Sec. 58.003. CUSTOMER-SPECIFIC CONTRACTS. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, but subject to Subsection (b), an electing company may not offer in an exchange a service, or an appropriate subset of a service, listed in Sections 58.051(a)(1)-(4) or Sections 58.151(1)-(4) in a manner that results in a customer-specific contract, unless the other party to the contract is a federal, state, or local governmental entity, until the earlier of September 1, 2003, or the date on which the commission finds that at least 40 percent of the total access lines for that service or appropriate subset of that service in that exchange are served by competitive alternative providers that are not affiliated with the electing company.

(b) The requirements prescribed by Subsection (a) do not apply to an electing company serving fewer than five million access lines after the date on which it completes the infrastructure improvements described in this subsection. The electing company must also notify the commission of the company's binding commitment to make the following infrastructure improvements not later than September 1, 2000:

(1) install Common Channel Signaling 7 capability in each central office; and

(2) connect all of the company's serving central offices to their respective LATA tandem central offices with optical fiber or equivalent facilities.

(c) The commission by rule shall prescribe appropriate subsets of services.

(d) An electing company may file with the commission a request for a finding under this section. The filing must include information sufficient for the commission to perform a review and evaluation in relation to the particular exchange and the particular service or appropriate subset of a service for which the electing company wants to offer customer-specific contracts. The commission must grant or deny the request not later than the 60th day after the date the electing company files the request.

(e) The commitments described by Subsection (b) do not apply to exchanges of the company sold or transferred before, or for which contracts for sale or transfer are pending on, September 1, 2001. In the case of exchanges for which contracts for sale or transfer are pending as of March 1, 2001, where the purchaser withdrew or defaulted before September 1, 2001, the company shall have one year from the date of withdrawal or default to comply with the commitments.

(f) This section does not preclude an electing company from offering a customer-specific contract to the extent allowed by this title as of August 31, 1999.

Added by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 1212, Sec. 33, eff. Sept. 1, 1999.