2023 New York Laws › PBS - Public Service › Article 5 - Provisions Relating to Telegraph and Telephone Lines and to Telephone and Telegraph Corporations › 92-E - Telephone Service; Changes in Providers.

§  92-e.  Telephone  service; changes in providers. 1. Definitions. As
used in this section, the  following  terms  shall  have  the  following
meanings:
(a)  "Hold  order  or  freeze"  shall  mean  a directive to retain the
provider of telephone service selected by a customer until the  customer
provides  express  authorization  for  a  change  to another provider of
telephone service.
(b) "Provider of telephone service" shall mean a telephone corporation
that  provides  intrastate  interLATA,  intraLATA,  or  local   exchange
telephone service to end-use customers.
(c)  "Service  for  which  there  are multiple providers" shall mean a
service for which customers have the ability to subscribe or select from
more than one provider of telephone service.
2. Unauthorized changes prohibited. No telephone  corporation  or  any
person,  firm  or  corporation acting as an agent or representative of a
telephone corporation shall on behalf of a customer make any  change  or
direct  a  different  telephone  corporation  to  make  any  change in a
provider of a telephone service for which there are multiple  providers,
unless   such   corporation,   agent  or  representative  complies  with
authorization and confirmation procedures established by the  commission
and by federal law and rules. In construing and enforcing the provisions
of this section, the act of any person, firm or corporation acting as an
agent or representative of a telephone corporation shall be deemed to be
the act of such telephone corporation.
3.   Rules  and  regulations.  The  commission  may  adopt  rules  and
regulations relating to unauthorized changes in providers  of  telephone
service  that  are  consistent  with  federal  law  which,  among  other
requirements, establish procedures for a customer to confirm a change in
a provider of telephone service made by another telephone corporation on
behalf of the customer and set forth methods for  enforcing  such  rules
and regulations.
4. Hold order or freeze. The commission may, if it determines it to be
necessary,  require  any telephone corporation that owns or operates the
network facilities that control routing, selection, or billing functions
necessary to implement a hold order or freeze to  offer  it  to  end-use
customers  as  a method of reducing incidents of unauthorized changes in
providers of telephone service. Such corporation shall perform any  hold
order  or  freeze  procedure  in  a non-discriminatory and competitively
neutral manner that does not give such corporation an advantage over its
competitors in the telecommunications market.
5. Billing information. When a customer or a new provider of telephone
service on behalf of a customer makes  a  change  in  a  provider  of  a
telephone  service,  the  new  provider  of  telephone  service shall be
responsible for insertion  of  a  conspicuous  notice  on  or  with  the
customer's  first bill for which the change is effective or shall send a
separate notice within sixty  days  informing  the  customer  that  such
change  was  made.  Any bill for intrastate interLATA, intraLATA, and/or
local exchange service shall  contain  the  name  of  each  provider  of
telephone service for which billing is provided.
6.  Penalties.  (a)  A violation of federal law or rules applicable to
intrastate service  or  of  this  subdivision  relating  to  changes  in
providers of telephone service is subject either to the judicial penalty
authorized  in  section  twenty-five  of this chapter for the failure or
neglect to obey or comply with  a  provision  of  this  chapter  or  the
administrative  penalty established in this subdivision. In seeking such
judicial  penalty  or  assessing  such   administrative   penalty,   the
commission  shall  take  into account the nature, circumstances, extent,
gravity and number of the violations, and with respect to the  violator,

the  degree  of  culpability, any history of prior offenses and repeated
violations, and such other matters as may be appropriate  and  relevant.
The  remedies  provided by this subdivision are in addition to any other
remedies provided in law.
(b)  The commission shall have the authority to assess directly, after
an opportunity for hearing, an administrative penalty not to exceed five
thousand dollars for each violation associated with  a  specific  access
line  within the state of federal law and rules applicable to intrastate
service or of this subdivision  relating  to  changes  in  providers  of
telephone  service. All moneys recovered from any administrative penalty
shall be paid into the state treasury to the credit of the general fund.