VIII. Applicability of G.O. 133-B Service Quality Measures and Standards

As with our Consumer Protection Rules, we will define "carrier" under our service quality rules to include all entities, whether certificated or registered, that provide telecommunications-related products or services and are subject to the Commission's jurisdiction pursuant to the Public Utilities Code. Although R.98-06-029 considered whether the service quality standards contained in G.O. 133-B should be imposed on non-dominant carriers or on carriers that provide competitive services, D.00-03-052 made no changes to the applicability of G.O. 133-B. Thus, non-dominant interexchange carriers (NDIECs) and CLECs are currently subject to G.O. 133-B service quality standards.

R.98-06-029 did not determine whether Commercial Mobile Radio Service (CMRS) providers were "telephone utilities" for G.O. 133-B purposes. However, D.95-10-032 addressed generally which CMRS providers are subject to Commission jurisdiction, and D.96-12-071 provided further clarification. We do not intend to revisit the definition of "CMRS providers" in this proceeding. However, we recognize that many consumers are increasingly using wireless services to supplement and to replace some of their use of wireline telephone services.⁹² Therefore, we intend to make CMRS providers, over which we have previously asserted continuing jurisdiction, subject to the revised G.O. 133-B service quality rules, where appropriate and as specified in Attachment 1.⁹³

As stated above, we do not intend to apply all proposed measures to every telecommunications service. We seek comment on whether the measures and standards identified as applicable to CMRS providers is complete, or whether additional measures and standards are applicable. Exhibit A to Attachment 1 displays the proposed service quality measures and the types of services to which we propose they apply. We also seek comment on whether the measures and standards for CMRS providers include any measures and standards that are not applicable to CMRS services.

⁹³ Cellular telephone carriers are required by statute to provide the commission with information, as specified by the commission, concerning service quality and customer complaints. See P.U. Code § 2885.6(a).