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D.C. Municipal Regulations (Last Updated: September 13, 2017) |
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Title 15. PUBLIC UTILITIES AND CABLE TELEVISION |
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Chapter 15-28. UNIVERSAL SERVICE |
Section 15-2899. DEFINITIONS
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2899.1When used in this chapter, the following terms and phrases shall have the following meanings:
Administrator or Fund Administrator - the person(s) or entity(ies) responsible for administering the District of Columbia Universal Service Trust Fund.
Applicant - a local exchange carrier that has submitted a request for funding from District of Columbia Universal Service Trust Fund.
Application - the Request for DC USTF Funding Application.
Commission - the Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia.
Competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) - 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 - 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 - the fund established and required to be implemented by the Commission pursuant to D.C. Code § 34-2003 (2010 Repl. & 2011 Supp.)
Eligible telecommunications carrier or ETC - 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 - 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 - the Federal Communications Commission.
Household – any individual or group of individuals who are living together at
the same address as one economic unit. An economic unit consists of all adult
individuals contributing to and sharing in the income and expenses of a
household. An adult is any person eighteen (18) years or older. If an adult has no
or minimal income, and lives with someone who provides financial support for
that adult, both people shall be considered part of the same household. Children
under the age of eighteen (18) living with their parents or guardians are
considered to be part of the same household as their parents or guardians.
Incumbent local exchange carrier or ILEC - 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, 47 U.S.C. §§ 151, et seq.
Lifeline Service - the service or benefits established by federal and District programs designed to keep low-income subscribers on the telecommunications network.
Local exchange telecommunications service - a switched telecommunications service capable of originating and terminating calls within the Washington Metropolitan local calling area.
Local exchange carrier or LEC - 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 - a person aged sixty-five (65) or older that qualifies for Lifeline service.
Network - a telecommunications service provider's or telecommunication carrier’s facilities used to originate and terminate traffic.
Nomadic VoIP - a VoIP service that may be used at multiple locations.
Person - any individual, partnership, corporation, association, joint-stock company, or any other entity.
Telecommunications - 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 - the Federal legislation cited as 47 U.S.C. §§ 151, et seq.
Telecommunications Relay Service or TRS - telephone transmission services that provide the ability for an individual who has a hearing or speech disability to engage in communication by wire or radio with a hearing individual in a manner that is functionally equivalent to the ability of an individual who does not have a hearing or speech disability to communicate using voice communications services by wire or radio. Such term includes services that enable two-way communication between an individual who uses a text telephone or other non-voice terminal device and an individual who does not use such a device, speech-to-speech services, video relay services, and non-English relay services.
Telecommunications service - 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. - United States Code.
Universal Service - 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.
Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP - any service that enables real time two way voice communications that originate or terminate from the user’s location using Internet protocol or a successor protocol and uses a broadband connection from the user’s location. This term includes any service that permits users to receive calls that originate on the public switched telephone network and to terminate calls on the public switched telephone network.
VoIP service provider - any provider of Voice over Internet Protocol service.