Oregon Administrative Rules › Chapter 860 - PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION › Division 32 - TELECOMMUNICATIONS › Section 860-032-0012 - Retail Telecommunications Service Standards for Competitive Telecommunications Providers

Current through Register Vol. 63, No. 7, July 1, 2024
Every large telecommunications utility, as defined in OAR
				860-023-0001(2), must adhere to the standards in OAR 860-023-0055. Every small
				telecommunications utility, as defined in 860-034-0010(3)(a)  must adhere to the
				standards in 860-034-0390. Every competitive telecommunications provider, as
				defined in ORS 759.005(1),
				that maintains more than 1,000 access lines on a statewide basis, must adhere
				to the following service 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) "Average
			 Speed of Answer" - The average time that elapses between the time the call is
			 directed to a representative and the time it is answered;
(d) "Blocked Call" - A properly dialed call
			 that fails to complete to its intended destination except for a normal busy (60
			 interruptions per minute);
(e)
			 "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;
(f)
			 "Exchange" - Geographic area defined by maps filed with and approved by the
			 Commission for the provision of local exchange telecommunications service;
(g) "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;
(h) "Force Majeure"- Circumstances beyond the
			 reasonable control of a competitive telecommunications provider, including but
			 not limited to, delays caused by:
(A) A
			 vendor in the delivery of equipment, where the competitive telecommunications
			 provider 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 competitive telecommunications provider 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;
(i) "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;
(j) "Initial
			 Commitment Date" - The initial date pledged by the competitive
			 telecommunications provider 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 competitive
			 telecommunications provider;
(k)
			 "Network Interface" - The point of interconnection between the competitive
			 telecommunications 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 competitive
			 telecommunications provider's protector;
(l) "Retail Telecommunications Service" - A
			 telecommunications service provided for a fee to customers. Retail
			 telecommunications service does not include a service provided by a competitive
			 telecommunications provider to another competitive telecommunications provider
			 or telecommunications utility, unless the competitive telecommunications
			 provider or telecommunications utility receiving the service is the end user of
			 the service;
(m) "Service Area" -
			 The entire geographic area the Commission has certified a competitive
			 telecommunications provider to serve. A competitive telecommunications provider
			 may petition the Commission to designate a different geographic area as its
			 service quality reporting area.
(n) "Tariff" - A schedule showing rates,
			 tolls, and charges that the competitive telecommunications provider has
			 established for a retail service;
(o) "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
			 competitive telecommunications provider by or on behalf of that competitive
			 telecommunications provider's customer, which affects the functionality and
			 reliability of retail telecommunications service;
(p) "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 competitive
			 telecommunications provider's wire center or broadband hubs that have no
			 switching equipment.