Goto Section: 54.1 | 54.7 | Table of Contents
FCC 54.5
Revised as of October 1, 2008
Goto Year:2007 |
2009
Sec. 54.5 Terms and definitions.
Terms used in this part have the following meanings:
Act. The term “Act” refers to the Communications Act of 1934, as amended.
Administrator . The term “Administrator” shall refer to the Universal
Service Administrative Company that is an independent subsidiary of the
National Exchange Carrier Association, Inc., and that has been appointed the
permanent Administrator of the federal universal service support mechanisms.
Competitive eligible telecommunications carrier. A “competitive eligible
telecommunications carrier” is a carrier that meets the definition of an
“eligible telecommunications carrier” below and does not meet the definition
of an “incumbent local exchange carrier” in Sec. 51.5 of this chapter.
Contributor. The term “contributor” shall refer to an entity required to
contribute to the universal service support mechanisms pursuant to Sec. 54.706.
Eligible telecommunications carrier. “Eligible telecommunications carrier”
means a carrier designated as such by a state commission pursuant to
Sec. 54.201.
Incumbent local exchange carrier. “Incumbent local exchange carrier” or
“ILEC” has the same meaning as that term is defined in Sec. 51.5 of this
chapter.
Information service. “Information service” is the offering of a capability
for generating, acquiring, storing, transforming, processing, retrieving,
utilizing, or making available information via telecommunications, and
includes electronic publishing, but does not include any use of any such
capability for the management, control, or operation of a telecommunications
system or the management of a telecommunications service.
Interconnected VoIP Provider. An “interconnected VoIP provider” is an entity
that provides interconnected VoIP service, as that term is defined in
section 9.3 of these rules.
Internet access. “Internet access” includes the following elements:
(1) The transmission of information as common carriage;
(2) The transmission of information as part of a gateway to an information
service, when that transmission does not involve the generation or
alteration of the content of information, but may include data transmission,
address translation, protocol conversion, billing management, introductory
information content, and navigational systems that enable users to access
information services, and that do not affect the presentation of such
information to users; and
(3) Electronic mail services (e-mail).
Interstate telecommunication. “Interstate telecommunication” is a
communication or transmission:
(1) From any State, Territory, or possession of the United States (other
than the Canal zone), or the District of Columbia, to any other State,
Territory, or possession of the United States (other than the Canal Zone),
or the District of Columbia,
(2) From or to the United States to or from the Canal Zone, insofar as such
communication or transmission takes place within the United States, or
(3) Between points within the United States but through a foreign country.
Interstate transmission. “Interstate transmission” is the same as interstate
telecommunication.
Intrastate telecommunication. “Intrastate telecommunication” is a
communication or transmission from within any State, Territory, or
possession of the United States, or the District of Columbia to a location
within that same State, Territory, or possession of the United States, or
the District of Columbia.
Intrastate transmission. “Intrastate transmission” is the same as intrastate
telecommunication.
LAN. “LAN” is a local area network, which is a set of high-speed links
connecting devices, generally computers, on a single shared medium, usually
on the user's premises.
Rate-of-return carrier. “Rate-of-return carrier” shall refer to any
incumbent local exchange carrier not subject to price cap regulation as that
term is defined in Sec. 61.3(x) of this chapter.
Rural area. For purposes of the schools and libraries universal support
mechanism, a “rural area” is a nonmetropolitan county or county equivalent,
as defined in the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Revised Standards
for Defining Metropolitan Areas in the 1990s and identifiable from the most
recent Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) list released by OMB, or any
contiguous non-urban Census Tract or Block Numbered Area within an
MSA-listed metropolitan county identified in the most recent Goldsmith
Modification published by the Office of Rural Health Policy of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. For purposes of the rural health
care universal service support mechanism, a “rural area” is an area that is
entirely outside of a Core Based Statistical Area; is within a Core Based
Statistical Area that does not have any Urban Area with a population of
25,000 or greater; or is in a Core Based Statistical Area that contains an
Urban Area with a population of 25,000 or greater, but is within a specific
census tract that itself does not contain any part of a Place or Urban Area
with a population of greater than 25,000. “Core Based Statistical Area” and
“Urban Area” are as defined by the Census Bureau and “Place” is as
identified by the Census Bureau.
Rural incumbent local exchange carrier. “Rural incumbent local exchange
carrier” is a carrier that meets the definitions of “rural telephone
company” and “incumbent local exchange carrier,” as those terms are defined
in Sec. 51.5 of this chapter.
Rural telephone company. “Rural telephone company” has the same meaning as
that term is defined in Sec. 51.5 of this chapter.
State commission. The term “state commission” means the commission, board or
official (by whatever name designated) that, under the laws of any state,
has regulatory jurisdiction with respect to intrastate operations of
carriers.
Technically feasible . “Technically feasible” means capable of
accomplishment as evidenced by prior success under similar circumstances.
For example, preexisting access at a particular point evidences the
technical feasibility of access at substantially similar points. A
determination of technical feasibility does not consider economic,
accounting, billing, space or site except that space and site may be
considered if there is no possibility of expanding available space.
Telecommunications . “Telecommunications” is the transmission, between or
among points specified by the user, of information of the user's choosing,
without change in the form or content of the information as sent and
received.
Telecommunications carrier . A “telecommunications carrier” is any provider
of telecommunications services, except that such term does not include
aggregators of telecommunications services as defined in section 226 of the
Act. A telecommunications carrier shall be treated as a common carrier under
the Act only to the extent that it is engaged in providing
telecommunications services, except that the Commission shall determine
whether the provision of fixed and mobile satellite service shall be treated
as common carriage. This definition includes cellular mobile radio service
(CMRS) providers, interexchange carriers (IXCs) and, to the extent they are
acting as telecommunications carriers, companies that provide both
telecommunications and information services. Private mobile radio service
(PMRS) providers are telecommunications carriers to the extent they provide
domestic or international telecommunications for a fee directly to the
public.
Telecommunications channel . “Telecommunications channel” means a telephone
line, or, in the case of wireless communications, a transmittal line or cell
site.
Telecommunications service . “Telecommunications service” is the offering of
telecommunications for a fee directly to the public, or to such classes of
users as to be effectively available directly to the public, regardless of
the facilities used.
Website . The term “website” shall refer to any websites operated by the
Administrator in connection with the schools and libraries support
mechanism, the rural health care support mechanism, the high cost mechanism,
and the low income mechanism.
Wire center. A wire center is the location of a local switching facility
containing one or more central offices, as defined in the Appendix to part
36 of this chapter. The wire center boundaries define the area in which all
customers served by a given wire center are located.
[ 62 FR 32948 , June 17, 1997, as amended at 62 FR 41303 , Aug. 1, 1997; 63 FR 70571 , Dec. 21, 1998; 64 FR 67431 , Dec. 1, 1999; 66 FR 30087 , June 5, 2001;
66 FR 59726 , Nov. 30, 2001; 70 FR 6372 , Feb. 7, 2005; 71 FR 38796 , July 10,
2006]
Effective Date Note: At 71 FR 38796 , July 10, 2006, Sec. 54.5 was amended by
revising the definition of “ contributor ” and adding the definition of
“interconnected VoIP provider” in alphabetical order. This text contains
information collection and recordkeeping requirements and will not become
effective until approval has been given by the Office of Management and
Budget.
Goto Section: 54.1 | 54.7
Goto Year: 2007 |
2009
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