Section 63-9A-8 - Regulation of rates and charges. - New Mexico Statutes

63-9A-8. Regulation of rates and charges.

A.     In accordance with the policy established in the New Mexico Telecommunications Act [63-9A-1 NMSA 1978], the commission shall, by its own motion or upon petition by any interested party, hold hearings to determine if any public telecommunications service is subject to effective competition in the relevant market area. When the commission has made a determination that a service or part of a service is subject to effective competition, the commission shall, consistent with the purposes of the New Mexico Telecommunications Act, modify, reduce or eliminate rules, regulations and other requirements applicable to the provision of such service, including the fixing and determining of specific rates, tariffs or fares for the service. The commission's action may include the detariffing of service or the establishment of minimum rates which will cover the costs for the service. Such modification shall be consistent with the maintenance of the availability of access to local exchange service at affordable rates and comparable message telecommunication service rates, as established by the commission, for comparable markets or market areas, except that volume discounts or other discounts based on reasonable business purposes shall be permitted. Upon petition or request of an affected telecommunications company, the commission upon a finding that the requirements of Subsection C of this section are met shall modify the same or similar regulatory requirements for those providers of comparable public telecommunications services in the same relevant markets, so that there shall be parity of regulatory standards and requirements for all such providers.   

B.     In determining whether a service is subject to effective competition, the commission shall consider the following:   

(1)     the extent to which services are reasonably available from alternate providers in the relevant market area;   

(2)     the ability of alternate providers to make functionally equivalent or substitute services readily available at competitive rates, terms and conditions; and   

(3)     existing economic or regulatory barriers.   

C.     No provider of public telecommunications service may use current revenues earned or expenses incurred in conjunction with any noncompetitive service to subsidize competitive public telecommunications services. In order to avoid cross-subsidization of competitive services by noncompetitive telecommunications services, prices or rates charged for a competitive telecommunications service shall cover the cost for the provision of the service. In any proceeding held pursuant to this section, the party providing the service shall bear the burden of proving that the prices charged for competitive telecommunications services cover cost.   

D.     The commission may, upon its own motion or on the petition of an interested party and after notice to all interested parties and customers and a hearing, reclassify any service previously determined to be a competitive telecommunications service if after a hearing the commission finds that a service is not subject to effective competition.