroud or Sandy Mooy at the above address, by phone at 801-530-6714 or 801-530-6708, by FAX at 801-530-6796 or 801-530-6796, or by Internet E-mail at bstroud@utah.gov or smooy@utah.gov

Interested persons may present their views on this rule by submitting written comments to the address above no later than 5:00 p.m. on:

06/14/2005

This rule may become effective on:

06/15/2005

Authorized by:

Barbara Stroud, Paralegal

RULE TEXT

R746. Public Service Commission, Administration.

R746-356. Intrastate (IntraLATA) Equal Access To Toll Calling Services By Telecommunications Carriers.

R746-356-2. Definitions.

For purposes of these rules, the following terms shall bear the associated meanings. All other terms are as defined in Section 54-8b.

A. "Bona Fide Request" -- A written request submitted by a telecommunications corporation or common carrier certified by the Commission or the FCC for intraLATA or intraLATA equal access service in an exchange or exchanges of a LEC.

B. "CCS" -- Committee of Consumer Services.

C. "Division" -- Division of Public Utilities.

D. "Equal Access" -- Dialing arrangements and other service characteristics provided by a LEC to other carriers that are equivalent in type and quality to that provided by the LEC, or designated contract carrier, for its provision of intraLATA toll service.

[C]E. "Presubscription" -- A process that allows customers to preselect the carrier that has equal access services for providing toll calls through the use of 1+ or 0+ without dialing a multi-digit access code.

[D]F. "Presubscribed Interexchange Carrier"(PIC) -- The certified telecommunications carrier a customer selects to provide 1+ or 0+ toll service, without the use of access codes, following equal access presubscription implementation.

[E]G. "2-PIC" -- The equal access presubscription option that affords customers the opportunity to select one certified telecommunications carrier for all interLATA 1+ or [O]0+ toll calls and, at the customer's option, to select another certified telecommunications carrier for all intraLATA 1+ or [O]0+ toll calls.

R746-356-3. Equal Access Implementation.

A. Implementation -- LECs shall proceed to implement intraLATA equal access, using the 2-PIC method, in accordance with the following criteria:

1. [US West Communications and all LECs that now provide, through the LEC, subsidiary or affiliate company, interLATA toll services to Utah customers, and which provide interLATA equal access to any telecommunications carrier, including a LEC subsidiary or affiliate, shall file ]Any LEC that has an equal access implementation plan [with]approved by the Commission[ within 30 days after the effective date of these rules.

a. The plan shall include a cutover target date(s) that is no later than: seven months after the effective date of these rules, or in the case of US West Communications, the date on which US West implements in-region interLATA services by the authority of the FCC, whichever date is earlier.

b. Telecommunications carriers requiring intraLATA equal access from a LEC must file a bona fide request with the LEC within 30 days after receiving the implementation plan, with copies of the request being mailed to the Commission, the Division, and the CCS.

c. If no bona fide requests are received for] shall comply with and maintain equal access [at one or]in accordance with its approved plan as amended or modified with[ more exchanges, the implementation plan and target date for these exchanges can, upon ]Commission approval[, be deferred to a future date].

2. Any LEC that does not [meet the criteria of R746-356-3(A)(1),]have an equal access implementation plan approved by the Commission will respond to a bona fide request, or on its own initiative, by filing an implementation plan with the Commission within 30 days.

a. The target date for implementation shall be no later than seven months from the date of receipt of the bona fide request.

b. Copies of the plan shall be mailed to the requesting telecommunications carrier, all other carriers subscribing to the LEC's interLATA equal access service, the Commission, and the Division.

3. A LEC can request a temporary waiver of the requirement to implement intraLATA equal access for one or more of its exchange areas, when it can prove that it does not have the technical or economic abilities to provide intraLATA equal access service.

a. The Commission, after notice and opportunity for hearing, may grant a waiver upon a showing of a lack of technical or economic ability.

b. When a LEC receives a waiver it shall implement interLATA and IntraLATA equal access[, no later than December 31, 2001, unless a later date has been] by the date established in the Commission waiver.

B. Approval of Equal Access Plans -- The Commission will assign each LEC equal access plan a docket number and issue a notice of the proceeding to all parties on its telecommunications list.

1. The Commission shall approve each plan within 45 days of the filed date, unless hearings are required to approve the implementation plan.

2. The plan target date(s) will be automatically extended by the number of days in excess of 45 required to finally approve a plan.

C. Exemption of Toll Services -- A LEC shall continue to provide retail toll services as a carrier of last resort for its own certified territory, or as a PIC for its own certified territory, until an order of exemption is issued by the Commission.

D. Continued Services -- LECs will continue to provide services for customer dialed number protocols 0-, Nll, 411,611, 911, and 976. These numbers are not equal access and call routing will continue to be processed unchanged by the LEC following the implementation of intraLATA equal access. Calls using customer dialed protocols, such as 500, 700, 800, 900, 10356, and 101356X, are not subject to presubscription and they will continue to be routed to the appropriate non-equal access carrier.

E. Routing Interface Signaling -- All carriers shall establish uniform end-to-end message routing interface signaling that includes at least the carrier identification code (CIC), originating line or trunk telephone number, and terminating line or trunk telephone number. This requirement is to permit direct billing to the responsible carrier(s) for use of the switched access network elements provided by other carriers.

R746-356-4. Equal Access Implementation Plans.

A. Criteria -- An intraLATA equal access implementation plan filed with the Commission, with a copy to the Division, shall include at least the following:

1. the planned individual central office or exchange cutover dates;

2. a schedule of any planned hardware and software upgrades required;

3. estimated investments and expenses for the planned upgrades;

4. estimated internal training expenses;

5. estimated cutover expenses;

6. estimated administrative expenses for preparing and filing tariffs or price lists;

7. estimated order processing expenses;

8. estimated customer notification and education expenses;

9. the computations of its estimated proposed equal access recovery charges; and

10. a copy of the work papers used to calculate the information required by R746-356-4(A)(3) through (9).

B. Service of Plans -- Copies of the plan shall be served on the Division[ of Public Utilities (Division)], [Committee of Consumer Services (]CCS[)], and all telecommunications carriers that then subscribe to interLATA equal access from the LEC.

C. Status Reports -- In the Commission approval of a plan, the Commission shall establish the LEC's reporting requirements for reporting implementation progress, with a final report filed after implementation.

R746-356-8. Equal Access Implementation Cost Recovery Procedure.

A. Recovery of Waived PIC Charges -- The LEC shall bill each equal access telecommunications carrier for the presubscription PIC charges waived by R746-356-7(C) or (D).

B. Recovery of Expenses -- Any recovery of recurring and one-time expenses incurred for the provision of intraLATA equal access shall be through a separate, temporary equal access recovery charge (EARC) element in a LEC's switched access and toll tariffs or price lists. These expenses may include:

1. the incremental additional expenses related directly to the provision of hardware and software investments not required to upgrade the switching capabilities of each central office absent the provision of the intraLATA equal access;

2. expenses for the incremental additional training of customer contact personnel in the additional processing of intraLATA presubscription requests;

3. expenses related directly to the preparation, reproduction and mailing of the customer educational materials and equal access notifications;

4. expenses related directly to the preparation, reproduction and filings of the intraLATA equal access tariffs or price lists;

5. expenses for the Utah portion of the incremental additional software programming of the billing programs that would not be required absent the Utah intraLATA equal access; and

6. expenses for the Utah portion of the incremental additional software programming of the business office support systems that would not be required absent the Utah intraLATA equal access.

C. Recovery Timing -- Expenses for intraLATA equal access implementation developed from items shown in R746-356-8(B)shall be subject to approval by the Commission. The EARC shall be assessed to estimated monthly intraLATA originating switched access minutes and monthly originating LEC toll minutes of use, over a three-year period for[ US W]Qwest Corporation, and over a two-year period for all other LECs.

D. True-Up --

1. For each applicable year, the EARC will be trued-up and changed based on the actual incurred expenses, the actual originating intraLATA switched access minutes billed to each PIC, and the intraLATA toll minutes billed by the LEC.

2. The true-ups shall result in an annual payment by the LEC to each participating equal access carrier for excess payments, or an annual bill from the LEC to each participating equal access carrier for any under-payments.

3. The true-ups should result in an annual inter-company payment process based on the proportional intraLATA switched access minutes previously billed to each carrier and the intraLATA toll minutes billed by the LEC.

4. The LEC and an equal access carrier may agree to alternative compensation arrangements in lieu of an annual payment.

KEY: communications, equal access[*], telecommunications, toll calling[*]

[December 30, 1997]2005

Notice of Continuation December 20, 2002

54-8b-2.2(3)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

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For questions regarding the content or application of this rule, please contact Barbara Stroud or Sandy Mooy at the above address, by phone at 801-530-6714 or 801-530-6708, by FAX at 801-530-6796 or 801-530-6796, or by Internet E-mail at bstroud@utah.gov or smooy@utah.gov

For questions about the rulemaking process, please contact the Division of Administrative Rules (801-538-3764). Please Note: The Division of Administrative Rules is NOT able to answer questions about the content or application of these administrative rules.