Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 50, December 13, 2024
Section 150-6-1 - General1.1. Scope. -- These rules govern the operation and service of telephone utilities subject to the jurisdiction of the Public Service Commission of West Virginia pursuant to W. Va Code '24-2-1.1.2. Authority. -- W. Va. Code ''24-1-7, 24-2-1, 24-2-6, 24-2-8, 24-2C-1, 24-6-1, and 24-2E-1.1.4. Effective Date. -- .1.5. Policy. -- The Public Service Commission of West Virginia and the regulated telephone companies have a joint responsibility to the citizens of West Virginia to ensure a quality of adequate communications services that meets the general need requirements of the public, provides the public with a high degree of reliability and convenience, and contributes substantially to the overall economic progress of the State of West Virginia. These telephone service regulations are established to meet the objectives needed to provide the best possible telephone service consistent with modern technology.
1.6. Application. -- The telephone service rules promulgated herein shall apply to all telephone company operations in the State of West Virginia that are subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission. 1.6.a. The rules promulgated by the Commission shall establish reasonable standards to the end that quality service, i.e., that which is adequate and satisfactory, is rendered to the telephone using public in the transmission of both local and long distance messages.1.6.b. If unreasonable hardship to a telephone user or telephone subscriber, or to the serving telephone company results from compliance with any Commission rules, application may be made to the Commission for modification of the rule, or for temporary exemption from its requirements.1.6.c. The adoption of these rules by the Commission preserves the authority of the Commission to grant exceptions and exemptions to and from its regulations under available procedures. The definitions contained herein are an integral part of and are treated as regulations.1.6.d. The rules promulgated herein shall in no way relieve the telephone company from any of its duties under the laws of the State of West Virginia or from any other rules or directives of the Commission.1.7. Definitions. -- In the interpretation of these rules, the following definitions shall be used, subject to the provisions of each company's applicable tariffs. 1.7.a. "Aggregator" -- Any person or business entity who, in the ordinary course of operations, makes telephones (other than public telephones) available to the public or to transient users of its premises for intrastate telephone calls using an operator services provider.1.7.b. "Automatic Dialing and Announcing Device" (ADAD) -- An item of telecommunications terminal equipment which has the ability to randomly, sequentially or according to a set of instructions, automatically initiate telephone calls and to, upon ascertaining that the called line has answered the call, play a prerecorded message. Telecommunications devices which, when activated by an alarm mecha-nism, call a predetermined telephone number to report the alarm's activation are not ADADs for purposes of this definition.1.7.c. "Basic Local Exchange Service" -- provision to a subscriber at his or her residence or business location of at least all of the following: 1. A voice-grade, two-way, single-party communications channel with dual-tone multifrequency signaling capability;2. A telephone number by which the subscriber may be signaled and an optional "White Pages" directory listing or its functional equivalent;3. Subject to the provisions set out in Rule 2.6 hereof, a printed telephone Directory or electronic telephone Directory that shall be updated at least annually and that shall contain, except for "non-published" and "unlisted" telephone listings, all telephone listings in the local calling area of those subscribers who are served by the local exchange carrier that publishes the Directory or Directories;4. Local call switching, signaling, supervision, completion, and transmission, for both outgoing and incoming calls;5. Access, at all times, to each of the following:A. Emergency services, including 9-1-1 and Enhanced 9-1-1 where such are utilized by the appropriate governmental body;B. "0" type operator service;D. Telecommunications relay service, excluding provision of associated subscriber premises equipment;E. Outgoing services offered by long distance carriers which serve the subscriber's exchange, including carrier access code dialing and presubscribed, 1-plus access where authorized, except when such access may be, pursuant to Commission rule or order, denied for failure to pay undisputed amounts owed;F. Incoming long distance calls;G. A means by which local service problems may be reported;H. Customer dispute resolution process.6. Optional blocking of the following: A. Transmittal of the caller's telephone number or name to called party (except for calls to Enhanced 9-1-1 answering points);B. Access to 900, 976 or 976-like services;C. Access to non-local calling;D. Ability to accept collect calls originating in West Virginia; andE. Ability for third-party calls originating in West Virginia to be charged to the customer's telephone number. 1.7.d. "Business Service" -- Service is classified and charged for as business service where the use is primarily or substantially of a business, professional, institutional or occupational nature, or where a business directory listing is furnished, except as provided in each telephone company's applicable tariffs. Where the place of business is located on the same premises as a residence and separate telephone service is not installed for the business, the telephone service installed on the premises shall ordinarily be billed at the business rate if the person operating said business is required to obtain a business registration certificate for said business on said premises; and provided that the person is not exempted from paying West Virginia business registration tax.1.7.e. "Busy Hour" -- The hour having the highest central office traffic load.1.7.f. "Busy Season" -- That period of the year during which the greatest volume of traffic is handled in the central office.1.7.g. "Calls" -- Customers' telephone messages attempted.1.7.h. "Casual Calling" -- The use, on a per-call basis, of telecommunications service by means of accessing a telecommunications carrier through use of that carrier's access code. The term is synonymous with "random calling" and is sometimes referred to as "dial-around calling."1.7.i. "Central Office" -- A switching unit in one (1) location of a telephone system which provides service to the general public, having the necessary equipment and operating arrangements for terminating and interconnecting customer lines and trunks. More than one (1) central office may be located in the same building.1.7.j. "Channel" -- An electrical path provided by a telephone company between two (2) or more points, furnished in such a manner as the telephone company may elect whether by wire, radio, fiber optics or a combination thereof and whether or not by a single physical facility or route.1.7.k. "Class of Service" -- A description of telecommunications service furnished to a subscriber which denotes such characteristics as nature of use (Business or Residence) or type of rate (Flat Rate, Message Rate or Measured Rate).1.7.l. "Commission" -- The Public Service Commission of West Virginia.1.7.m. "Customer" -- Any person, firm, partnership, corporation, municipality, cooperative, organization, governmental agency, etc., who purchases telecommunications services from a telephone company.1.7.n. "Customer Trouble Report" -- Any oral or written report from a subscriber or user of telecommunications service relating to a physical defect or to difficulty or dissatisfaction with the operation of telecommunications facilities. One (1) report shall be counted for each oral or written report received even though it may duplicate a previous report or merely involve an inquiry concerning progress on a previous report. Also, a separate report shall be counted for each telephone or private branch exchange (PBX) switchboard position reported in trouble when several items are reported by one (1) customer at the same time, unless the group of troubles so reported is clearly related to a common cause.1.7.o. "Direct-Inward-Dial-Number" -- A telephone number which may be used to directly signal a telecommunications device connected to a line extending from a facilities concentrating/switching device or system such as a PBX, key telephone system (KTS), hybrid PBX/KTS, Centre system, etc.1.7.p. "Directory" -- A listing of phone numbers and other information required by these rules printed on paper or listed in an internet-based electronic document and that is provided by a Local Exchange Carrier on an annual basis.1.7.q. "Exchange" -- A geographic area established for the administration of telecommunications service under the provisions of each telephone company's applicable tariffs. An exchange's boundaries are specified in documents on file with the Commission. An exchange has one unique rate center which may be used for purposes of calculating rates and charges.1.7.r. "Held Order" -- An application for establishment of basic exchange service not filled within thirty (30) days of the date on which the prospective customer desires service.1.7.s. "Individual Line Service" -- A classification of exchange service which provides that only one (1) main station shall be served by the circuit connecting such station with the central office equipment.1.7.t. "Intercept Service" -- A service arrangement provided by the telephone company whereby calls placed to a disconnected or discontinued telephone number are intercepted and the calling party informed that the called telephone number has been disconnected, or discontinued, or changed to another number, or that calls are being received by another telephone, etc.1.7.u. "Interexchange Telecommunications Carrier" -- A person or entity providing telecommunications service between Local Access and Transport Areas (LATAs) pursuant to a certificate of public convenience and necessity issued pursuant to W. Va. Code '24-2-11.1.7.v. "Interexchange Trunk" -- A transmission path, including the conductor or conductors and associated equipment, connecting two (2) exchanges.1.7.w. "Line" -- A general term used in telecommunications practice in several different senses, the most important of which are:1. The conductor or conductors and supporting or containing structures, including the network interface device (NID), extending between the NIDs located at the subscriber's premises and the central office.2. The conductors and circuit apparatus associated with a particular communication channel.3. Any communication channel between two (2) points regardless of the method of its derivation. 1.7.x. "Local Call" -- A call between two (2) points both of which are within the local calling area of the other.1.7.y. "Local Calling Area" -- The entire area within which are located the stations which a customer may call at the local rates and charges applicable in accordance with each telephone company's applicable tariffs.1.7.z. "Local Exchange Carrier or LEC" -- A person or entity granted a certificate of public convenience and necessity to provide local exchange services and exchange access within a defined service area of the state. Incumbent LECs shall be those LECs holding certificates of public convenience and necessity on or before February 8, 1996.1.7.aa. "Local Exchange Service" -- Telecommunications services that originate and terminate within a local calling area in accordance with the general tariffs of the local exchange carriers, regardless of how the call is switched or routed. Local exchange services shall include the provision of basic local exchange service.1.7.bb. "Local Message" -- A communication between a calling station and any other station within the local calling area of the calling station.1.7.cc. "Local Message Charge" -- The charge that applies for a completed telephone call that is made when the calling station and the station to which the connection is established are both within the same local calling area, and a local message charge is applicable.1.7.dd. "Local Service Charge" -- The recurring charge imposed by a local exchange carrier for enabling a subscriber to send or receive telecommunications within the local calling area.1.7.ee "Long Distance Service" -- The furnishing of telecommunications between stations in different local calling areas in accordance with the regulations and schedule of rates specified in each telephone company's applicable tariffs.1.7.ff. "Message" -- A completed customer telephone call.1.7.gg. "Message Rate Service" -- A classification of local service (other than public or semi-public telephone service) under which a customer pays a certain monthly charge entitling the customer to use a number of local messages, as specified in each telephone company's applicable tariffs.1.7.hh. "Message Toll Service" -- See "long distance service."1.7.ii. "Message Unit" -- A unit used for billing message rate services.1.7.jj. "Network Interface Device or NID" -- The telecommunications facility which serves as the demarcation point between a subscriber's facilities, including customer premises wiring, and the telecommunications facilities of the telecommunications carrier connecting to the NID. The NID is installed and maintained in accordance with the applicable tariffs of the telecommunications carrier that furnishes the NID.1.7.kk. "Non-Basic Services" -- Telecommunications services that are not defined as Basic Local Exchange Services.1.7.ll. "Number Portability" -- The ability of users of telecommunications services to retain, at the same location, existing telephone numbers without impairment of quality, reliability, or convenience when switching from one telecommunications carrier to another.1.7.mm. "Type Operator Service" -- Provision to a caller, by the use of automated equipment or telephone company personnel, in a timely and reliable manner at the request of the caller, of each of the following: 1. Emergency call transfer to the 9-1-1 or Enhanced 9-1-1 answering point serving the caller's location or, when the caller's location is not served by a 9-1-1 or Enhanced 9-1-1 system, to the proper emergency service provider.2. Assistance, when needed, in completing local calls.3. Information regarding how to do any of the following:A. Report service problems;B. Contact a specific toll carrier;C. Contact the caller's local exchange carrier's business office;D. Contact the telecommunications relay service; orE. Contact the Commission. 1.7.nn. "Operator Service Provider" -- A public telecommunications utility regulated by the Commission which performs any of the following services, by manual or mechanized means, for the public: 1. Receives and handles Zero Plus ("0+") calls.2. Receives and handles Zero Minus ("0-") calls.3. Handles, wholly or in part:B. Third-number billed calls; orC. Collect (reversal of charges) calls.4. Provides emergency call routing service. 1.7.oo. "Outside Plant" -- The telephone equipment and facilities installed on, along, over, or under streets, alleys, roads, highways, or on public or private rights-of-way between the central office and customers' locations or between central offices.1.7.pp. "Payphone" -- A telephone made available to the general public or inmates of jails, prisons, etc. on a fee-per-call basis: Provided, however, that telephones in rooms occupied by guests, residents or patients of hotels, motels, dormitories and hospitals, are not considered payphones for purposes of application of the Commission's payphone rules and regulations.1.7.qq. "Payphone Service Provider or PSP" -- Any person or business entity that owns or operates payphones.1.7.rr. "Premises" -- A term used to denote continuous property occupied by a customer either under lease or ownership as administered by each telephone company's applicable tariffs.1.7.ss. "Reseller" -- A carrier that resells a telecommunications service that it procures, at a wholesale discount, from another carrier that provides the service at retail to subscribers who are not telecommunications carriers.1.7.tt. "Residence Service" -- Service where the primary use of the service is of a domestic nature and where the business use, if any, is merely incidental.1.7.uu. "Rural Telephone Company or RTC" -- A local exchange carrier that meets any of the following criteria: 1. The carrier provides common carrier service in any local exchange carrier study area that does not include either: A. Any incorporated place of 10,000 inhabitants or more, or any part thereof, based on the most recently available population statistics of the Bureau of the Census; orB. Any territory, incorporated or unincorporated, included in any urbanized area, as defined by the Bureau of the Census as of August 10, 1993.2. The carrier provides telephone exchange services, including exchange access, to fewer than 50,000 access lines.3. The carrier provides telephone exchange service to any local exchange carrier study area with fewer than 100,000 access lines.4. The carrier has less than fifteen percent (15%) of its access lines in communities of more than 50,000 on February 8, 1996. 1.7.vv. "Serving Local Exchange Carrier" -- The Commission-certificated local exchange carrier that provides dial tone and local exchange access to a subscriber or payphone.1.7.ww. "Station" -- The network control signaling unit, data set, or other equipment provided by the customer on the customer's premises which enables the customer to establish communications connections and to effect communications through such connections.1.7.xx. "Subscriber" -- See "Customer."1.7.yy. "Surcharge" -- Any charge imposed pursuant to the intrastate calling use of an aggregator's facilities which is not contained in a current tariff on file with the Public Service Commission.1.7.zz. "Switching Location" -- A telecommunications facility used by a telecommunications carrier to connect and disconnect callers to and from lines and other transmission facilities for the purposes of communicating between points and for terminating such communications. A line concentrating device is not a switching location unless it is used to connect a caller to the caller's destination point without the use of additional switching.1.7.aaa. "Tariff" -- A telephone company's entire body of definitions, descriptions, requirements, penalties, obligations, rates, tolls, charges, fees, classifications, rules, regulations, etc. filed with and approved by the Commission or allowed to go into effect.1.7.bbb. "Telecommunications Carrier" or "Telephone Company" -- Any provider of telecommunications services to the public under the jurisdiction of the Commission.1.7.ccc. "Telecommunications Services" -- Any of the following, when offered, for purposes of communicating between points, to the public and regulated to any degree by the Commission: 1. Access to the public switched telecommunications network.4. Transmission of electrical signals, including radio or lightwave signals of a digital or analog nature.5. Controls necessary for proper and successful telecommunications. The actual content of any message communicated between points is not a telecommunications message.
1.7.ddd. "Telephone Solicitation" -- The initiation, without the called party's prior express invitation or permission, of a telephone call to a party for the purpose of encouraging that party to purchase property, goods or services or soliciting donations of money, property, goods or services. Telephone solicitation does not include: 1. Calls made in response to a request or inquiry by the called party. This includes calls regarding an item that has been purchased by the called party from the calling company or organization during a period not longer than twelve (12) months prior to the telephone contact.2. Calls made for a not-for-profit organization to its own list of bona fide or active members of the organization.3. Calls limited to polling or soliciting the expression of ideas, opinions or votes.4. Contacts with telephone subscribers with whom a business or credit relationship exists.5. Calls utilized for relaying messages for private purposes, including voice messaging services or message delivery services. 1.7.eee. "Traffic" -- Telephone call volume, based on the number and duration of messages.1.7.fff. "Transmission Facilities" -- the non-switching media necessary to convey communications signals between points. Transmission facilities include, but are not limited to: 1. Wires, cable (including co-axial and fiber optic cable), and waveguides.2. Radio receivers, transmitters and antennae.3. Amplifiers and channel derivation devices. 1.7.ggg. "Zero Minus (0-) call" -- A call made by the caller dialing the digit "0" and no other digits within five seconds of dialing the digit "0."1.7.hhh. "Zero Plus (0+) call" -- A telephone call made by the caller dialing the digit "0" and all of the additional digits necessary to make the call.1.8. Uniform system of accounts. a. Under the authority of the W. Va. Code '24-2-8, all local exchange carriers shall maintain a "Uniform System of Accounts", as promulgated by the Federal Communications Commission and contained in Part 32 under Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations, unless subsequently revised by this Commission by rule or decision. Interexchange carriers shall maintain adequate accounting records such that each inter-exchange carrier will be able to comply with the annual reporting requirements of this Commission.b. Each local exchange carrier will inform the Commission, concurrent with informing the Federal Communications Commission, of its intention to follow new accounting standards prescribed by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (or successor authoritative accounting standard-setting groups). Changes in accounting standards will automatically take effect ninety (90) days after the local exchange carrier notifies the Commission, unless the Commission notifies the carrier to the contrary.c. For the purpose of securing uniformity in the application's of this system, all questions of doubtful interpretation of accounting rules are to be submitted to the Commission for consideration and decision.