Texas Administrative Code › Title 16 - ECONOMIC REGULATION › Part 2 - PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION OF TEXAS › Chapter 26 - SUBSTANTIVE RULES APPLICABLE TO TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICE PROVIDERS › Subchapter M - OPERATOR SERVICES › Section 26.315 - Requirements for Dominant Certificated Telecommunications Utilities (DCTUs)

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
(a) Validation information. Each DCTU shall
				  make validation information (e.g., DCTU calling card numbers, whether an access
				  line is equipped with billed number screening, or whether an access line is a
				  pay telephone) available to any interexchange carrier requesting it on the same
				  prices, terms, and conditions that the DCTU provides the service to any other
				  interexchange carrier. The DCTU may comply with the requirements of this
				  paragraph by providing its own database, making arrangements with another DCTU
				  to provide the information, or making arrangements with a third-party
				  vendor.
(b) Billing and collection
				  services. Each DCTU shall offer billing and collection services, pursuant to
				  subsection (c) of this section, to any interexchange carrier requesting it on
				  the same prices, terms, and conditions that the DCTU provides the services to
				  any other interexchange carrier.
(c) Validation requirements. If validation
				  information is available for calls that the interexchange carrier (or a
				  third-party billing and collection agent operating on behalf of the
				  interexchange carrier) will bill through the DCTU, the interexchange carrier is
				  required to validate the call and is allowed to submit the call for billing
				  only if the call was validated. To insure that only validated collect calls are
				  billed, the DCTU shall:
(1) Establish edits
				  in the DCTU's current billing system to insure that calls less than five
				  minutes in duration, and total charges for that call exceed $35, are not
				  billed; or
(2) For charges that
				  appear on the retail consumer's monthly billing statement, establish internal
				  processes to track retail consumer complaints for each billing month for each
				  third party entity. For any third party entity with complaints that exceed a
				  threshold of 0.5% of all records billed for the billing month in which the
				  report is generated, the DCTU shall initiate a proceeding with the commission
				  to determine whether the billing and collection agreement should be terminated
				  by commission order. In conjunction with the internal tracking procedures, the
				  DCTU will establish a random, periodic, unannounced audit process whereby the
				  DCTU will audit messages. The audited carrier will be required to provide the
				  DCTU the necessary audit data in a form consistent with DCTU capabilities. The
				  fact an audit has or has not been conducted and/or the DCTU has not previously
				  questioned the charges at issue does not constitute approval or endorsement of
				  charges by the DCTU; and
(3) The
				  DCTU shall implement a public education campaign to advise customers of the
				  responsibilities and obligations associated with accepting collect telephone
				  calls. The public education campaign must also inform customers of the DCTU's
				  policies and procedures for contesting unauthorized collect call charges. A
				  DCTU fulfills this requirement if it publishes such information in the customer
				  rights section of the white page directory.