Automatic Roaming. With automatic roaming, under a pre-existing contractual agreement between a subscriber's home carrier and a host carrier, a roaming subscriber is able to originate or terminate a call in the host carrier's service area without taking any special actions.

Commercial mobile data service. (1) Any mobile data service that is not interconnected with the public switched network and is:

1. (i) Provided for profit; and
2. (ii) Available to the public or to such classes of eligible users as to be effectively available to the public.

3. (2) Commercial mobile data service includes services provided by Mobile Satellite Services and Ancillary Terrestrial Component providers to the extent the services provided meet this definition.

   Commercial mobile radio service. A mobile service that is:

4. (a)

   1. (1) provided for profit, i.e., with the intent of receiving compensation or monetary gain;
   2. (2) An interconnected service; and
   3. (3) Available to the public, or to such classes of eligible users as to be effectively available to a substantial portion of the public; or
5. (b) The functional equivalent of such a mobile service described in paragraph (a) of this definition.
6. (c) A variety of factors may be evaluated to make a determination whether the mobile service in question is the functional equivalent of a commercial mobile radio service, including: Consumer demand for the service to determine whether the service is closely substitutable for a commercial mobile radio service; whether changes in price for the service under examination, or for the comparable commercial mobile radio service, would prompt customers to change from one service to the other; and market research information identifying the targeted market for the service under review.

7. (d) Unlicensed radio frequency devices under part 15 of this chapter are excluded from this definition of Commercial mobile radio service.

   Consumer Signal Booster. A bi-directional signal booster that is marketed and sold for use without modification.

   Fixed Consumer Signal Booster. A Consumer Signal Booster designed to be operated in a fixed location in a building.

   Host Carrier. For automatic roaming, the host carrier is a facilities-based CMRS carrier on whose system another carrier's subscriber roams. A facilities-based CMRS carrier may, on behalf of its subscribers, request automatic roaming service from a host carrier.

   Incumbent Wide Area SMR Licensees. Licensees who have obtained extended implementation authorizations in the 800 MHz or 900 MHz service, either by waiver or under Section 90.629 of these rules, and who offer real-time, two-way voice service that is interconnected with the public switched network.

   Industrial Signal Booster: All signal boosters other than Consumer Signal Boosters.

   Interconnection or Interconnected. Direct or indirect connection through automatic or manual means (by wire, microwave, or other technologies such as store and forward) to permit the transmission or reception of messages or signals to or from points in the public switched network.

   Interconnected Service. A service:

8. (a) That is interconnected with the public switched network, or interconnected with the public switched network through an interconnected service provider, that gives subscribers the capability to communicate to or receive communication from all other users on the public switched network; or

9. (b) For which a request for such interconnection is pending pursuant to section 332(c)(1)(B) of the Communications Act, 47 U.S.C. 332(c)(1)(B). A mobile service offers interconnected service even if the service allows subscribers to access the public switched network only during specified hours of the day, or if the service provides general access to points on the public switched network but also restricts access in certain limited ways. Interconnected service does not include any interface between a licensee's facilities and the public switched network exclusively for a licensee's internal control purposes.

   Manual Roaming. With manual roaming, a subscriber must establish a relationship with the host carrier on whose system he or she wants to roam in order to make a call. Typically, the roaming subscriber accomplishes this in the course of attempting to originate a call by giving a valid credit card number to the carrier providing the roaming service.

   Mobile Consumer Signal Booster. A Consumer Signal Booster designed to operate in a moving vehicle where both uplink and downlink transmitting antennas are at least 20 cm from the user or any other person.

   Mobile Service. A radio communication service carried on between mobile stations or receivers and land stations, and by mobile stations communicating among themselves, and includes:

10. (a) Both one-way and two-way radio communications services;
11. (b) A mobile service which provides a regularly interacting group of base, mobile, portable, and associated control and relay stations (whether licensed on an individual, cooperative, or multiple basis) for private one-way or two-way land mobile radio communications by eligible users over designated areas of operation; and

12. (c) Any service for which a license is required in a personal communications service under part 24 of this chapter.

    Non-individual. A non-individual is a partnership and each partner is eighteen years of age or older; a corporation; an association; a state, territorial, or local government unit; or a legal entity.

    Private mobile radio service. A mobile service that meets neither the paragraph (a) nor paragraph (b) definitions of commercial mobile radio service set forth in this section. A mobile service that does not meet the paragraph (a) definition of commercial mobile radio service in this section is presumed to be a private mobile radio service. Private mobile radio service includes the following:

13. (a) Not-for-profit land mobile radio and paging services that serve the licensee's internal communications needs as defined in part 90 of this chapter. Shared-use, cost-sharing, or cooperative arrangements, multiple licensed systems that use third party managers or users combining resources to meet compatible needs for specialized internal communications facilities in compliance with the safeguards of § 90.179 of this chapter are presumptively private mobile radio services;
14. (b) Mobile radio service offered to restricted classes of eligible users. This includes entities eligible in the Public Safety Radio Pool and Radiolocation service.
15. (c) 220-222 MHz land mobile service and Automatic Vehicle Monitoring systems (part 90 of this chapter) that do not offer interconnected service or that are not-for-profit; and

16. (d) Personal Radio Services under part 95 of this chapter (General Mobile Services, Radio Control Radio Services, and Citizens Band Radio Services); Maritime Service Stations (excluding Public Coast stations) (part 80 of this chapter); and Aviation Service Stations (part 87 of this chapter).

    Provider-Specific Consumer Signal Boosters. Provider-Specific Consumer Signal Boosters may only operate on the frequencies and in the market areas of the specified licensee(s). Provider-Specific Consumer Signal Boosters may only be certificated and operated with the consent of the licensee(s) whose frequencies are being amplified by the device.

    Public Switched Network. Any common carrier switched network, whether by wire or radio, including local exchange carriers, interexchange carriers, and mobile service providers, that uses the North American Numbering Plan in connection with the provision of switched services.

    Signal booster. A device that automatically receives, amplifies, and retransmits on a bi- or unidirectional basis, the signals received from base, fixed, mobile, or portable stations, with no change in frequency or authorized bandwidth.

    Signal booster operator. The signal booster operator is the person or persons with control over the functioning of the signal booster, or the person or persons with the ability to deactivate it in the event of technical malfunctioning or harmful interference to a primary radio service.

    Wideband Consumer Signal Boosters. Wideband Consumer Signal Boosters may operate on the frequencies and in the market areas of multiple licensees.

[59 FR 18495, Apr. 19, 1994, as amended at 61 FR 38402, July 24, 1996; 61 FR 40352, Aug. 2, 1996; 62 FR 18843, Apr. 17, 1997; 63 FR 2637, Jan. 16, 1998; 64 FR 60130, Nov. 4, 1999; 67 FR 1648, Jan. 14, 2002; 72 FR 50073, Aug. 30, 2007; 75 FR 22276, Apr. 28, 2010; 76 FR 26220, May 6, 2011; 78 FR 21559, Apr. 11, 2013; 80 FR 19850, Apr. 13, 2015; 83 FR 7401, Feb. 21, 2018; 83 FR 7922, Feb. 22, 2018; 83 FR 17090, Apr. 18, 2018; 84 FR 66779, Dec. 5, 2019]