As used in this part:

1. (1) “Access code” means a sequence of numbers that, when dialed, connect the caller to an interexchange carrier or provider of operator services associated with that sequence;
2. (2) “Aggregator” means any person or entity, excluding local exchange carriers and commercial mobile service providers, that in the ordinary course of its operations makes telephones available to the public or to transient users of its premises for intrastate telephone calls using a provider of operator services;
3. (3) “Applicant” means any person or entity requesting telecommunications service;
4. (4) “Arkansas Calling Plan Fund” or “ACPF” means an annual allocation of Arkansas Intrastate Carrier Common Line Pool (AICCLP) funds to assist in providing calling plans in telephone exchanges pursuant to Arkansas Code § 23-17-404(e)(4)(A)(ii).
5. (5) “Automated message delivery services (AMDS)” means a service that provides a consumer who receives a busy signal or no answer the option to automatically leave a message for subsequent delivery;

6. (6)

   1. (A) “Base rate area” means a populated geographical area within the exchange service area in which local exchange service is furnished at the same rate to all subscribers without line mileage or construction charges.
   2. (B) A map and legal description of every base rate area must be filed as a tariff;
7. (7) “Branding” means the process by which an operator service provider audibly and distinctly identifies itself to every person using its operator services;

8. (8) “Business office” means a location designated by a telecommunications provider where an individual may:

   1. (A) Arrange for service connection;
   2. (B) Make or arrange to make payments on his or her bill; and
   3. (C) Ask questions regarding service or the status of his or her account;
9. (9) “Busy hour” means within the busy season, the sixty-minute period during which a specific central office switch processes the greatest volume of telecommunications traffic;
10. (10) “Busy season” means within a calendar year, the period of time during which a specific central office switch processes the greatest volume of telecommunications traffic;
11. (11) “Central office” means a switching unit in a telecommunications system where connections are made between customers’ lines and between customers’ lines and local or toll trunks;
12. (12) “Character of service” means the distinguishing features that identify the type of service provided to the customer, for example, call waiting service;

13. (13)

    1. (A) “Class of service” means a customer group that has similar characteristics such as volume of use, time of use, extent of use, and nature and purpose of use, as classified by the telecommunications provider.
    2. (B) For example, the business or residential class of service;
14. (14) “Closed account” or “finaled account” means a permanent shut off of service by a telecommunications provider to a customer account;
15. (15) “Commission” means the Arkansas Public Service Commission;
16. (16) “Competing local exchange carrier” or “CLEC” means a local exchange carrier that is not an incumbent local exchange carrier;

17. (17)

    1. (A) “Complaint” means any objection from an applicant or customer concerning a charge, facility, rule, service, or other Arkansas Public Service Commission-regulated activity that requires:

       1. (i) An investigation or an account review; and
       2. (ii) Corrective action by a telecommunications provider.
    2. (B) Exceptions. Trouble reports, as defined in this part, and initial calls to the appropriate telecommunications provider resulting in unchallenged, voluntary toll adjustments by the telecommunications provider shall not be considered complaints under this definition;
18. (18) “Customer” means any person or entity that has applied for and agreed to pay for telecommunications service;
19. (19) “Customer premises equipment” means telecommunications equipment that is located on a customer’s premises, e.g., telephone instruments, PBX switches, etc.;
20. (20) “Customer premises wiring” means telecommunications wiring that is located on a customer’s premises between the point of demarcation and the customer premises equipment;
21. (21) “Demarcation point” means an identifiable point at a customer’s premises where operation and maintenance responsibilities end for the telecommunications provider as defined in Part 68 of the rules of the Federal Communications Commission;
22. (22) “Deposit” means an amount paid to a telecommunications provider by an applicant or customer to guarantee payment for telecommunications service;
23. (23) “Digital switching” means a connection in which digitally encoded information is routed between an input and an output port by means of time-division multiplexing or self-routing cell procedures rather than over a dedicated circuit;
24. (24) “Elderly person” means a residential customer who is at least sixty-five (65) years old;
25. (25) “Electing company” means a local exchange carrier that elects to be regulated pursuant to Sections 6 through 8 or Section 12 of Acts 1997, No. 77;

26. (26)

    1. (A) “Eligible telecommunications carrier” or “ETC” means the local exchange carrier determined in accordance with Arkansas Code § 23-17-405 for the local exchange area.
    2. (B) The carrier determined in accordance with 47 U.S.C. § 214(e)(3) for an unallocated area (47 C.F.R. § 54.203);

27. (27) “Emergency” means a situation in which:

    1. (A) Property or human life is in jeopardy; and
    2. (B) The prompt summoning of aid is essential;
28. (28) “Equal access code” means an access code that allows the public to obtain equal access connection to the carrier associated with that code;

29. (29)

    1. (A) “Exchange service area” means a unit established by a telecommunications provider for the administration of telecommunications service in a specified area for which a separate local rate schedule is provided.
    2. (B) It may consist of one (1) or more central offices together with associated plant facilities used in furnishing telecommunications services in that area;
30. (30) “Extended area service (EAS)” means, as defined in Arkansas Code § 23-17-403(20), a mandatory fixed rate service that provides customers with unlimited local calling that is not part of basic local exchange service;
31. (31) “Extended due date” means regular monthly extension or change of a bill’s due date by a telecommunications provider;
32. (32) “Extension of Telecommunications Facilities Fund” means an annual allocation of Arkansas Intrastate Carrier Common Line Pool (AICCLP) funds to assist in the extension of telecommunications facilities to persons not served by the wireline facilities of an ETC pursuant to Arkansas Code § 23-17-404(e)(4)(A)(i).
33. (33) “Failure to pay” includes payment by check, other negotiable instrument, or automatic draft that is dishonored by a bank for reasons other than bank error;

34. (34) “Incumbent local exchange carrier” or “ILEC” means, with respect to a local exchange area, a local exchange carrier, including successors and assigns, that:

    1. (A) Is certified by the Arkansas Public Service Commission; and
    2. (B) Was providing basic local exchange service on February 8, 1996;

35. (35)

    1. (A) “Individual with disabilities” means any residential customer who is certified to the telecommunications provider as having a severe physical or mental impairment that substantially limits his or her ability to pay for telecommunications service.

    2. (B) Certification shall be provided by:

       1. (i) A physician;
       2. (ii) A licensed psychologist;
       3. (iii) The United States Department of Veterans Affairs;
       4. (iv) The Social Security Administration;
       5. (v) The Department of Human Services;
       6. (vi) The Arkansas State Hospital; or
       7. (vii) A licensed mental health center;
36. (36) “Insufficient funds check” means any negotiable instrument such as a check or automatic bank draft dishonored by a bank for reasons other than bank error;
37. (37) “Intercept service” means a service provided by the telecommunication provider that intercepts calls placed to a disconnected telephone number and informs the calling party of the status of the called number;
38. (38) “Interest” means an interest rate set annually by the Arkansas Public Service Commission for customer deposits as required by Arkansas Code § 23-4-206(b);

39. (39) “Interexchange carrier” means any entity that:

    1. (A) Is not a local exchange carrier; and
    2. (B) Provides interexchange communication services to the public for compensation in the State of Arkansas;

40. (40) “Interruption of service” means temporarily stopping service for:

    1. (A) Maintenance;
    2. (B) Testing;
    3. (C) Repair; or
    4. (D) Safety;

41. (41)

    1. (A) “Local exchange carrier” or “LEC” means a telecommunications provider of:

       1. (i) Basic local exchange service; and
       2. (ii) Switched access service.
    2. (B) Such term does not include commercial mobile service providers;
42. (42) “Operator services — Aggregator location” means any intrastate telecommunications service initiated from an aggregator location that includes, as a component, any automatic or live assistance to a consumer to arrange for billing or completion, or both, of any intrastate telephone call through a method other than automatic completion with billing to the telephone from which the call originated, or completion through an access code used by the consumer with billing to an account previously established with the carrier by the consumer;

43. (43)

    1. (A) “Outage” means an unplanned temporary loss of telecommunications service caused by a malfunction of or damage to telecommunications provider facilities.

    2. (B) For example, a subscriber loop service outage exists if:

       1. (i) A dial tone is not obtained;
       2. (ii) Signaling in either direction is disabled; or
       3. (iii) Transmission standards are not maintained;
44. (44) “Payment agent” means a business located in the community that acts as an agent for the telecommunications provider by accepting payments from customers;
45. (45) “Payment date” means the date the telecommunications provider or its authorized agent receives payment on an account;
46. (46) “Petitioning exchange customers” means residential and business basic local exchange customers of the ILEC requesting EAS;

47. (47) “Physician” means any person licensed to practice medicine by:

    1. (A) The Arkansas State Medical Board; or
    2. (B) A comparable licensing authority of another state;
48. (48) “Presubscribed provider of operator services” means the intrastate provider of operator services to which the consumer is connected when the consumer places a call using a provider of operator services without dialing an access code;
49. (49) “Public utility” or “utility” means a jurisdictional utility as defined by Arkansas Code § 23-1-101;
50. (50) “Rules” or “Arkansas Public Service Commission rules” means this part;

51. (51)

    1. (A) “Serious medical condition” means an illness or injury that results in a physician’s determination that the loss of telecommunications service would give rise to a substantial risk of death or gravely impair health.
    2. (B) A serious medical condition shall exist in the case of elderly persons or infant children under the age of twelve (12) months if a physician certifies that the loss of telecommunications service will gravely impair health, regardless of the current existence of illness or injury;

52. (52) “Splashing” means the transfer of a telephone call from one (1) operator service provider to another in a manner that the subsequent provider:

    1. (A) Is unable or unwilling to determine the location of the origination of the call; and
    2. (B) Because of such inability or unwillingness is prevented from billing the call on the basis of the originating location;
53. (53) “Subscriber loop” means a telecommunications circuit that provides a telecommunications link between a customer’s service location and the serving switch;
54. (54) “Suspension of service” means a temporary shut off of service by a telecommunications provider without a customer request, not an outage or an interruption of service;
55. (55) “Tariff” means a rate schedule, service regulation, price list, or other document required to be filed as a tariff by the Arkansas Public Service Commission’s Rules of Practice and Procedure, 23 CAR pt. 462;
56. (56) “Telecommunications provider” or “TP” means any person, firm, partnership, corporation, association, or other entity that offers telecommunications services to the public for compensation;

57. (57)

    1. (A) “Telecommunications services” means the offering to the public for compensation the transmission of voice, data, or other electronic information at any frequency over any part of the electromagnetic spectrum, notwithstanding any other use of the associated facilities.

    2. (B) Such term does not include:

       1. (i) Radio and television broadcast or distribution services or the provision of publishing of yellow pages, regardless of the entity providing such services; or
       2. (ii) Services to the extent that such services are used in connection with the operation of an electric utility system owned by a government entity;

58. (58)

    1. (A) “Telecommunications traffic” means a measure of the number of telecommunication calls processed during a specific period.
    2. (B) The measure includes the distribution in time and the duration of calls;
59. (59) “Tier one company” means any ILEC that, together with its Arkansas affiliates that are also ILECs, provided basic local exchange services to greater than one hundred fifty thousand (150,000) access lines in Arkansas as of February 4, 1997; and

60. (60)

    1. (A) “Trouble report” means any verbal or written report given to a TP concerning an operational problem with facilities or equipment.
    2. (B) Billing complaints shall not be considered trouble reports for the purpose of this definition.

Codification Notes: “PBX” means private branch exchange.