Section 63-9A-8.2 - Identifying subsidies; rules; price caps. - New Mexico Statutes

63-9A-8.2. Identifying subsidies; rules; price caps.

A.     No later than December 31, 2000, the commission shall review existing rates for public telecommunications services offered by incumbent local exchange carriers with more than fifty thousand access lines and identify all subsidies that are included in the rates. The commission shall issue rules requiring that the identified subsidies appear on customer bills and establish a schedule not later than April 1, 2001 whereby implicit subsidies be eliminated through implementation of the state rural universal service fund or through revenue-neutral rate rebalancing or any other method consistent with the intent of the New Mexico Telecommunications Act [63-9A-1 NMSA 1978].

B.     No later than January 1, 2001, the commission shall adopt rules that:

(1)     establish consumer protection and quality- of-service standards;

(2)     ensure adequate investment in the telecommunications infrastructure in both urban and rural areas of the state;

(3)     promote availability and deployment of high-speed data services in both urban and rural areas of the state;

(4)     ensure the accessibility of interconnection by competitive local exchange carriers in both urban and rural areas of the state; and

(5)     establish an expedited regulatory process for considering matters related to telecommunications services that are pending before the commission.

C.     No later than April 1, 2001, but in no case prior to the adoption of the rules required in Subsection B of this section, the commission shall eliminate rate of return regulation of incumbent telecommunications carriers with more than fifty thousand access lines and implement an alternative form of regulation that includes reasonable price caps for basic residence and business local exchange services.

D.     Rules adopted pursuant to this section shall not be applied to incumbent rural telecommunications carriers as that term is defined in Subsection I of Section 63-9H-3 NMSA 1978.

E.     The provisions of this section do not apply to a mid-size carrier.