[§269-16.85]  Local exchange intrastateservices; fully competitive.  (a)  Notwithstanding section 269-16.9 or anyother law to the contrary, the public utilities commission shall treat theState's local exchange intrastate services, under the commission'sclassification of services relating to costs, rates, and pricing, as fullycompetitive and apply all commission rules in accordance with thatdesignation.  In addition, a telecommunications carrier shall not be requiredto obtain approval or provide any cost support or other information toestablish or otherwise modify in any manner its rates, fares, and charges, orto bundle any service offerings into a single or combined price package;provided that a telecommunications carrier, except upon receiving the approvalof the commission, shall not charge a higher rate for any retailtelecommunications service than the rate for the same service included in thetelecommunications carrier's filed tariff.  All rates, fares, charges, andbundled service offerings shall be filed with the public utilities commissionfor information purposes only.

(b)  This section shall apply to retail ratescharged for service to end-user consumers only and shall not apply to wholesalerates charged for services provided by a telecommunications carrier to anothertelecommunications provider, a wireless communications provider, a voice overinternet protocol communications provider, or other similar communicationsprovider.

(c)  Nothing herein shall modify anyrequirements of a telecommunications carrier to provide lifeline telephoneservice, comply with carrier of last resort obligations, or comply withapplicable service quality standards. [L 2009, c 180, §2]