In its annual certification filing, each eligible telecommunications carrier shall provide the following information, on a calendar year basis, to the commission:

1. (1) A two-year service quality improvement plan as described in § 20:10:32:43.02;
2. (2) A progress report on its previously filed two-year service quality improvement plan, containing a clear description or a detailed map of the carrier's progress toward meeting its plan targets, an explanation of how much universal service support was received and how it was used to improve service quality, signal quality, coverage, or capacity, and an explanation regarding any network improvement targets that have not been fulfilled. The telecommunications carrier must submit information concerning completed or planned network improvement projects must indicate which wire center areas or local communities are benefited by the improvements and must be submitted at the wire center level;

3. (3) Detailed information on any outage, as defined in 47 C.F.R. § 4.5 (January 1, 2006), of at least thirty minutes in duration for each service area in which a carrier is designated for any facilities it owns, operates, leases, or otherwise utilizes, if the outage affected at least ten percent of the end users served in a designated service area or a 911 special facility, as provided in 47 C.F.R. § 4.5(e) (January 1, 2006). Information on the outage must include:

   1. (a) The date and time of onset of the outage;
   2. (b) A brief description of the outage and its resolution;
   3. (c) The particular services affected by the outage;
   4. (d) The geographic areas affected by the outage;
   5. (e) The steps taken to prevent a similar situation in the future; and
   6. (f) The number of customers affected;
4. (4) The number of requests for service from potential customers within the carrier's service areas that were unfulfilled during the past year, with details about any attempts by the carrier to provide service to those potential customers, as set forth in § 20:10:32:43.01;
5. (5) The number of complaints the carrier's complaint department received from consumers during the previous calendar year;
6. (6) Certification that the carrier is complying with applicable service quality standards and consumer protection rules; and

7. (7) Certification that the carrier is able to function in emergency situations as set forth in § 20:10:32:43.03.

   A lifeline-only wireless company that has been designated as an eligible telecommunications carrier is exempt from the requirements of this section.

Source: 32 SDR 231, effective July 10, 2006; 34 SDR 67, effective September 11, 2007 ; 47 SDR 125, effective May 30, 2021; 52 SDR 32, effective September 29, 2025 .

General Authority: SDCL 49-31-3 , 49-31-76 , 49-31-77 , 49-31-81 .

Law Implemented: SDCL 49-31-3 , 49-31-76 , 49-31-78 .

Prior versions effective: 2021-05-30, 2007-09-11.