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8.6 Intentionally Left Blank.
GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS /SOUTHWESTERN BELL TELEPHONE, L.P.
SBC TEXAS/CLEC JOINT PETITIONERS
PAGE 23 OF 52
082505
8.5.5.1 Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Agreement, a Party shall be
entitled to back-bill for or claim credit for any charges for services provided
pursuant to this Agreement that are found to be unbilled, under-billed or overbilled,
but only when such charges appeared or should have appeared on a bill
dated within the twelve (12) months immediately preceding the date on which the
Billing Party provided written notice to the Billed Party of the amount of the backbilling
or the Billed Party provided written notice to the Billing Party of the claimed
credit amount. The Parties agree that the twelve (12) month limitation on backbilling
and credit claims set forth in the preceding sentence shall be applied
prospectively only after the Effective Date of this Agreement, meaning that the
twelve month period for any back-billing or credit claims may only include billing
periods that fall entirely after the Effective Date of this Agreement and will not
include any portion of any billing period that began prior to the Effective Date of
this Agreement.
8.5.5.2 Back-billing and credit claims, as limited above, will apply to all Interconnection,
Resale Services, Unbundled Network Elements, Collocation, facilities, functions,
product and services purchased under this Agreement. Reciprocal
Compensation is specifically excluded from this Section and is addressed
separately in the Reciprocal Compensation Attachment.
8.7 The Billed Party shall not be required to place Disputed Amounts in escrow, as required by
Section 8.5, above, if: (i) the Billed Party does not have a proven history of late payments and
has established a minimum of twelve consecutive (12) months good credit history with the Billing
Party (prior to the date it notifies the Billing Party of its billing dispute); or (ii) the Billed Party has
not filed more than three previous billing disputes within the twelve (12) months immediately
preceding the date it notifies the Billing Party of its current billing dispute, which previous disputes
were resolved in Billing Party’s favor or, (iii) if the bill containing the disputed charges is not the
first bill for a particular service to the Billed Party, the Billed Party’s dispute does not involve 50%
or more of the total amount of the previous bill out of the same billing system.
8.8 Issues related to Disputed Amounts shall be resolved in accordance with all of the applicable
procedures identified in the Dispute Resolution provisions set forth in Section 9.
8.9 If the Billed Party disputes in accordance with Section 8.5, any charges and any portion of the
dispute is resolved in favor of such Billed Party, the Parties shall cooperate to ensure that all of the
following actions are taken:
8.9.1 no later than the second bill date after the resolution of the dispute, the Billing Party shall
credit the invoice of the Billed Party for that portion of the Disputed Amounts resolved in
favor of the Billed Party, including a credit for any late payment charge/interest assessed
or applied with respect to such portion of the Disputed Amounts;
8.9.2 within fifteen (15) calendar days after resolution of the dispute, the portion of the
escrowed Disputed Amounts, if any, resolved in favor of the Billed Party shall be released
to the Billed Party, together with any accrued interest thereon, and any portion of the
Disputed Amounts not in escrow and resolved in favor of the Billed Party shall be paid to
Billed Party, together with any late payment charge/interest assessed or applied with
respect thereto; and