7. Changes to Telecommunications Industry Rules

As with all of the Industry Rules, the Telecommunications Industry Rules have been revised to better fit with the General Rules. The new version of the Telecommunications Industry Rules is shorter; the format and structure more closely follow those of the General Rules and the other Industry Rules; and provisions that unnecessarily duplicated or overlapped provisions of the General Rules were eliminated.

The main substantive changes to the Telecommunications Industry Rules concern allocation of subject matter to different tiers. For example, for advice letters proposing new services, we had distinguished initially between such proposals, depending on the type of carrier making the proposal: A local carrier operating under our "New Regulatory Framework" (i.e., a "NRF-LEC") would submit a Tier 2 advice letter (effective after staff approval), but a local carrier competing with the NRF-LEC could submit a Tier 1 advice letter (effective pending disposition). We have reconsidered this distinction; under the new version of the Telecommunications Industry Rules, all such proposals would be reviewed under Tier 2. The new version is more fair, and ensures that proposed new services receive regulatory scrutiny before they become effective. At the same time, GO 96-B review of advice letters proposing new services would be streamlined relative to such review under GO 96-A, since the initial review period is shorter (30 days instead of 40), and if no controversy arises the advice letter thereafter may be deemed approved.

Similarly, the new version would shift from Tier 1 to Tier 2 the review of certain advice letters that propose to withdraw a service,²⁹ or to realign a boundary or exchange area if the realignment results in increased rates or more restrictive terms or conditions. The shift ensures regulatory scrutiny of actions that could limit service or increase costs to customers. Among other things, staff can determine whether affected customers have been notified and, if not, can require appropriate corrective action by the utility.

The new version also streamlines the procedure for submitting contracts for tariffed services. Under the procedure, all such contracts (except for contracts entered into by a "GRC-LEC," i.e., a local exchange company still operating subject to general rate case ratesetting and regulatory oversight) may be effective when signed, or as otherwise provided in the contract. GO 96-A contained such a procedure but limited it to government contracts.

There are several other notable substantive changes. In the order instituting this rulemaking, we had proposed to require a NRF-LEC to submit a formal application to update its authorized price cap, or to change the price floor or ceiling, or other term or condition, of a Category II service. For price floor increases and ceiling decreases, this procedure would have been more restrictive than current procedure, under which these changes could be made by advice letter. On further consideration, we now propose to allow a NRF-LEC to seek to change the price floor or ceiling, or other term or condition, of a Category II service by means of a Tier 3 advice letter. We have also revised our proposal regarding customer notice. We had previously proposed that such notice of an increased rate or charge, or of a more restrictive term or condition, be provided either 15 or 30 days (depending on the service) before the increase or other change would become effective. We now propose to require customer notice at least 25 days before the effectiveness of any such change.

The new version of the Telecommunications Industry Rules also dispenses with the characterization of carriers as "dominant" or "non-dominant," and instead refers directly to carriers by class (e.g., local exchange carrier, interexchange carrier, and so on). Several additional terms are defined, and procedures for specific types of advice letters (for example, asset transfers) are provided.