The California Public Utilities Commission unveiled a draft (http://xrl.us/bn68ex) and...
The California Public Utilities Commission unveiled a draft (http://xrl.us/bn68ex) and redlined version (http://xrl.us/bn68ez) of its new basic service definition for residential phone customers. The CPUC will vote on the proposed new definition, which is intended to take into account changes…
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to the telecom industry, at its meeting Thursday. The commissioners agreed in recent weeks to try to knit together two proposals different commissioners had introduced earlier in the year and reconcile attention to consumer protections as well as industry concerns (CD Nov 30 p14). The proposed order includes findings of fact on new technologies: “Wireless and VoIP currently offer telecommunications services in competition with ILECs, but do not currently offer basic service,” it said. Wireless and “other alternatives ... serve as partial, but not complete, substitutes for basic service” for now, it added. In the proposal’s conclusions, the CPUC noted that applying technology-neutral rules doesn’t justify “the degrading of essential consumer needs to satisfy the lowest common denominator of service features that carriers may currently be willing to offer.” The proposal’s appendix lays out the different requirements of access, billing, 911, directories and other elements. California companies seeking to qualify as carriers of last resort or to provide Lifeline must adhere to and offer service meeting this basic service definition, the proposal said.