Oregon Administrative Rules › Chapter 860 - PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION › Division 34 - SMALL TELECOMMUNICATIONS UTILITIES AND COOPERATIVES › Section 860-034-0390 - Retail Telecommunications Service Standards for Small Telecommunications Utilities

Current through Register Vol. 63, No. 7, July 1, 2024
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.