Sec. 54.156. RESALE OF SERVICES. (a) A certificate holder may obtain services under the resale tariffs approved by the commission under Subchapter C, Chapter 60, except in a certificated area of a company that serves fewer than 31,000 access lines.

(b) A certificate holder may obtain for resale the monthly recurring flat rate local exchange telephone service and associated nonrecurring charges, including any mandatory extended area service, of an incumbent local exchange company at a five percent discount to the tariffed rate.

(c) The incumbent local exchange company shall sell a feature service that may be provided to a customer in conjunction with local exchange service at a five percent discount to the tariffed rate, including any associated nonrecurring charge for those services, provided that the incumbent local exchange company shall make available to a certificate holder, at an additional five percent discount, any discounts made available to customers of the incumbent local exchange company who are similarly situated to the customers of the certificate holder. In this subsection "feature service" includes:

(1) toll restriction;

(2) call control options;

(3) tone dialing;

(4) custom calling; and

(5) caller identification.

(d) A certificate holder and an incumbent local exchange company may agree to a rate lower than the tariffed rate or discounted rate.

(e) The five percent discounts provided by this section do not apply in an exchange of a company that has fewer than 31,000 access lines in this state.

(f) If the tariffed rate for a resold service changes, the five percent discount prescribed by this section applies to the changed rate. The commission may not, for certificate holders, create a special class for purposes of resold services.

(g) A certificate holder:

(1) may not use a resold flat rate local exchange telephone service to avoid the rates and terms of an incumbent local exchange company's tariffs;

(2) may not terminate both flat rate local exchange telephone service and services obtained under the resale tariff approved under Section 60.041 on the same end user customer's premises;

(3) may not use resold flat rate local exchange telephone services to provide access services to another interexchange carrier, cellular carrier, competitive access provider, or retail telecommunications provider, but may permit customers to use resold local exchange telephone services to access such a carrier or provider;

(4) may sell the flat rate local exchange telephone service only to the same class of customers to which the incumbent local exchange company sells that service;

(5) may obtain services offered by or negotiated with a holder of a certificate of convenience and necessity or a certificate of operating authority; and

(6) may obtain for resale single or multiple line flat rate intraLATA calling service when provided by the local exchange company at the tariffed rate for online digital communications.

Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.