Or. Admin. Code § 860-034-0390 - Retail Telecommunications Service Standards for Small Telecommunications Utilities
Every small telecommunications utility must adhere to the following standards:
(1) Definitions.
(a) "Access Line" - A facility engineered
with dialing capability to provide retail telecommunications service that
connects a customer's service location to the Public Switched Telephone
Network;
(b) "Average Busy Season
Busy Hour" - The hour that has the highest average traffic for the three
highest months, not necessarily consecutive, in a 12-month period. The busy
hour traffic averaged across the busy season is termed the average busy season
busy hour traffic;
(c) "Blocked
Call" - A properly dialed call that fails to complete to its intended
destination except for a normal busy (60 interruptions per minute);
(d) "Customer" - Any person, firm,
partnership, corporation, municipality, cooperative, organization, governmental
agency, or other legal entity that has applied for, been accepted, and is
currently receiving local exchange telecommunications service;
(e) "Exchange" - Geographic area defined by
maps filed with and approved by the Commission for the provision of local
exchange telecommunications service;
(f) "Final Trunk Group" - A last-choice trunk
group that receives overflow traffic and that may receive first-route traffic
for which there is no alternative route;
(g) "Force Majeure" - Circumstances beyond
the reasonable control of a small telecommunications utility, including but not
limited to, delays caused by:
(A) A vendor in
the delivery of equipment, where the small telecommunications utility has made
a timely order of equipment;
(B)
Local, state, federal, or tribal government authorities in approving easements
or access to rights of way, where the small telecommunications utility has made
a timely application for such approval;
(C) The customer, including but not limited
to, the customer's construction project or lack of facilities, or failure to
provide access to the customer's premises;
(D) Uncontrollable events, such as explosion,
fire, floods, frozen ground, tornadoes, severe weather, epidemics, injunctions,
wars, acts of terrorism, strikes or work stoppages, and negligent or willful
misconduct by customers or third parties, including but not limited to, outages
originating from introduction of a virus onto the provider's network;
(h) "Held Order for
Lack of Facilities" - Request for access line service delayed beyond the
initial commitment date due to lack of facilities. An access line service order
includes an order for new service, transferred service, additional lines, or
change of service;
(i) "Initial
Commitment Date" - The initial date pledged by the small telecommunications
utility to provide a service, facility, or repair action. This date is within
the minimum time set forth in these rules or a date determined by good faith
negotiations between the customer and the small telecommunications utility;
(j) "Network Interface" - The
point of interconnection between the small telecommunications utility
provider's communications facilities and customer terminal equipment,
protective apparatus, or wiring at a customer's premises. The network interface
must be located on the customer's side of the small telecommunications
utility's protector;
(k) "Retail
Telecommunications Service" - A telecommunications service provided for a fee
to customers. Retail telecommunications service does not include a service
provided by a small telecommunications utility to another telecommunications
utility or competitive telecommunications provider, unless the
telecommunications utility or competitive telecommunications provider receiving
the service is the end user of the service;
(l) "Tariff" - A schedule showing rates,
tolls, and charges that the small telecommunications utility has established
for a retail service;
(m) "Trouble
Report" - A report of a malfunction that affects the functionality and
reliability of retail telecommunications service on existing access lines,
switching equipment, circuits, or features made up to and including the network
interface, to a small telecommunications utility by or on behalf of that small
telecommunications utility's customer;
(n) "Wire Center" - A facility where local
telephone subscribers' access lines converge and are connected to switching
equipment that provides access to the Public Switched Telephone Network,
including remote switching units and host switching units. A wire center does
not include collocation arrangements in a connecting small telecommunications
utility's wire center or broadband hubs that have no switching equipment.
(2) Measurement and
Reporting Requirements. A small telecommunications utility that maintains 1,000
or more access lines on a statewide basis must take the measurements required
by this rule and report them to the Commission as specified. Reported
measurements must be reported to the first significant digit (i.e., one number
should be reported to the right of the decimal point). A telecommunications
utility that maintains fewer than 1,000 access lines on a statewide basis need
not take the required measurements and file the required reports unless ordered
to do so by the Commission. The service quality objective service levels set
forth in sections 4 through 8 of this rule apply only to normal operating
conditions and do not establish a level of performance to be achieved during
force majeure events.
(3)
Additional Reporting Requirements. The Commission may require a small
telecommunications utility to submit additional reports on any item covered by
this rule.
(4) Provisioning and
Held Orders for Lack of Facilities. The representative of the small
telecommunications utility must give a retail customer an initial commitment
date of not more than six business days after a request for access line
service, unless a later date is determined through good faith negotiations
between the customer and the small telecommunications utility. The small
telecommunications utility may change the initial commitment date only if
requested by the customer. When establishing the initial commitment date, the
small telecommunications utility may take into account the actual time required
for the customer to meet prerequisites; e.g., line extension charges or trench
and conduit requirements. If a request for service becomes a held order for
lack of facilities, the serving small telecommunications utility must, within
five business days, send or otherwise provide the customer a written commitment
to fill the order.
(a) Measurement:
(A) Commitments Met - A small
telecommunications utility must calculate the monthly percentage of commitments
met for service, based on the initial commitment date, across its Oregon
service territory. Commitments missed for reasons solely attributed to
customers, another telecommunications utility or competitive telecommunications
provider may be excluded from the calculation of the "commitments met" results;
(B) Held Orders for Lack of
Facilities - A small telecommunications utility must determine the total
monthly number of held orders, due to lack of facilities, not completed by the
initial commitment date during the reporting month and the number of primary
(initial access line) held orders, due to lack of facilities, over 30 days past
the initial commitment date.
(b) Objective Service Level:
(A) Commitments Met - Each small
telecommunications utility must meet at least 90 percent of its commitments for
service.
(B) Held Orders:
(i) The number of held orders for the lack of
facilities for each small telecommunications utility must not exceed the
greater of two per wire center per month averaged over the small
telecommunications utility's Oregon service territory, or five held orders for
lack of facilities per 1,000 inward orders; and
(ii) The total number of primary held orders
for lack of facilities in excess of 30 days past the initial commitment date
must not exceed 10 percent of the total monthly held orders for lack of
facilities within the small telecommunications utility's Oregon service
territory.
(c) Reporting Requirement: Each small
telecommunications utility must report monthly to the Commission the percentage
of commitments met for service, total number of held orders for lack of
facilities, and the total number of primary held orders for lack of facilities
over 30 days past the initial commitment date.
(d) Retention Requirement: Each small
telecommunications utility must maintain records about held orders for lack of
facilities for one year. The record must explain why each order is held and the
initial commitment date.
(5) Trouble Reports. Each small
telecommunications utility must maintain an accurate record of all reports of
malfunction made by its customers.
(a)
Measurement: A small telecommunications utility must determine the number of
customer trouble reports that were received during the month. The small
telecommunications utility must relate the count to the total working access
lines within a reporting wire center. A small telecommunications utility need
not report those trouble reports that were caused by circumstances beyond its
control. The approved trouble report exclusions are:
(A) Cable Cuts: A small telecommunications
utility may take an exclusion if the "buried cable location" (locate) was
either not requested or was requested and was accurate. If a small
telecommunications utility or a utility's contractor caused the cut, the
exclusion can only be used if the locate was accurate and all general industry
practices were followed;
(B)
Internet Service Provider (ISP) Blockage: If an ISP does not have enough access
trunks to handle peak traffic;
(C)
Modem Speed Complaints: An exclusion may be taken if the copper cable loop is
tested at the subscriber location and the objective service levels in section
10 of this rule were met;
(D) No
Trouble Found: Where no trouble is found, one exemption may be taken. If a
repeat report of the same trouble is received within a 30-day period, the
repeat report and subsequent reports must be counted;
(E) New Feature or Service: Trouble reports
related to a customer's unfamiliarity with the use or operation of a new
(within 30 days) feature or service;
(F) No Access: An exclusion may be taken if a
repair appointment was kept and the copper based access line at the nearest
accessible terminal met the objective service levels in section 10 of this
rule. If a repeat trouble report is received within the following 30-day
period, the repeat report and subsequent reports must be counted;
(G) Subsequent Tickets/Same Trouble/Same
Access Line: Only one trouble report for a specific complaint for the same
access line should be counted within a 48-hour period. All repeat trouble
reports after the 48-hour period must be counted;
(H) Non-Regulated or Deregulated Equipment:
Trouble associated with such equipment should not be counted;
(I) Trouble with Other Telecommunications
Utilities or Competitive Telecommunications Providers: A trouble report caused
solely by another telecommunications utility or competitive telecommunications
provider;
(J) Lightning Strikes:
Trouble reports received for damage caused by lightning strikes can be excluded
if all accepted grounding, bonding, and shielding practices were followed by
the small telecommunications utility at the damaged location; and
(K) Other exclusions: As approved by the
Commission.
(b)
Objective Service Level: A small telecommunications utility must maintain
service so that the monthly trouble report rate, after approved trouble report
exclusions, does not exceed:
(A) For wire
centers with more than 1,000 access lines: two per 100 working access lines per
wire center more than three times during a sliding 12-month period.
(B) For wire centers with 1,000 or less
access lines: three per 100 working access lines per wire center more than
three times during a sliding 12-month period.
(c) Reporting Requirement: Each small
telecommunications utility must report monthly to the Commission:
(A) The trouble report rate by wire center;
(B) The reason(s) a wire center
meeting the standard (did not exceed the trouble report rate threshold for more
than three of the last 12 months) exceeded a trouble report rate of 3.0 per 100
working access lines during the reporting month;
(C) The reason(s) a wire center not meeting
the standard, after the exclusion adjustment, exceeded the trouble report rate
threshold per 100 access lines during the reporting month; and
(D) The access line count for each wire
center.
(d) Retention
Requirement: Each small telecommunications utility must maintain a record of
reported trouble in such a manner that it can be forwarded to the Commission
upon the Commission's request. The small telecommunications utility must keep
all records for a period of one year. The record of reported trouble must
contain as a minimum the:
(A) Telephone
number;
(B) Date and time
received;
(C) Time cleared;
(D) Type of trouble reported;
(E) Location of trouble; and
(F) Whether or not the present
trouble was within 30 days of a previous trouble report.
(6) Repair Clearing Time. This
standard establishes the clearing time for all trouble reports from the time
the customer reports the trouble to the small telecommunications utility until
the trouble is resolved. The small telecommunications utility must provide each
customer making a network trouble report with a commitment time when the small
telecommunications utility will repair or resolve the problem.
(a) Measurement: The small telecommunications
utility must calculate the percentage of trouble reports cleared within 48
hours of receiving a report for each repair center. Alternatively, the small
telecommunications utility may use the following weekend exception to calculate
the percentage for trouble reports cleared for those reports that are received
between 12 pm on Friday until 5 pm on Sunday.
(A) The trouble reports cleared must be
calculated for reports received between 12 pm Friday and 5 pm Saturday and
cleared by 5 pm the following Monday for each repair center.
(B) The trouble reports cleared must be
calculated for reports received between 5 pm Saturday and 5 pm Sunday and
cleared by 5 pm the following Tuesday for each repair center.
Alternative weekend repair calculations must be aggregated into the calculation for the percentage of trouble reports cleared within 48 hours.
(b) Objective
Service Level: A small telecommunications utility must monthly clear at least
90 percent of all trouble reports within 48 hours of receiving a report for
each repair center. Alternatively for those reports that are received between
12 pm Friday and 5 pm on Sunday, the small telecommunications utility may use
the following weekend exception to calculate the percentage for trouble report
cleared:
(A) The small telecommunications
utility must clear 90 percent of all trouble reports received between 12 pm
Friday and 5 pm Saturday by 5 pm the following Monday for each repair center.
(B) The small telecommunications
utility must clear 90 percent of all trouble reports received between 5 pm
Saturday and 5 pm Sunday by 5 pm the following Tuesday for each repair center.
(c) Reporting
Requirement: Each small telecommunications utility must report monthly to the
Commission the percentage of trouble reports cleared within 48 hours by each
repair center, with optional adjustments allowed for weekend repair exceptions
described in (b). A small telecommunications utility must use its best efforts
to complete out-of-service restorations for business customers. In addition, a
small telecommunications utility must use its best efforts to complete
out-of-service restorations for residential customers who have identified
either a medical necessity or no access to an alternative means of voice or
E-911 communications.
(d) A small
telecommunications utility must indicate in its report if it opts to use the
alternative weekend exception period reporting.
(e) Retention Requirement: None.
(7) Blocked Calls. A small
telecommunications utility must engineer and maintain all intraoffice,
interoffice, and access trunking and associated switching components to allow
completion of calls made during the average busy season busy hour without
encountering blockage or equipment irregularities in excess of levels listed in
subsection (7)(b) of this rule.
(a)
Measurement:
(A) A small telecommunications
utility must collect traffic data; i.e., peg counts and usage data generated by
individual components of equipment or by the wire center as a whole, and
calculate blockage levels of the interoffice final trunk groups.
(B) System blockage is determined by special
testing at the wire center. Commission Staff or a small telecommunications
utility technician will place test calls to a predetermined test number, and
the total number of attempted calls and the number of completed calls will be
counted. The percentage of calls completed must be calculated.
(b) Objective Service Level:
(A) A small telecommunications utility must
maintain interoffice final trunk groups to allow 99 percent completion of calls
during the average busy season busy hour without blockage (P.01 grade of
service); and
(B) A small
telecommunications utility must maintain its switch operation so that 99
percent of the calls do not experience blockage during the normal busy hour.
(C) When a small
telecommunications utility fails to maintain the interoffice final trunk group
P.01 grade of service for four or more consecutive months, it will be
considered out-of-standard until the condition is resolved. A single repeat
blockage within two months of restoring the P.01 grade of service will be
considered a continuation of the original blockage.
(c) Reporting Requirement: Each small
telecommunications utility must report monthly to the Commission:
(A) Local and extended area service (EAS)
final trunk groups that do not meet the objective service level for trunk group
blockage, measured from each of its switches, regardless of the ownership of
the terminating switch;
(B) Its
tandem switch final trunk group blockages associated with EAS traffic;
(C) Any known cause for the
blockage and actions to bring the trunks into standard; and
(D) Identity of the telecommunications
utility or competitive telecommunications provider, if other than the reporting
small telecommunications utility, responsible for maintaining those final trunk
groups not meeting the standard.
(d) Retention Requirement: Each small
telecommunications utility must maintain records for one year.
(8) Access to Small
Telecommunications Utility Representatives. Small telecommunications utilities
are not required to measure or report repair center and sales office access
times to the Commission.
(9)
Interruption of Service Notification. A small telecommunications utility must
report significant outages that affect customer service. These interruptions
could be caused by switch outage, electronic outage, cable cut, or
construction.
(a) Measurement: A small
telecommunications utility must notify the Commission when an interruption
occurs that exceeds any of the following thresholds:
(A) Cable cuts, excluding service wires and
wires placed in lieu of cable, or electronic outages lasting longer than 30
minutes and affecting 50 percent or more of in-service lines.
(B) Toll or Extended Area Service isolation
lasting longer than 30 minutes and affecting 50 percent or more of in-service
lines.
(C) Isolation of a central
office (host or remote) from the E 9-1-1 emergency dialing code or isolation of
a Public Safety Answering Position (PSAP).
(D) Isolation of a wire center for more than
15 minutes.
(E) Outage of the
business office or repair center access system lasting longer than 15 minutes
in those instances where the traffic cannot be re-routed to a different center.
(b) Objective Service
Level: Not applicable.
(c)
Reporting Requirement: A small telecommunications utility must report service
interruptions to the Commission engineering staff by telephone, by facsimile,
by electronic mail, or personally within two hours during normal work hours of
the business day after the company becomes aware of such interruption of
service. Interim reports will be given to the Commission as significant
information changes (e.g., estimated time to restore, estimated impact to
customers, cause of the interruption, etc.) until it is reported that the
affected service is restored.
(d)
Retention Requirement: None.
(10) Customer Access Line Testing. All
customer access lines must be designed, installed, and maintained to meet the
levels in subsection (b) of this section.
(a)
Measurement: Each small telecommunications utility must make all loop parameter
measurements at the network interface, or as close as access allows.
(b) Objective Service Level: Each access line
must meet the following levels:
(A) Loop
Current: The serving wire center loop current, when terminated into a 400-ohm
load, must be at least 20 milliamperes;
(B) Loop Loss: The maximum loop loss, as
measured with a 1004-hertz tone from the serving wire center, must not exceed
8.5 decibels (dB);
(C) Metallic
Noise: The maximum metallic noise level, as measured on a quiet line from the
serving wire center, must not exceed 20 decibels above referenced noise level -
C message weighting (dBrnC); and
(D) Power Influence: As a goal, power
influence, as measured on a quiet line from the serving wire center, must not
exceed 80 dBrnC.
(c)
Reporting Requirement: A small telecommunications utility must report
measurement readings as directed by the Commission.
(d) Retention Requirement: None.
(11) Customer Access Lines and
Wire Center Switching Equipment. All combinations of access lines and wire
center switching equipment must be capable of accepting and correctly
processing at least the following network control signals from the customer
premises equipment. The wire center must provide dial tone and maintain an
actual measured loss between interoffice and access trunk groups.
(a) Measurement: Each small
telecommunications utility must make measurements at or to the serving wire
center;
(b) Objective Service
Level:
(A) Dial Tone Speed. Ninety-eight
percent of originating average busy hour call attempts must receive dial tone
within three seconds; and
(B) A
small telecommunications utility must maintain all interoffice and access trunk
groups so that the actual measured loss (AML) in no more than 30 percent of the
trunks deviates from the expected measured loss (EML) by more than 0.7 dB and
no more than 4.5 percent of the trunks deviates from EML by more than 1.7 dB.
(c) Reporting
Requirement: None.
(d) Retention
Requirement: None.
(12)
Special Service Access Lines. All special service access lines must meet the
performance requirements specified in applicable small telecommunications
utility tariffs or contracts.
(13)
Small Telecommunications Utility Interconnectivity. A small telecommunications
utility connected to the facilities of another telecommunications utility or
competitive telecommunications provider must operate its system in a manner
that will not impede either company's ability to meet required standards of
service. A small telecommunications utility must report interconnection
operational problems promptly to the Commission.
(14) Remedies for Violation of This Standard.
(a) If a small telecommunications utility
subject to this rule fails to meet a minimum service quality standard, the
Commission must require the small telecommunications utility to submit a plan
for improving performance as provided in ORS
759.450(5). If
a small telecommunications utility does not meet the goals of its improvement
plan within six months, or if the plan is disapproved by the Commission, the
Commission may assess penalties in accordance with ORS
759.450(5) through
(7).
(b) In addition to the remedy provided under
ORS 759.450(5), if
the Commission believes that a small telecommunications utility subject to this
rule has violated one or more of its service standards, the Commission must
give the small telecommunications utility notice and an opportunity to request
a hearing. If the Commission finds a violation has occurred, the Commission may
require the small telecommunications utility to provide the following relief to
the affected customers:
(A) An alternative
means of telecommunications service for violations of paragraph (4)(b)(B) of
this rule;
(B) Customer billing
credits equal to the associated non-recurring and recurring charges of the
small telecommunications utility for the affected service for the period of the
violation; and
(C) Other relief
authorized by Oregon law.
(15)
(a) If
the Commission determines that effective competition exists in one or more
exchange(s), it may exempt all telecommunications utilities or competitive
telecommunications providers providing telecommunications services in the
exchange(s) from the requirements of this rule, in whole or in part. In making
this determination, the Commission will consider:
(A) The extent to which the service is
available from alternative providers in the relevant exchange(s);
(B) The extent to which the services of
alternative providers are functionally equivalent or substitutable at
comparable rates, terms, and conditions;
(C) Existing barriers to market entry;
(D) Market share and
concentration;
(E) Number of
suppliers;
(F) Price to cost
ratios;
(G) Demand side
substitutability (e.g., customer perceptions of competitors as viable
alternatives); and
(H) Any other
factors deemed relevant by the Commission.
(b) When a small telecommunications utility
petitions the Commission for exemption under this provision, the Commission
must provide notice of the petition to all relevant telecommunications
utilities and competitive telecommunications providers providing the applicable
service(s) in the exchange(s) in question. The Commission will provide such
notified small telecommunications utilities and competitive telecommunications
providers an opportunity to submit comments in response to the petition. The
comments may include requests that, following the Commission's analysis
outlined above in paragraphs (15)(a)(A) through (H), the commenting
telecommunications utilities and competitive telecommunications providers be
exempt from these rules for the applicable service(s) in the relevant
exchange(s).
(c) The Commission
may grant a small telecommunications utility's petition for an exemption from
service quality reporting requirements if the small telecommunications utility
meets all service quality objective service levels set forth in sections (4)
through (8) of this rule for the 12 months prior to the month in which the
petition is filed.
Notes
Publications: Publications referenced are available from the agency
Stat. Auth.: ORS 183 & 756
Stats. Implemented: : ORS 759.035, 759.050 & 759.240, 759.450
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