2823 DEFINITIONS

2823.1 When used in this Chapter, the following terms and phrases shall have the following meaning:

'Administrator' or 'Fund Administrator' means the person(s) or entity(ies) responsible for administering the District of Columbia Universal Service Trust Fund.

'Applicant' means a local exchange carrier that has submitted a request for funding from District of Columbia Universal Service Trust Fund.

'Application' means the Request for DC USTF funding forms.

'Commission' means the Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia.

'Competitive local exchange carrier' ('CLEC') means a provider of telecommunications service that was not an incumbent local exchange carrier on January 31, 1996 but that is now certified to provide local exchange telecommunications service within the District.

'Customer' or 'Subscriber' means any person, firm, partnership, cooperative corporation, corporation or lawful entity that receives telecommunications services.

'District of Columbia Universal Service Trust Fund' or 'DC USTF' or 'Fund' means the fund established and required to be implemented by the Commission pursuant to D.C. Code § 34-2003 (2001 Ed.)

'Eligible telecommunications carrier' or 'ETC' means any LEC that is designated as an eligible telecommunications carrier pursuant to 47 U.S.C. § 214(e) and 15 DCMR 2806, et seq.

'Facilities' means any physical components of the telecommunications network that are used in the transmission or routing of the services designated for support under 47 U.S.C. § 214(e)(1).

'FCC' means the Federal Communications Commission.

'Incumbent local exchange carrier' or 'ILEC' means the local exchange carrier that provided local exchange telecommunications service in the District on the date of enactment of the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-104).

'Lifeline Service' means the service or benefits established by federal and District programs designed to keep low-income subscribers on the telecommunications network.

'Local exchange telecommunications service' means a switched telecommunications service capable of originating and terminating calls within the Washington Metropolitan local calling area.

'Local exchange carrier' or 'LEC' means any person or entity that is engaged in the provision of local exchange telecommunications service or exchange access. The term 'local exchange carrier' does not include a person or entity engaged in the provision of a commercial mobile service.

'Low-income senior' means a person aged 65 or older that qualifies for Lifeline service.

'Network' includes a telecommunications service provider's or telecommunication carrier's facilities used to originate and terminate traffic.

"Person" means any individual, partnership, corporation, association, joint-stock company, or any other entity.

"P.01" means the probability (P), expressed as a decimal fraction, of a telephone call being blocked. The P.01 grade of service is the probability that one call of one hundred during the average busy hour will be blocked.

"Telecommunications" means 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 Act of 1996" means the Federal legislation cited as 47 U.S.C. Section 151 et. seq

"Telecommunications Relay Service" or "TRS" means a transmissions service that provides the hearing impaired or speech impaired the ability to engage in communication by wire or radio with a non-hearing impaired individual. TRS includes services that enable two-way communication between an individual who uses a Telecommunications Device for Deaf ("TDD") or other non-voice terminal device and an individual who does not use such a device.

"Telecommunications service" means the offering of telecommunications for a fee directly to the public or to such classes of users as to be effectively available to the public, regardless of the facilities used.

"U.S.C." means United States Code.

"Universal Service" means an evolving set of telecommunications services determined to be essential for residential customers' health and welfare, and as such, must be available throughout the District of Columbia.

SOURCE: Notice of Final Rulemaking published at 50 DCR 8198 (October 3, 2003); as amended by Final Rulemaking published at 56 DCR 7644 (September 25, 2009).