§ 92-E — Telephone service; changes in providers

§ 92-e. Telephone service; changes in providers. 1. Definitions. As\nused in this section, the following terms shall have the following\nmeanings:\n (a) "Hold order or freeze" shall mean a directive to retain the\nprovider of telephone service selected by a customer until the customer\nprovides express authorization for a change to another provider of\ntelephone service.\n (b) "Provider of telephone service" shall mean a telephone corporation\nthat provides intrastate interLATA, intraLATA, or local exchange\ntelephone service to end-use customers.\n (c) "Service for which there are multiple providers" shall mean a\nservice for which customers have the ability to subscribe or select from\nmore than one provider of telephone service.\n 2. Unauthorized changes prohibited. No telephone corporation or any\nperson, firm or corporation acting as an agent or representative of a\ntelephone corporation shall on behalf of a customer make any change or\ndirect a different telephone corporation to make any change in a\nprovider of a telephone service for which there are multiple providers,\nunless such corporation, agent or representative complies with\nauthorization and confirmation procedures established by the commission\nand by federal law and rules. In construing and enforcing the provisions\nof this section, the act of any person, firm or corporation acting as an\nagent or representative of a telephone corporation shall be deemed to be\nthe act of such telephone corporation.\n 3. Rules and regulations. The commission may adopt rules and\nregulations relating to unauthorized changes in providers of telephone\nservice that are consistent with federal law which, among other\nrequirements, establish procedures for a customer to confirm a change in\na provider of telephone service made by another telephone corporation on\nbehalf of the customer and set forth methods for enforcing such rules\nand regulations.\n 4. Hold order or freeze. The commission may, if it determines it to be\nnecessary, require any telephone corporation that owns or operates the\nnetwork facilities that control routing, selection, or billing functions\nnecessary to implement a hold order or freeze to offer it to end-use\ncustomers as a method of reducing incidents of unauthorized changes in\nproviders of telephone service. Such corporation shall perform any hold\norder or freeze procedure in a non-discriminatory and competitively\nneutral manner that does not give such corporation an advantage over its\ncompetitors in the telecommunications market.\n 5. Billing information. When a customer or a new provider of telephone\nservice on behalf of a customer makes a change in a provider of a\ntelephone service, the new provider of telephone service shall be\nresponsible for insertion of a conspicuous notice on or with the\ncustomer's first bill for which the change is effective or shall send a\nseparate notice within sixty days informing the customer that such\nchange was made. Any bill for intrastate interLATA, intraLATA, and/or\nlocal exchange service shall contain the name of each provider of\ntelephone service for which billing is provided.\n 6. Penalties. (a) A violation of federal law or rules applicable to\nintrastate service or of this subdivision relating to changes in\nproviders of telephone service is subject either to the judicial penalty\nauthorized in section twenty-five of this chapter for the failure or\nneglect to obey or comply with a provision of this chapter or the\nadministrative penalty established in this subdivision. In seeking such\njudicial penalty or assessing such administrative penalty, the\ncommission shall take into account the nature, circumstances, extent,\ngravity and number of the violations, and with respect to the violator,\nthe degree of culpability, any history of prior offenses and repeated\nviolations, and such other matters as may be appropriate and relevant.\nThe remedies provided by this subdivision are in addition to any other\nremedies provided in law.\n (b) The commission shall have the authority to assess directly, after\nan opportunity for hearing, an administrative penalty not to exceed five\nthousand dollars for each violation associated with a specific access\nline within the state of federal law and rules applicable to intrastate\nservice or of this subdivision relating to changes in providers of\ntelephone service. All moneys recovered from any administrative penalty\nshall be paid into the state treasury to the credit of the general fund.\n