Bill > SB193

This bill amends the New Mexico Telecommunications Act to extend the benefits of regulatory flexibility, previously only available to incumbent rural telecommunications carriers, to all consumers and carriers in the state, and to establish a regulatory framework for an orderly transition to a competitive market. It clarifies definitions, including "incumbent local exchange carrier" and "incumbent rural telecommunications carrier," and grants the Public Regulation Commission (PRC) exclusive jurisdiction over incumbent local exchange carriers with over fifty thousand access lines, specifically regarding wholesale rates and participation in low-income telephone service assistance programs, while preserving existing rights and obligations related to federal law, interconnection, and consumer complaints. The bill also introduces relaxed regulations for these larger incumbent carriers, requiring reduced filing requirements and expedited consideration in proceedings, and mandates that regulatory requirements for competitive carriers be no more extensive than those for these larger incumbents. Furthermore, it revises the criteria for determining "effective competition" for telecommunications services, now considering factors on a wire center serving area basis and presuming effective competition if the incumbent provider serves less than half of customer locations, and it clarifies rules regarding individual contracts and the prohibition of cross-subsidization between noncompetitive and competitive services. Finally, the bill mandates a triennial review by the PRC of the Act's impact on consumers, infrastructure investment, and service availability, with the possibility of reregulation of basic local exchange service in certain areas after July 31, 2019, if deemed necessary to protect the public interest.