46th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2003

RELATING TO TELECOMMUNICATIONS; PROVIDING PROCEDURES FOR RECOVERY OF BUSINESS REVENUE LOST DUE TO POOR PUBLIC TELECOMMUNICATION SERVICE.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

Section 1. A new section of the New Mexico Telecommunication Act is enacted to read:

"[NEW MATERIAL] STANDARDS OF SERVICE FOR BUSINESS CUSTOMERS--REIMBURSEMENT FOR LOST REVENUE.--

A. The commission shall adopt rules for administrative procedures for a business that relies on public telecommunications services to recover revenue lost due to the failure of those services purchased by that business from a provider of those services.

B. As used in this section:

(1) "failure" means service that does not meet industry standards of reliability for a given type of service or the quality of service standards established by the commission; and

(2) "provider" means an incumbent local exchange carrier with more than fifty thousand access lines that sells the public telecommunication service to the business in question.

C. If a public telecommunication service does not meet the standards referred to in Subsection B of this section:

(1) the provider of those services shall be responsible for revenue lost by the business purchasing those services from the provider; and

(2) the burden of proof shall be on the provider to show that claimed revenue losses of a business are not justified."