Texas Utilities Code - UTIL § 59.052. Infrastructure Goals

(a) The commission shall ensure that each electing company achieves the infrastructure goals described by this section.

(b) Each new central office switch installed for an electing company in this state after September 1, 1995, must be digital.

(c) An electing company shall make available to each customer in the company's territory access to end-to-end digital connectivity. In this subsection, “make available” has the meaning assigned by 16 T.A.C. Section 23.69.

(d) In each electing company's territory, 50 percent of the local exchange access lines must be served by a digital central office switch.

(e) An electing company's public switched network backbone interoffice facilities must employ broadband facilities that serve at least 50 percent of the local exchange access lines and are capable of 45 or more megabits a second. The company may employ facilities at a lower bandwidth if technology permits the delivery of video signal at the lower bandwidth at a quality level comparable to a television broadcast signal. The requirements of this subsection do not apply to local loop facilities.

(f) An electing company shall install Common Channel Signaling 7 capability in each access tandem office.

(g) The infrastructure goals specified by Subsections (c)-(f) must be achieved not later than January 1, 2000.