South Carolina § 58-9-285 - Regulation of bundled offerings.

§ 58-9-285. Regulation of bundled offerings.

(A) As used in this section:

(1) "Bundled offering" means:

(a) for a qualifying LEC, an offering of two or more products or services to customers at a single price provided that:

(i) the bundled offering must be advertised and sold as a bundled offering at rates, terms, or conditions that are different than if the services are purchased separately from the LEC's tariffed offerings;

(ii) each regulated product or service in the offering is available on a stand-alone basis under a tariff on file with the commission; and

(iii) the qualifying LEC has a tariffed flat-rated local exchange service offering for residential customers and for single-line business customers on file with the commission that provides access to the services and functionalities set forth in Section 58-9-10(9).

(b) for a qualifying IXC, an offering of two or more products or services to customers at a single price provided that:

(i) the bundled offering must be advertised and sold as a bundled offering at rates, terms, or conditions that are different than if the services are purchased separately from the IXC's tariffed offerings; and

(ii) each regulated product or service in the offering is available on a stand-alone basis under a tariff on file with the commission.

(2) "Contract offering" means any contractual agreement, memorialized in writing, by which a qualifying LEC or a qualifying IXC offers any tariffed product or service to any customer at rates, terms, or conditions that differ from those set forth in the qualifying LECs or qualifying IXCs tariffs.

(3) "Qualifying IXC" means any interexchange carrier operating under alternative means of regulation authorized by the commission.

(4) "Qualifying LEC" means any LEC operating under an alternative means of regulation pursuant to Section 58-9-575; any LEC that has elected to have rates, terms, and conditions for its services determined pursuant to the plan described in Section 58-9-576(B); and any LEC that has elected to have rates, terms, and conditions determined pursuant to alternative means of regulation under Section 58-9-577.

(B) The commission must not:

(1) impose any requirements related to the terms, conditions, rates, or availability of any bundled offering or contract offering of any qualifying LEC or qualifying IXC that a customer accepts after the effective date of this act; or

(2) otherwise regulate any bundled offering or contract offering of any qualifying LEC or qualifying IXC that a customer accepts after the effective date of this act. Without limiting the foregoing, upon the filing of a complaint by an end use purchaser of a bundled offering or a contract offering, the commission may enforce the terms and conditions of a bundled offering or a contract offering under the same principles that apply when a court of general jurisdiction enforces the terms and conditions of an unregulated contract between two parties. No person or entity other than the end user purchaser that filed the complaint and the qualifying LEC or qualifying IXC that provides the bundled offering or contract offering that is the subject of such complaint shall be a party to any such complaint proceeding before the commission.

(C) A qualifying LEC or qualifying IXC providing bundled offerings or contract offerings is obligated to provide contributions to the Universal Service Fund (USF), and the commission shall ensure that contributions to the state USF, pursuant to Section 58-9-280(E), are maintained at appropriate levels. Nothing in this section affects the commission's jurisdiction over distributions from the USF pursuant to Section 58-9-280(E).

(D) Access minutes of use must continue to be classified and reported for purposes of administering the Interim LEC Fund, pursuant to Section 58-9-280(M), in the same manner as they were classified and reported before the effective date of this subsection.

(E) Nothing in this section affects any jurisdiction conferred upon the commission by 47 U.S.C. Section 254(k).

(F) Nothing in this section affects the commission's jurisdiction over complaints alleging that a change in a subscriber's selection of a provider of telecommunications service was made without appropriate authorization or that services that the customer did not order appear on the customer's bill.

(G) The State Regulation of Public Utilities Review Committee may request the Office of Regulatory Staff to compile information to enable the review committee to monitor the effect of bundled offerings and contract offerings on the provision of telecommunications services in South Carolina.

HISTORY: 2005 Act No. 5, SECTION 3, eff July 1, 2004.