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 
National Exchange Carrier Association, Inc., until the date that an 
independent subsidiary of the National Exchange Carrier Association, 
Inc. is incorporated and has commenced the administration of the 
universal service support mechanisms. On that date and until the 
permanent Administrator has commenced the permanent administration of 
the universal service support mechanisms, the term ``Administrator'' 
shall refer to the independent subsidiary established by the National 
Exchange Carrier Association, Inc. for the purpose of temporarily 
administering the portions of the universal service support mechanisms 
described in Sec. 69.616. On the date that the entity selected to 
permanently administer the universal service support mechanisms 
commences operations and thereafter, the term ``Administrator'' shall 
refer to such entity.
    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. 54.703.
    Eligible telecommunications carrier. ``Eligible telecommunications 
carrier'' means a carrier designated as such by a state commission 
pursuant to Sec. 54.201.
    High Cost and Low Income Committee. The term ``High Cost and Low 
Income Committee'' shall refer to a committee of the Board of Directors 
of the Administrator's independent subsidiary that will have the power 
to bind the independent subsidiary's Board of Directors on issues 
relating to the administration of the high cost and low-income support 
mechanisms, as described in Sec. 69.615.
    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.
    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

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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.
    Rural area. 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.
    Rural Health Care Corporation. The term ``Rural Health Care 
Corporation'' shall refer to the corporation created pursuant to 
Sec. 69.617 that shall administer specified portions of the universal 
services support mechnisms as described in Sec. 69.618.
    Rural telephone company. ``Rural telephone company'' has the same 
meaning as that term is defined in Sec. 51.5 of this chapter.
    Schools and Libraries Corporation. The term ``Schools and Libraries 
Corporation'' shall refer to the corporation created pursuant to 
Sec. 69.617 that shall administer specified portions of the universal 
services support mechanisms, as described in Sec. 69.619.
    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.

[ 62 FR 32948 , June 17, 1997, as amended at  62 FR 41303 , Aug. 1, 1997]

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