7. Assignment of Proceeding

Rachelle B. Chong is the assigned Commissioner and Janice Grau is the assigned Administrative Law Judge in this proceeding.

Findings of Fact

1. The Order Instituting Rulemaking noted existing service quality measures deserved review because they are both technologically outdated and inconsistently reported by carriers.

2. Wireless customer satisfaction surveys include J.D. Power and Associates, Consumer Reports, PC Magazine's Readers' Choice, Consumer's Checkbook, mindWireless, Mountain Wireless, the FCC, and the Better Business Bureau.

3. Wireline customer satisfaction surveys include J.D. Power and Associates (business), Consumer Reports, and American Consumer Satisfaction Surveys.

4. The FCC requires wireline customer satisfaction surveys per ARMIS Report 43-06. Not all carriers are required to file ARMIS data. The FCC is examining whether customer satisfaction reporting should continue and whether industry-wide reporting (including wireless, VoIP and IP-enabled carriers) of all service quality data should be required.

5. Some carriers conduct internal surveys. Verizon gets detailed information about provisioning, repair, and request and inquiry.

6. GO 133-B requires all telephone utilities providing service in California to report on nine measures.

7. Consumer groups propose adoption of minimum service quality measures as consistent with statutory requirements, consumer protection, and health and safety. Businesses support that proposal.

8. GRC ILECs support continuation of GO 133-B service quality reporting.

9. URF carriers oppose service quality reporting as inconsistent with the competitive intermodal market.

10. The Commission has a statutory duty to ensure customers receive adequate service quality pursuant to Pub. Util. Code §§ 709, 2896 and 2897.

11. Continued service quality reporting at the FCC per ARMIS Report 43-05 is uncertain.

12. Parties agree that the following GO 133-B measures are outdated: held primary service orders, installation-line energizing commitments, dial tone speed and dial service.

13. DRA recommends that service quality reporting apply to local exchange service provided to small business customers, those that purchase five or fewer lines. New York limits installation measures to small businesses with five or fewer lines. Michigan limits installation measures to small businesses with three or fewer access lines.

14. The nationwide industry average for installation interval of five business days is met by small ILECs and exceeded by mid-sized and large ILECs.

15. The nationwide industry average for installation commitments of 95% is met by small ILECs and exceeded by mid-sized and large ILECs.

16. The existing trouble report standard is no more than six trouble reports per 100 lines and up to ten trouble reports for smaller central offices.

17. Carriers routinely exceed the existing trouble report standard.

18. The nationwide industry average for OOS repair intervals of 24 hours is met by large ILECs while small and mid-sized ILECs' performance is better than average.

19. Texas requires a carrier to clear 90% of OOS trouble reports within eight working hours and Illinois requires 95% of OOS troubles on basic service to be cleared within 24 hours. Illinois excludes customer caused delays, emergency situations and OOS troubles occurring on holidays and weekends from OOS troubles.

20. Existing answer time standards separately measure toll operator, directory assistance operator, trouble report, and business office answer times.

21. Reporting units for existing trouble report and business office answer times are limited to traffic offices with 10,000 or more lines.

22. Nineteen states do not regulate answer times.

23. Many issues with carriers can be resolved by a customer's choice of automatic menu options, although more complex issues may require a live representative.

24. Parties agree that answer time measures should be combined. Parties introduced evidence that directory assistance is a competitive offering and should no longer be included in answer time reporting. Parties introduced evidence that operator assistance has competitive alternatives and that reporting operator assistance answer time may provide little benefit to consumers.

25. TURN proposes a maximum goal of 60 seconds for answer time including calls related to billing, repairs, trouble reports, and other calls to the business center. TURN also proposed that there be an option to speak with a live operator after no more than 45 seconds of menu choices.

26. AARP recommends adoption of Ohio's requirement of providing an option to transfer to a live operator within the initial automated message.

27. New York excludes from answer time measurement any group of specialized business account representatives established to address the needs of a single large business customer or a small group of such customers.

28. The Small LECs assert many have convenient and visible local offices and very small customer bases.

29. Estimated labor costs for reporting toll operator answer time were the least costly while reporting billing and non-billing related answer time estimates each was over 16 times as costly.

30. GRC ILECs are fully regulated as the monopoly providers in their service territories and are designated as COLRs.

31. URF carriers operate in competitive markets that provide greater external pressure to ensure service quality and customer satisfaction.

32. DRA recommends that service quality measures only apply to URF carriers with 5,000 or more customers and to any smaller URF carriers that are COLRs.

33. URF Carriers request an exemption from reporting service quality measures.

34. The Small LECs request that the Commission continue GO 133-B service quality measures.

35. Pub. Util. Code § 321.1 requires that the Commission assess the economic effects or consequences of its decisions.

36. In March 2003, the assigned Commissioner and ALJ requested comment on the parties' cost/benefit analyses for adoption of measures for specific services proposed in the OIR.

37. The parties did not present precise costs for reporting service quality measures. Labor costs for reporting installation and maintenance measures are lower than for reporting answer time measures.

38. Installation and repair measures only apply to facilities-based local exchange services. Only facilities-based carriers have access to the underlying network.

39. ARMIS makes no distinction between primary and additional lines for reporting service quality data per ARMIS Report 43-05.

40. ARMIS makes no distinction between small and large business customers for reporting service quality data per ARMIS Report 43-05.

41. Parties support publishing carriers' service quality data.

42. The Commission's MSI reporting is governed by a 1977 Communications Division memo and does not apply to all carriers. It requires reporting of complete loss of inward and/or outward calling capability from a central office for periods in excess of 30 minutes for carriers with fewer than 10,000 primary stations and in excess of 10 minutes for carriers with more than 10,000 primary lines.

43. The FCC requires all voice providers, including wireless, to report all outages that last at least 30 minutes and potentially affect at least 900,000 user minutes under NORS.

44. Carriers provide NORS outage information confidentially to the FCC.

45. ETCs submit an annual report to the FCC on outages affecting 10% or more of their customers for at least 30 minutes.

46. Carriers file the following service quality reports with the Commission: (1) GO 133-B service measures; (2) GO 152 service measures, private line alarm services; (3) the MSI report; (4) MCOT; (5) quarterly subscriber complaint report-cramming; and (6) complaint response for general/disability telephone-related issues.

47. MCOT service quality reports were imposed by the FCC as conditions for two mergers in 1999 and 2000 in order to monitor service quality post-merger. The FCC discontinued MCOT reports in approximately 2002.

48. Consumer groups support wireless carriers providing street coverage maps to consumers.

49. Wireless carriers oppose providing detailed coverage maps. Detailed coverage maps are not intended to ensure customers that a particular call will go through.

50. Wireless carriers have entered into an agreement of voluntary compliance with Attorneys General from several states to provide maps depicting approximate wireless service coverage. Coverage maps would depict approximate outdoor coverage based on signal strength and signal strength confidence levels under normal operating conditions. California has not entered into this agreement.

51. In 2001, the Commission found that Pacific Bell Telephone Company d/b/a AT&T California's (AT&T) residential repair interval had increased between 1996 and 2000 and violated Pub. Util. Code § 451.

52. OOS repair interval reporting in GO 133-C (90% within 24-hours, excluding Sundays and federal holidays) is comparable to the requirement set for AT&T in D.01-12-021 (29.3 hours).

53. GO 133-C permits a staff investigation to address any failure to achieve OOS repair interval service levels.

54. DRA recommends remedial actions for carriers with two or more reported measures below the adopted standards in one year or two years in a row below the reported industry average on any one measure.

55. AT&T filed a motion on April 1, 2003 for leave to file Attachment 3 to its comments under seal. Attachment 3 contains proprietary cost information.

56. DRA filed a motion on May 14, 2007 to file the Witteman declaration under seal. The declaration contains matters deemed confidential in I.02-06-003.

57. AT&T filed a motion on June 15, 2007 for leave to file under seal the confidential paragraph 3 of the Declaration of Koester. Paragraph 3 contains confidential business-sensitive information.

Conclusions of Law

1. It is premature to adopt an independent customer satisfaction survey as a component of service quality regulation under GO 133-C.

2. It is premature to address whether this Commission has jurisdiction to require service quality reporting for wireless, VoIP, and IP-enabled carriers. Thus, it is reasonable to exempt wireless, VoIP and IP-enabled carriers from service quality measures reporting.

3. It is reasonable to eliminate outdated service quality measures contained in GO 133-B.

4. GO 133-C is consistent with the Commission's statutory duty to ensure that telephone corporations provide customer service that includes reasonable statewide service quality standards, including, but not limited to, standards regarding network technical quality, customer service, installation, repair, and billing.

5. The record in this proceeding supports inclusion of five minimum measures in GO 133-C: (1) telephone service installation intervals (five business days); (2) installation commitments (95%); (3) customer trouble reports (six reports per 100 lines for reporting units with 3,000 or more working lines; eight reports per 100 working lines for reporting units with 1,001-2,999 working lines; and ten reports per 100 working lines for reporting units with 1,000 or fewer working lines); (4) out of service repair intervals (90% within 24 hours excluding Sundays and federal holidays, catastrophic events and widespread outages); and (5) answer time (80% within 60 seconds related to trouble reports and billing and non-billing issues) with the option to speak to a live agent, preferably in the first set of options (reporting units are limited to traffic offices with 10,000 or more lines).

6. It is reasonable to apply the measures adopted to local exchange services.

7. It is reasonable to limit installation and OOS measures to local exchange services provided to small businesses, those that purchase five or fewer lines.

8. It is reasonable to exclude from answer time measurement any group of specialized business account representatives established to address the needs of a single large business customer or a small group of such customers.

9. GO 133-C is a reasonable response to the record developed in this proceeding.

10. It is reasonable to grant URF carriers a limited exemption from service quality reporting for installation standards.

11. It is reasonable to exempt URF carriers with fewer than 5,000 customers from service quality measures reporting, unless they are COLRs.

12. It is reasonable to exempt resellers from service quality measures reporting.

13. The incremental benefits of GO 133-C outweigh its incremental costs.

14. It is reasonable to adopt for MSI reporting the FCC's communication disruption and outage reporting under NORS and require a simultaneous written report to the Communications Division and DRA for disruptions and outages affecting California service.

15. It is reasonable to require ETCs concurrently to submit the FCC's annual ETC outage report to the Communications Division and DRA.

16. It is reasonable for the confidentiality protections of Pub. Util. Code § 583 and GO 66-C to apply to concurrent NORS and ETC reporting.

17. The Commission should adopt GO 133-C, attached to this decision as Attachment 1.

18. It is reasonable to publish carriers' reported service quality information since the information is public and could be helpful to customers.

19. It is reasonable to eliminate MCOT service quality reporting, which is outdated and inconsistent with the Commission's goal of more uniform and neutral reporting requirements.

20. It is reasonable to conform adopted requirements for wireless coverage map disclosure with disclosure requirements adopted in other states.

21. It is reasonable to require wireless carriers to provide coverage maps depicting approximate wireless service coverage applicable to the wireless service offered rate plans in printable format on carriers' websites and in printable or pre-printed format at their retail locations. Carrier representatives at retail locations shall implement procedures to make these maps available during a sales transaction.

22. It is reasonable to provide for staff investigations of MSIs and the failure to meet standards for minimum telephone service measures and remedial actions for failure to meet standards for minimum telephone service measures.

23. AT&T's motions to file confidential information under seal should be granted. AT&T's Attachment 3 and Koester Declaration should remain under seal for two years from the effective date of this decision. During that two-year period, only the assigned Commissioner, the assigned ALJ, the chief ALJ or the assistant chief ALJ shall view this information, except as agreed to by AT&T or ordered by a court of common jurisdiction.

24. DRA's motion to file under seal the Witteman declaration containing information deemed confidential in I.02-06-003 should be denied. Confidentiality treatment granted in I.02-06-003 has expired.

25. This order should be effective today to provide guidance to carriers on new service quality reporting requirements.

ORDER

IT IS ORDERED that:

1. General Order 133-C is hereby adopted and shall replace General Order 133-B. A copy of General Order 133-C is attached to this decision as Attachment 1. The reporting requirements in General Order 133-C are addressed in Ordering Paragraphs 2 through 4 and 7. General Order 133-C's standards of service and minimum telephone service measures are effective January 1, 2010. All other provisions of General Order 133-C are effective upon adoption.

2. Calaveras Telephone Company, Cal-Ore Telephone Co., Ducor Telephone Company, Foresthill Telephone Co., Happy Valley Telephone Company, Hornitos Telephone Company, Kerman Telephone Company, Pinnacles Telephone Co., The Ponderosa Telephone Co., Sierra Telephone Company, Inc., The Siskiyou Telephone Company, The Volcano Telephone Company, and Winterhaven Telephone Company are subject to the following telephone service measures, as set forth in General Order 133-C: installation interval, installation commitments, customer trouble reports, out of service repair intervals, and answer time for trouble reporting and billing and non-billing inquiries.

3. Citizens Telecommunications Company of California d/b/a Frontier Communications of California, Pacific Bell Telephone Company d/b/a AT&T California, SureWest Telephone, Verizon California Inc. and the public utility telephone corporations that are Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (as maintained in the Communications Division "CLC" and "CLR" data base) are subject to the following telephone service measures, as set forth in General Order 133-C: customer trouble reports, out of service repair intervals, and answer time for trouble reporting and billing and non-billing inquiries.

4. All facilities-based registered and certificated public utility telephone corporations shall be subject to the major service interruption reporting requirements contained in General Order 133-C. All eligible telecommunications carriers concurrently shall submit the annual Federal Communications Commission's Eligible Telecommunications Carrier Outage Report to the Communications Division and the Division of Ratepayer Advocates. The confidentiality protections of Pub. Util. Code § 583 and General Order 66-C shall apply to this report.

5. Commission staff shall initiate steps to submit a formal request to the Federal Communications Commission requesting password-protected access to all California-specific Network Outage Reporting System data.

6. All wireless public utility telephone corporations shall be subject to the wireless coverage map requirements contained in General Order 133-C, effective 90 days after the issuance of this Decision.

7. Pacific Bell Telephone Company d/b/a AT&T California and Verizon California Inc., which currently file Automated Reporting Management Information System Report 43-06 with the Federal Communications Commission, shall furnish the California-specific data to the Director of the Communications Division through September 6, 2010. If the Federal Communications Commission ceases to require customer satisfaction data, those carriers shall continue to furnish the California-specific data through December 31, 2011.

8. All public utility telephone corporations that the Federal Communications Commission orders to file Report 43-06 (or its successor report) after September 6, 2010, shall furnish the California-specific data to the Director of the Communications Division.

9. Citizens Telecommunications Company of California d/b/a Frontier Communications of California, Pacific Bell Telephone Company d/b/a AT&T California, and Verizon California Inc., which file Automated Reporting Management Information System Report 43-05 with the Federal Communications Commission, shall furnish the California-specific data to the Director of the Communications Division through September 6, 2010. If the Federal Communications Commission ceases to require service quality data, those carriers shall continue to furnish California-specific service quality data through December 31, 2011.

10. All public utility telephone corporations that the Federal Communications Commission orders to file Report 43-05 (or its successor report) after September 6, 2010, shall furnish the California-specific data to the Director of the Communications Division.

11. The Merger Compliance Oversight Team reporting requirements formerly required by Decision 03-10-088 are eliminated for Pacific Bell Telephone Company d/b/a AT&T California and Verizon California Inc.

12. Pacific Bell Telephone Company d/b/a AT&T California shall cease to report out of service repair intervals formerly required by Decision 01-12-021.

13. Pacific Bell Telephone Company d/b/a AT&T California's motion for leave to file under seal a portion of the Koester declaration is granted and Paragraph 3 of the declaration shall remain under seal for two years after the effective date of this decision.

14. The Division of Ratepayer Advocates' motion to file under seal the Witteman declaration is denied.

15. Pacific Bell Telephone Company d/b/a AT&T California's motion for leave to file an attachment to its April 1, 2003 comments under seal is granted. Attachment 3 to its April 1, 2003 comments shall remain under seal for two years after the effective date of this decision.

16. If Pacific Bell Telephone Company d/b/a AT&T California believes it is necessary to keep the information under seal pursuant to Ordering Paragraphs 13 and 15 for longer than two years, it shall file a petition for modification at least 30 days prior to the expiration of the limited protective order.

17. Rulemaking 02-12-004 is closed.

This order is effective today.

Dated July 9, 2009, at San Francisco, California.

MICHAEL R. PEEVEY

President

DIAN M. GRUENEICH

JOHN A. BOHN

RACHELLE B. CHONG

TIMOTHY ALAN SIMON

Commissioners

We reserve the right to file a concurrence.

DIAN M. GRUENEICH

Commissioner

TIMOTHY ALAN SIMON

Commissioner

ATTACHMENT 1

General Order 133-C

Public Utilities Commission of the State of California

Rules Governing Telecommunications Services

Effective July 9, 2009

1. GENERAL

1.1 Intent.

a. Purpose. The purpose of these rules is to establish uniform minimum standards of service to be observed in the operation of public utility telephone corporations.

b. Limits of Order. These rules do not cover the subjects in the filed tariff rules of telephone utilities.

c. Absence of Civil Liability. The establishment of these rules shall not impose upon utilities, and they shall not be subject to, any civil liability for damages, which liability would not exist at law if these rules had not been adopted.

d. These rules may be revised in scope on the basis of experience gained in their application and as changes in technology, the telecommunications market, or technology may require.

1.2 Applicability. These rules are applicable to all public utility telephone corporations providing service within the State of California, except as otherwise noted.

1.3 Definitions.

a. Business Office - A centralized service group which receives small business and/or residential customer requests for new installations or changes in existing service. This also includes billing center inquiries.

b. Central Office Entity - A group of lines using common-originating equipment or under stored program control.

c. CLEC: A Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC), per Pub.Util. Code § 234, § 1001, and Decision 95-07-054, provides local telephone services in the service territories formerly reserved for Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers (ILECs), in competition with ILECs, and must obtain a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) from the Commission.

d. COLR: A Carrier of Last Resort (COLR) is required to serve upon request all customers within its designated service areas. Pursuant to Decision 96-10-066, a carrier seeking to be a COLR needs to file a notice of intent (NOI) with the Commission in order to have access to high cost fund subsidies. Once designated a COLR, the carrier must get the Commission's approval to opt out of its obligation to serve.

e. Commission - In the interpretation of these rules, the word "`Commission" shall be construed to mean the Public Utilities Commission of the State of California.

f. Commitment - The date agreed to by a customer and a utility for the completion of requested work.

g. Enhanced Services/Information Service Providers: The 1996 Telecommunications Act (47 U.S.C. § 153 (20) (2008)) distinguished between information service providers and telecommunication service providers. The former provide so-called Enhanced Services over transmission facilities where they employ computer processing applications that act on the format, content, code, protocol or similar aspects of the subscriber's transmitted information but where the information is not dependent on the telecommunications service beyond the delivery of it. Information services generate, acquire, store, transform, process, retrieve, utilize, or make available information via telecommunications, and these processes are considered separate from delivery. Information service providers do not need a CPCN and do not need to register if they do not provide telephone service in addition to their information services. Examples of enhanced/information services are internet access, voicemail, electronic messaging, and video conferencing.

h. ETC: Eligible Telecommunications Carrier (ETC) - A telecommunications carrier that has been designated by the Commission, pursuant to Resolution T-17002 and GO 153, as eligible to receive federal lifeline and/or high cost Universal Service support. Designated ETCs must file annual recertification advice letters to continue to be eligible for federal high cost fund support.

i. Facilities-based Carriers: A local exchange carrier that uses facilities it owns, operates, manages, or controls to provide service, including partially or totally owning, operating, managing or controlling such facilities. A local exchange carrier providing service solely by resale of the ILEC's local exchange services is not a facilities-based carrier. By Commission Decision (D.) 95-12-057, facilities-based carriers must file an environmental assessment report and undertake mitigation efforts addressing any adverse environmental impacts associated with their construction activities under their CPCN.

j. Installation - The provision of telephone service at the customer's request.

k. GRC ILECs: A General Rate Case Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier (GRC ILECs) is designated a COLR in its franchise territories per D.96-10-066, the decision where the Commission spelled out what is meant by basic telephone service for purposes of Universal Service funding and is regulated through cost-of-service reviews by the Commission per General Order 96 B.

l. ILEC: An ILEC is a certificated local telephone company such as Pacific Bell Telephone Company (now d/b/a AT&T California) and Verizon California Inc., which used to be the exclusive local telephone service provider in a franchise territory established before the Telecommunications Reform Act of 1996. See Pub.Util. Code § 234 and § 1001.

m. Line - An access line (hardwire and/or channel) which provides dial tone and which runs from the local central office (Class 4/5, Class 5, or a remote) to the subscriber's premises.

n. Local Exchange - A telecommunications system providing service within a specified area within which communications are considered exchange messages except for those messages between toll points per D.96-10-066.

o. Minimum Standard Reporting Level - A specified service level of performance for each measure and each reporting unit.

p. NDIEC: A Non-Dominant Inter-Exchange Carrier (NDIEC) or long distance carrier (IEC/IXC) is only required to register with the Commission before providing long distance telephone services in California, per Pub.Util. Code § 1013.

q. Out of Service - A telephone line without dial tone.

r. Small Business Customer -- small business customers are those that purchase five or fewer lines.

s. Telephone Company/Utility - A public utility telephone corporation providing public telephone service as further defined by Pub. Util. Code §§ 216 and 234.

t. Traffic Office - A group of operators which receives incoming calls from direct trunk groups or by means of an automatic distributing system.

u. Trouble Report - Any oral or written notice by a customer or customer's representative to the telephone utility which indicates dissatisfaction with telephone service, telephone qualified equipment, and/or telephone company employees.

v. URF Carrier - A utility that is a wireline carrier that has full pricing flexibility over all or substantially all of its rates and charges. A Uniform Regulatory Framework (URF) carrier includes any ILEC that is regulated through the Commission's URF, as established in Decision 06-08-030, as modified from time to time by the Commission, and includes CLECs and IECs.

w. URF ILECs - URF ILECs are distinguished from GRC ILECs in that they are currently granted pricing flexibility through D.06-08-030, which may be modified from time to time.

x. Wire Center - A facility composed of one or more switches (either soft switch or regular switch) which are located on the same premises and which may or may not utilize common equipment. In the case of a digital switch, all remote processors that are hosted by a central processor are to be included in the central office wire center.

y. Wireless Carrier. A Wireless Carrier (a Commercial Mobile Radio Service provider under Federal Communications Commission regulations) is a carrier or licensee whose wireless network is connected to the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Per Commission decision (D.94-10-031), wireless carriers are required to file a wireless identification registration with the Director of the Communications Division within the Commission.

1.4 Information available to the Public. The public utility telephone corporation shall maintain, available for public inspection at its main office in California, copies of all reports submitted to this Commission in compliance with these rules. These copies shall be held available for two years. The public utility telephone corporation shall identify the location and telephone number of its main office in California in its White Pages directory and/or on its Internet website and shall provide information on how to contact it. A copy of these reports will also be maintained and be available for public inspection at the Commission's San Francisco and Los Angeles offices. Copies shall also be made available to interested parties for a nominal fee to cover the cost of processing and reproduction. The availability shall be limited to reports provided by the local serving company.

1.5 Location of Records. All reports required by these rules shall be kept and made available to representatives, agents, or employees of the Commission upon reasonable notice.

1.6 Reports to the Commission. The public utility telephone corporation shall furnish to the Commission, at such times and in such form as the Commission may require, the results or summaries of any measurements required by these rules. The public utility telephone corporation shall furnish the Commission with any information concerning the utility's facilities or operations which the Commission may request and need for determining quality of service.

1.7 Deviations from any of these Rules. In cases where the application of any of the rules incorporated herein results in undue hardship or expense to the public utility telephone corporation, it may request specific relief by filing a formal application in accordance with the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure, except that where the relief requested is of minor importance or temporary in nature, the Commission may accept an application and showing of necessity by letter.

1.8 Revision of Rules. Public utility telephone corporations subject to these rules and other interested parties may individually or collectively file with this Commission a petition for rulemaking Pub. Util. Code § 1708.5 for the purpose of amending these rules. The petition shall conform to the requirements of Rule 6.3 of the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure.

2. STANDARDS OF SERVICE [Effective January 1, 2010]

2.1 General. These rules establish minimum standards and uniform reporting levels for the installation, maintenance, and operator answer time for local exchange telephone service. The service measures established are as follows:

Service Measure Type of Service

Installation Interval Installation

Installation Commitments Installation

Customer Trouble Reports Maintenance

Out of Service Repair Interval Maintenance

Answer Time Operator Services

2.2 Description of Reporting Levels. These levels have been established to provide customers information on how carriers perform. Minimum standard reporting levels are established for each of the service measures. Minimum standard reporting levels are applicable to each individual reporting unit.

3. MINIMUM TELEPHONE SERVICE MEASURES [Effective January 1, 2010]

3.1 Installation Interval - Applies to GRC ILECs.

a. Description. Installation interval measures the amount of time to install basic telephone service from the day and hour the customer requests service until it is established. When a customer orders basic service he/she may request additional features, such as call waiting, call forwarding, etc. If an additional feature is included in a basic service installation, the installation interval should only reflect the basic service installation. Installation interval applies to residential and small business customers (those that purchase five or fewer lines).

b. Measurement. The average interval measured by summing each installation interval, expressed in business days, between the date the service order was placed and the date the service becomes operational during the current reporting period, divided by the total service orders during the reporting period.  This amount excludes all orders having customer requested appointments (CRS) later than the utility's commitment dates. 

c. Minimum Standard Reporting Level. Business Days. Five Business Days is the minimum standard.

d. Reporting Unit. Exchange or wire center, whichever is smaller. Wire centers with fewer than 100 lines should be combined with other central offices within the same location. A remote switching unit with fewer than 100 lines should also be added to its host switch. All reporting carriers shall submit the raw data included in the report.

e. Reporting Frequency. The interval shall be compiled monthly and reported quarterly for all reporting units.

3.2 Installation Commitments - Applies to GRC ILECs.

a. Description. Requests for establishment of basic telephone services. Commitments will not be considered missed when resulting from customer actions. Installation commitments apply to residential and small business customers (those that purchase five or fewer lines).

b. Measurement. Monthly count of the total commitments and the commitments missed. Commitments met, expressed as a percentage, will equal total commitments minus missed commitments divided by total commitments.

c. Minimum Standard Reporting Level. 95% commitments met.

d. Reporting unit. Exchange or wire center, whichever is smaller. A wire center with fewer than 100 lines should be combined with other central offices within the same location. A remote switching unit with fewer than 100 lines should also be added to its host switch. All reporting carriers shall submit the raw data included in the report.

e. Reporting Frequency. Compiled monthly and reported quarterly.

3.3 Customer Trouble Reports - Applies to GRC ILECs and facilities-based URF Carriers with 5,000 or more customers and to any URF Carrier with fewer than 5,000 customers that is a COLR. Trouble reports apply to residential and business customers.

a, Description. Service affecting, and out of service trouble reports, from customers and users of telephone service relating to dissatisfaction with telephone company services. Reports received will be counted and related to the total working lines within the reporting unit in terms of reports per 100 lines.

b. Measurement. Customer trouble reports received by the utility will be counted monthly and related to the total working lines within a reporting unit.

c. Minimum Standard Reporting Level. Report number of trouble reports per 100 working lines (excluding terminal equipment reports). Six trouble reports per 100 working lines for reporting units with 3,000 or more working lines, eight reports per 100 working lines for reporting units with 1,001-2,999 working lines, and 10 reports per 100 working lines for reporting units with 1,000 or fewer working lines.

d. Reporting Unit. Exchange or wire center, whichever is smaller. A wire center with fewer than 100 lines should be combined with other central offices within the same location. A remote switching unit with fewer than 100 lines should also be added to its host switch. URF CLECs that do not have exchanges or wire centers shall report at the smallest reporting unit. All reporting carriers shall submit the raw data included in the report.

e. Reporting Frequency. Compiled monthly, reported quarterly.

3.4 Out of Service Repair Intervals - Applies to GRC ILECs and facilities-based URF Carriers with 5,000 or more customers and to any URF Carrier with fewer than 5,000 customers that is a COLR.

a. Description. A measure of the average interval, in hours and minutes from the time of the reporting carrier's receipt of the out of service trouble report to the time service is restored for residential and small business customers. 

b. Measurement. Commitment is measured by taking the total number of the repair tickets restored within less than 24 hours divided by the total outage report tickets. In addition, the system average outage duration is measured by summing each repair interval, expressed in clock hours and minutes, between the time the customer called to report loss of service and when the customer regains dial tone, divided by the total outage report tickets. These measurements include only residential and small business customer tickets. The measurements exclude Sundays and federal holidays and tickets when maintenance is delayed due to circumstances beyond the carrier's control. Typical reasons for delay include, but are not limited to: outage caused by cable theft, third-party cable cut, lack of premise access when a problem is isolated to that location, absence of customer support to test facilities, or customer's requested appointment. Changed appointments shall be reported separately by identifying the number of such appointments and the time, in hours and minutes, associated with these appointments. When reporting includes a delay for one or more months, the carrier shall provide supporting information as to why the month should be excluded and work papers that show the date(s) of the catastrophic event and/or widespread outage and how the adjusted figure was calculated. A catastrophic event, an event where there is a declaration of a state of emergency by a federal or state authority, and a widespread service outage (an outage affecting at least 3% of the carrier's customers in the state) are circumstances beyond the carrier's control.

c. Minimum Standard Reporting Level. 90% of all out of service trouble reports within 24 hours is the set minimum standard. Both the percentage of outages meeting the 24-hour standard and the actual system-wide average outage duration should be reported.

d. Reporting Unit. Reporting is at the state-wide level. However, carriers shall submit with the report the underlying data at the exchange or wire center level, whichever is smaller, that supports the information being reported. A wire center with fewer than 100 lines should be combined with other central offices within the same location. A remote switching unit with fewer than 100 lines should also be added to its host switch. URF CLECs that do not have exchanges or wire centers shall report at the smallest reporting unit. All reporting carriers shall submit the raw data included in the report.

e. Reporting Frequency. Compiled monthly and reported quarterly for those reporting units.

3.5 Answer Time for trouble reports and billing and non-billing inquiries applies to GRC ILECs, facilities-based URF Carriers with 5,000 or more customers, and any URF Carrier with fewer than 5,000 customers that is a COLR.

a. Description. A measurement of time for the operator to answer within 60 seconds 80% of calls to the business office for billing and non-billing inquiries and to the repair office for trouble reports. This measurement excludes any group of specialized business account representatives established to address the needs of a single large business customer or a small group of such customers. A statistically valid sample of the answering interval is taken to obtain the percentage of calls answered within 60 seconds. A customer must be presented with the option on an interactive voice response (IVR) or automatic response unit (ARU) system to speak with a live agent, preferably in the first set of options.

b. Measurement. An average answer time of a sample of the answering interval on calls to the business office and repair office that is representative of the measurement period.

c. Minimum Standard Reporting Level. 80% answered within 60 seconds when speaking to a live agent or 80% answered within 60 seconds when speaking to a live agent after completing an IVR or ARU system. If measurement data of average answer time is used, it will be converted to the percent answered within 60 seconds.

d. Reporting Unit. Each traffic office serving 10,000 or more lines and handling calls to the business office for billing and non-billing inquiry calls and to the repair office for trouble report calls.

e. Reporting Frequency. Compiled quarterly and reported annually on February 15 for percent answered within 60 seconds.

4. MAJOR SERVICE INTERRUPTION - Applies to all facilities-based certificated and registered public utility telephone corporations.

a. Description. The Commission adopts for its major service interruption reporting the FCC's Part 4 rules concerning communications disruption and outages, the FCC's Network Outage Reporting System (NORS) reporting requirements, and the annual ETC outage report, as modified by FCC over time. The FCC's Part 4 rules and NORS user manual can be found at the following FCC website link:

http://www.fcc.gov/pshs/services/cip/nors/nors.html

b. Reporting Procedures:

(i) Written reports are normally satisfactory. In cases where large numbers of customers are impacted or that are otherwise of great severity, a telephone report should be made promptly.

(ii) Concurrent reports shall be submitted to the Communications Division (CD) and the Division of Ratepayer Advocates or their successor divisions when the carrier files its reports with FCC's NORS system. Carriers shall submit a report to the Commission when the communication disruption or outage meets the FCC's reporting threshold and that disruption or outage involves communications in California, regardless of whether the affected communications in California independently meet the FCC's reporting threshold. Reports shall be filed with the CD per CD's directed method/media.

(iii) Final NORS reports shall be made confirming that service has been restored.

(iv) ETCs, concurrent with their FCC filing, shall submit the annual outage report that provides detailed information on any outage lasting at least 30 minutes and potentially affecting 10% of their customers in a designated service area.

c. Confidentiality. Major Service Interruption reports submitted to the Commission pursuant to these rules shall be treated as confidential in accordance with Pub. Util. Code § 583 and General Order 66-C.

5. WIRELESS COVERAGE MAPS - Applies to all public utility telephone corporations that are wireless carriers.

5.1 Description: Wireless coverage maps shall show where wireless phone users generally may expect to receive signal strength adequate to place and receive calls when outdoors under normal operating conditions.

5.2 Requirements. Wireless carriers shall provide coverage maps on their websites and at retail locations.

a. Wireless carriers shall provide coverage maps in printable format on their websites and in a printable or pre-printed format at retail locations that customers can take with them. Wireless carrier representatives at retail locations shall implement procedures to make available during a sales transaction coverage maps depicting approximate wireless service coverage applicable to the wireless service rate plan(s) being sold.

b. Wireless carriers shall provide coverage maps depicting approximate wireless service coverage applicable to the wireless service offered rate plan(s). All coverage maps shall include a clear and conspicuous disclosure of material limitations in wireless service coverage depiction and wireless service availability.

6. RECORDS AND REPORTS

6.1 Reporting Units. Service measurements shall be maintained by reporting units. Reporting units are exchange, central office entity, wire center, traffic office, trouble report service office, or business office as required.

The reporting unit for each service measure is defined in Section 3.

6.2 Reporting Requirements. Reports shall be made to the Director of Communications Division of the Commission within 45 days of the end of the reporting quarter, for all reporting units for the non-answer time minimum telephone service measures. The answer time measure shall be reported on February 15^th annually for the preceding calendar year. Service interruption shall be reported when it is considered a major interruption as defined in Section 4. Reports to the Commission of performance not meeting the reporting level shall state the levels of service for each service measure and the months being reported. Reports on reporting units for two or more consecutive quarters shall also include a description of the performance at the reported level, a statement of action being taken to improve service, and the estimated date of completion of the improvements.

6.3 Retention of Records. Quarterly summary records of service measurements for each reporting unit shall be retained for three years. All major service interruption reports shall be retained for three years. All summary records shall be available for examination by Commission representatives during the retention period and special summaries of service measurements may be requested by the Commission.

6.4 Commission Staff Reports. The staff may compile and post the minimum service standards and the performance of each carrier on the Commission's website.

7. STAFF INVESTIGATIONS AND ADDITIONAL REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

Commission staff may investigate any reporting unit that does not meet a minimum standard reporting level and any major service interruption. Staff may recommend the Commission institute a formal investigation into a carrier's performance and alleged failure to meet the reporting service level for six or more consecutive months. Staff may require carriers with two or more measures below the reporting service level in one year or one measure below the industry average to meet with staff and present proposals to improve performance and to report monthly if poor performance continues. This section does not apply to Section 5, Wireless Coverage Maps.

8. FORM

The attached form is a template for reporting GO 133-C Service Quality Standards. The staff may change this form as necessary.

(END OF ATTACHMENT 1)

ATTACHMENT 2

PARTIES THAT FILED COMMENTS IN 2003

Initial Comments filed April 1 and 2, 2003

Filing Date Party

April 2, 2003 AARP

April 1, 2003 NCLC

April 1, 2003 Nextel of California

April 1, 2003 AT&T Advanced Solutions

April 1, 2003 California Cable and Telecom Assn

April 1, 2003 Sprint Spectrum, Sprint Telephony PCS

April 1, 2003 Working Assets Funding Service, Working Assets Wireless, Inc.

April 1, 2003 SureWest

April 1, 2003 AT&T

April 1, 2003 Qwest Communications

April 1, 2003 Small LECs

April 1, 2003 DRA

April 1, 2003 Frontier

April 1, 2003 Cricket Communications

April 1, 2003 AT&T Wireless Services

April 1, 2003 Verizon Wireless

April 1, 2003 TURN

April 1, 2003 Cellular Carriers Assn of Cal

April 1, 2003 Cox California Telcom

April 1, 2003 Cal Small Business Assn, Cal Small Business Roundtable,

April 1, 2003 FEA/DOD

April 1, 2003 Mpower Communications

Reply Comments filed May 5 and 6, 2003

Filing Date Party

May 6, 2003 NCLC

May 5, 2003 Verizon

May 5, 2003 AT&T Wireless Services

May 5, 2003 Allegiance Telecom Of California,

May 5, 2003 Working Assets Funding Service

May 5, 2003 FEA/DAD

May 5, 2003 California Small Business Assn, Cal Small Business Roundtable

May 5, 2003 Omnipoint Communications

May 5, 2003 TURN

May 5, 2003 CPSD

May 5, 2003 DRA

May 5, 2003 SureWest

May 5, 2003 West Coast P.C.S.

May 5, 2003 Frontier

May 5, 2003 Small LECs

May 5, 2003 Cellular Carriers Assn of Cal

May 5, 2003 Verizon Wireless

May 5, 2003 Communication Workers of America, District 9

May 5, 2003 Sage Telecom

May 5, 2003 Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights

May 5, 2003 AT&T

May 5, 2003 Nextel of California

May 5, 2003 California ISP Association

May 5, 2003 Level 3 Communications

May 5, 2003 AT&T Communications of Cal, Cal Association Of Competitive Telecom Companies, Cal Telecommunications Coalition: Assn of Comm Ents, Comcast Phone of Cal, Cox Cal Telcom, Pac-West Telecomm, Sprint Communications, Time Warner Telecom of Cal, Worldcom, XO California (Coalition)

May 5, 2003 Sprint

May 5, 2003 ISP/VOIP Coalition Net2phone.

May 5, 2003 AARP

(END OF ATTACHMENT 2)

(END OF ATTACHMENT 3)

ATTACHMENT 4

Current Service Quality Monitoring Reports
	AT&T	Verizon	SureWest	Frontier	GRC ILECs	CLECs	ETCs
Filed with CPUC
GO 133 B Service Measures	√	√	√	√	√	√	√
GO 152 Service Measures - Private Line Alarm	√	√	√	√
Major Service Interruption Report	√	√	√	√	√	√	√
MCOT	√
Subscriber Complaint Report/Cramming	√	√	√	√	√	√
Complaint Response for General/Disability Telephone-Related Issues	√
NARUC Report		√
Filed with FCC
ARMIS 43-05, Service Quality Report	√	√		√
ARMIS 43-06, Customer Satisfaction Report	√	√
Network Outage Reporting System (NORS)	√	√	√	√	√	√	√

(END OF ATTACHMENT 4)

Concurrence of Commissioner Dian M. Grueneich

I support the decision adopting service quality reporting requirements. The Commission has a duty to monitor telephone carriers in order to ensure that consumers are receiving quality communication services. I am very pleased that, even with our past decisions to de-regulate much of the telecommunications industry, we recognize in this decision that eliminating service quality reporting is unreasonable.

We also recognize the importance of publishing carriers' reported service quality data as a valuable tool for consumer education. I'm looking forward to seeing this data published as soon as possible after the January 1, 2010 effective date.

Because service quality directly relates to the consumer, I am disappointed that this decision elects to delay a conclusion on whether to require customer satisfaction surveys until after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issues its determination on such issues. I agree that the current record may not contain specific survey attributes or formats, but I do not agree that we should wait for the FCC to determine these for us. We should move forward with a California-specific analysis.

This decision addresses, for the most part, my concern about the option to speak with a live agent. I preferred requiring carriers to provide such an opportunity within the first 45 seconds of a call. However, I understand that currently there is a timing conflict with the line testing diagnostic tool which checks a customer's telephone line to determine where a problem exists. I agree that such a tool is a benefit to consumers - in some instances this tool completely resolves the repair issue. Nevertheless, I strongly encourage all carriers to take seriously our preference that is stated in this decision on page 50: to provide consumers the choice to speak with a live agent within the very first set of menu options.

Lastly, I would also like to reiterate and support the remarks of Commissioner Bohn. He found the decision lacking in two ways. First, Commissioner Bohn pointed out that the decision approves only one requirement for wireless carriers. While wireless carriers should not be subject to all requirements the wireline carriers must meet, it is not premature to adopt other relevant measures such as "dropped call" rates. Secondly, the decision does not apply to fixed voice over internet protocol (VoIP) providers. As Commissioner Bohn explained, in the eyes of the consumer, fixed VoIP looks and acts like a wireline service. Here again, it is not premature to consider service quality rules for fixed VoIP providers. I concur with Commissioner Bohn that consumers should not be put at risk to understand the underlying technology that is delivered to their house in the form of fixed VoIP.

/s/ DIAN M. GRUENEICH

Dian M. Grueneich

Commissioner

San Francisco, California

July 11, 2009

Concurrence of Commissioner Timothy Alan Simon

R. 02-12-004

This proceeding continues the Commission's streamlining of California's communications regulations set in motion by the Commission's "Uniform Regulatory Framework" Decision (D.07-09-018) in 2007. Our decision adopted unanimously today recognizes that the existing service quality standards of the Commission²⁵⁵ are outdated, do not apply to all communications providers equally, and are not sufficient to generate information about the performance of communications providers that consumers can use to make informed decisions about their telephone services.

I support the service quality measures in this decision, each of which was carefully crafted by the Commission with substantial input from all segments of the industry. Consistent with my interest in public safety, I want to highlight the new requirement that California communications providers - with the exception of providers of fixed Voice-over-Internet-Protocol ("VoIP") services like some of the cable phone providers - submit to this Commission the same reports regarding "major service interruptions" that they already submit to the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC").²⁵⁶ The FCC adds these reports to its national database of outage information across the country called the "National Outage Reporting System" or NORS database.

Facilitating access to a wide array of communications services and technologies has been found to be invaluable in emergency situations - before, during, and after emergencies. An important role for this Commission therefore is ensuring the reliability of those communications services. This is why, in the past, our Commission staff has informally requested access to the California-related service outage information contained in the FCC's national database. Unfortunately, under the previous FCC administration, our staff's efforts were apparently rebuffed.²⁵⁷

Thus, in this decision, we are initiating the requirement that most California communications providers submit their outage information directly to this Commission. In the meantime, the Commission will file a formal request with the FCC seeking direct access to its database. I trust that our formal request under the FCC's new administration will be fruitful, particularly because such access will also enable us to benefit from outage information submitted not just by our traditionally-regulated companies, but also by fixed VoIP providers like cable companies.

States have the constitutional prerogative and duty to provide for the health and safety of their population pursuant to their police powers. Like some of my fellow Commissioners, and in the context of public safety, I have reservations about treating fixed VoIP phone service differently from traditional phone service when consumers, the public, and emergency "first responders" rely on this technology, particularly as the adoption rate of this technology increases. While I acknowledge the need - and the right - of businesses to pursue the legal remedies at their disposal, I emphasize that I will not be swayed by regulatory sophistry and forum-shopping when it comes to the jurisdiction of this Commission to ensure public safety. This is one area that cannot and will not be resolved by relying upon the competitive marketplace.

Thus, I am gratified that, if our request to the FCC is still pending in 9 months whether by inaction or by design, this decision affirms our intent to reopen this proceeding to receive comment on whether interconnected VoIP providers (including cable) should, like other California communications companies, also be required submit their federal outage data to this Commission.

Dated July 9, 2009, at San Francisco, California.

		/s/ TIMOTHY ALAN SIMON
		Timothy Alan Simon Commissioner

²⁵⁵ General Order 133-B.

²⁵⁶ In the Matter of Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service, CC Docket No. 96-45, Report and Order, FCC 05-46 (rel. March 17, 2005).

²⁵⁷ Our formal request to the FCC will remove any uncertainty regarding this Commission's access to the data.