Cable (TV) Operator
Cable Service
Cable
System
Cable
Programming Service Tier (CPST)
US:
Under cable television regulation, CPST, sometimes referred to as 'upper tier
programming,' is any package of cable television programming offered by a cable
TV operator other than the basic service Tier provided by the operator. CPST is
specified in Section 623(l)(2) of the Communications
Act of 1934. The '96 Act added a provision to the Communications Act of 1934
that deregulates CPST rates after March 31, 1999 (seeSection
623(c)(4) of the Communications Act of 1934). [See also Basic
Service Tier.] Cable Television
Relay Service (CARS)
Principally
a video transmission service used for intermediate links in a distribution network.
CARS stations relay signals and supply program material via microwave in the 12
GHz and 18 GHz bands to cable television systems and other eligible entities using
point-to-point and point-to-multipoint transmissions.
Caching
The
automatic, intermediate or temporary storage of information which is necessary
for the efficient transmission of services on a network
California I
US:
One of three decisions handed down by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
in California regarding the FCC's Computer Inquiry
III Open Network Architecture (ONA)
rules. Under these ONA rules, Bell Operating Companies (BOCs)
would 'unbundle' their local exchange networks into individually tariffed 'piece
parts' and make these available to competing enhanced
service (i.e., information service) providers.
In exchange, BOCs would be permitted to provide competitive enhanced services
on a structurally integrated basis along with their regulated basic
services, instead of under the former structural separation requirements.
In the California I decision
handed down in 1990, the Court vacated (overturned) and remanded (sent back to
the FCC for further consideration) three of the FCC's Computer III Orders on the
basis that the FCC had not shown that its non-structural guidelines adequately
protect against improper cross-subsidization of enhanced services by BOCs. [See
also California II ; California
III ; Computer Inquiry III (CI III); Open
Network Architecture (ONA).]
California II
US:
One of three decisions handed down by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
in California regarding the FCC's Computer Inquiry
III Open Network Architecture (ONA)
rules. Under these ONA rules, Bell Operating Companies (BOCs)
would 'unbundle' their local exchange networks into individually tariffed 'piece
parts' and make these available to competing enhanced
service (i.e., information service) providers.
In exchange, BOCs would be permitted to provide competitive enhanced services
on a structurally integrated basis along with their regulated basic
services, instead of under the former structural separation requirements.
In the California
II decision handed down in 1993, the Court upheld the FCC orders approving
the BOC ONA plans, but said that the issue of whether the lifting of structural
separation was justified was not properly before it and so issued no decision
on that issue. [See also California I ; California
III ; Computer Inquiry III (CI III); Open
Network Architecture (ONA).]
California III
US:
One of three decisions handed down by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
in California regarding the FCC's Computer Inquiry
III Open Network Architecture (ONA)
rules. Under these ONA rules, Bell Operating Companies (BOCs)
would 'unbundle' their local exchange networks into individually tariffed 'piece
parts' and make these available to competing enhanced
service (i.e., information service) providers.
In exchange, BOCs would be permitted to provide competitive enhanced services
on a structurally integrated basis along with their regulated basic
services, instead of under the former structural separation requirements.
In the California
III decision handed down in 1994, the Court remanded (sent back to the FCC
for further consideration) the FCC's decision to lift all structural separation
requirements on the BOCs, concluding that the FCC had not adequately explained
the decision to lift these requirements when the BOCs' approved ONA plans did
not provide for 'fundamental unbundling' of the BOC networks. In 1995, the FCC
issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM)
seeking public comment to address this remand, but took no action.
In January 1998, the FCC issued
a Further NPRM to resolve the issues raised in the remand and to 'harmonize' the
ONA competitive safeguards regime with the new regime established by the Telecommunications
Act of 1996. [See also California I ; California
II ; Computer Inquiry III (CI III); Open
Network Architecture (ONA).]
Call-Back
Service
Call-Back
Service is provided by US international resellers as a means for their customers,
located outside of the United States, to access US-based international lines.
Typically, a signaling call is placed by the originating caller overseas to the
call-back provider's switch located in the United States. If uncompleted call
signaling is used, the caller dials the provider's switch in the US, waits a predetermined
number of rings, and hangs up without the switch answering. The switch then automatically
returns the call, and upon completion, provides the caller with a US dialtone.
All traffic is thus originated at the US switch and the calls are billed at US
tariffed rates, which are often much lower than those of the originating country.
(see also 'Hot Line' Call-Back Service)
Calling Card
US:
As used in the Telecommunications Act of 1996,
the term 'Calling Card' means an identifying number or code unique to the individual,
that is issued to the individual by a common carrier
and enables the individual to be charged by means of a phone bill for charges
incurred independent of where the call originates. [See also CI '96 Act Reference
VII(701)(a)(1)]
Calling Party Pays (CPP)
US:
A service billing
option provided by a few wireless carriers in the US to their customers in which the party placing the call pays
all charges while the party receiving the call pays none, as is the case with
wireline telephone service. To offer this billing option, the local
exchange carrier (LEC) on whose facilities the call generally
originates, must agree to bill the calling party on behalf of the wireless carrier
or must provide the wireless carrier with sufficient billing information to enable
it to bill the calling party directly (See
US Rep 16, IV.B.). Carrier
Carrier
Access Code (CAC)
Carrier Common Line Charge (CCLC)
US:
A per-minute interstate access charge assessed by incumbent
local exchange carriers (LECs) on interexchange
carriers (IXCs) to recover that portion of the local telephone loop costs
allocated to the interstate jurisdiction that is not covered by the subscriber
line charge (SLC). The CCLC is considered inefficient because it recovers
a fixed (loop) cost from a usage-sensitive charge. The FCC reformed its access
charge rules in May 2000 (see
US Rep 21, II.B.) requiring that a diminishing proportion of the cost of the
local loop will be recovered through the economically inefficient CCL, with the
goal of eliminating this charge altogether. [See also Access
Charges, PICC, SLC]
Carrier Identification Code (CIC)
US:
Carrier identification code is a numeric code that enables local
exchange carriers, as providers of interexchange
access services, to identify access customers (carriers)
in order to bill and route traffic to them. CICs enable consumers to use the services
of any number of carriers at any telephone, both by presubscription and by "dialing
around." A carrier's CIC is the unique suffix of its carrier
access code (CAC), which is the number that a customer uses to dial around.
In April 1997, the FCC set January 1, 1998 as the deadline for transition from
three to four digit CICc and from five to seven digit CACs. [see also carrier
access code]
Cellular
Cross Interest Rule
US:
An FCC rule limiting the ability of a single party to
have ownership interests in both of the cellular carriers
licensed by the FCC in a given cellular geographic service area (CGSA). In September
1999 the FCC amended this rule to allow a party with a controlling interest in
one cellular licensee to have a non-controlling interest of up to 5 per cent in
the other cellular licensee in overlapping CGSAs. However, in November 2001 (see
US Rep 30, IV.A)
the FCC eliminated the cellular cross-interest rule in major metropolitan areas
because it concluded that the two cellular carriers licensed in these markets
face adequate competition from other wireless operators. It retained the rule
in rural service areas because the cellular incumbents generally continue to dominate
the markets in those areas.
Cellular
Geographic Service Area (CGSA)
US:
The geographic service area considered by the FCC to be served by a given licensed
cellular system within which the cellular system is entitled to protection (47
CFR 22.911).
Cellular
Telephone Service
US:
A commercial mobile radio service (CMRS) offered
by common carriers for hire to the general public.
A cellular system is an automated, high-capacity telephone system operating in
the 800 MHz frequency band and using one or more multichannel base stations which
employ techniques such as low transmitting power and automatic hand-off between
base stations of communications in progress to enable channels to be re-used at
relatively short distances. A cellular system operates by dividing a large geographical
service area into cells and assigning the same channels to multiple, nonadjacent
cells. This allows channels to be reused, increasing spectrum efficiency. Cellular
systems may also employ digital techniques such as voice encoding and decoding,
data compression, error correction, and time or code division multiple access
in order to increase system capacity. Formally called 'Cellular Radiotelephone
Service;' formerly called Domestic Public Cellular Radio Telecommunications Service.
(see 47 C.F.R. § 22.99) The
FCC adopted rules creating cellular telephone service in 1981 and set aside 50
MHz of spectrum in the 800 MHz frequency band for two competing cellular systems
in each geographic market (25 MHz for each system). To encourage competition,
the FCC divided the available spectrum into two channel blocks, one for the local
wireline telephone companies and the other for a non-wireline competitor. It designated
a total of 734 cellular markets and used competitive hearings to select licensees
in the top 30 markets and lotteries in the remaining markets in cases where there
was more than one applicant.
Central-Office
Implemented Payphone
Centrex
A
service offered by local exchange carriers which
substitutes the features and functions provided by an on-premises private
branch exchange (PBX) with features and functions
provided directly from the LEC's central office switch, thus removing the need
for the customer to install and maintain its own PBX.
Choke Networks
Class A Carrier
US:
Carriers having annual revenues from regulated telecommunications operations of
$100 million or more.
Class B Carriers
US:
Carriers having annual revenues from regulated telecommunications operations of
less than $100 million.
Closed Captioning (CC)
US:
The display of audio portions of television and video programming as printed words
on the television screen. In addition to displaying spoken dialogue and music
lyrics, captions may identify speakers, sound effects, background music, and laughter.
'Open' captions always appear directly on the television screen; 'closed' captions
are hidden as encoded data within the television signal and are displayed only
when activated by the viewer. Since 1992 in the US, all televisions with screens
13" or larger are required to be equipped with the technology to display captioning,
and consumers may purchase set-top decoders for older TV models.
Code calling
US:
In the context of international 'call-back' services, code callingrefers to the
configuration in which the customer, located outside the US, dials the Call-Back
Service provider's switch in the US, waits a predetermined number of rings, and
hangs up without the switch answering. (The switch then automatically returns
the call, and upon completion, provides the caller with a US dialtone. All traffic
is thus originated at the US switch and the calls are billed at US tariffed rates,
which are often much lower than those of the originating country.) Code calling
is also called 'uncompleted call signaling.' (see also 'Hot
Line' Call-Back Service)
Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)
US:
Code of Federal Regulations is a publication which codifies (expresses in official
language) the general and permanent rules of the Executive departments and agencies
of the U.S. Federal Government and is published by The Office of the Federal
Register, a component of the National Archives and Records Administration.
Coin
Sent Paid
US:
A telephone call made by depositing a coin in a standard coin-operated public
telephone.
Collocation
Europe:Definition according to Com(2000)393:Collocation"
means the provision of physical space and technical conditioning necessary to
reasonably accommodate and connect the equipment of a new entrant to access the
local loop.
US:The placement
by a new-entrant (competitive local exchange carrier, or CLEC) of its own network
equipment on the premises of an incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) for the
purpose of interconnecting with the ILEC's network.
Physical
collocation refers to an arrangement in which the CLEC leases space at an
ILEC's premises for its equipment and has physical access to this space to install,
maintain, and repair its equipment.
Virtual
collocation refers to an arrangement in which the CLEC designates the equipment
to be placed at an ILEC's premises, but does not have physical access to the incumbent's
premises. Instead, the equipment is under the physical control of the ILEC who
is responsible for installing, maintaining, and repairing the CLEC's equipment.
[See CI's Concise
Summary of the FCC Decision on the Interconnection and Local Competition Provisions
of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, August 1996, VI.B. for additional background
on collocation.]
Commercial
Mobile Radio Service (CMRS)
US:
Any wireless telecommunications service that is provided for profit to the public
and which is interconnected with the public switched telecommunications network
(PSTN). (The definition of CMRS is expressed in statutory language in Section
332(d) of the Communications Act of 1934,
47 U.S.C. § 332 (d).) CMRS
consists of, e.g., cellular telephone service, paging service, Specialized
Mobile Radio (SMR) services that are interconnected to the PSTN, licensed
Personal Communications Services (PCS), interconnected
Business Radio and 220 MHz services, multilateration systems in the location and
monitoring service (LMS), air-to-ground service, satellite systems for mobile
communications, and public coast stations in the maritime service.
Committee
on Foreign Investments in the United States(CFIUS)
US: A Committee created in 1975 to provide
guidance on arrangements with foreign governments for advance consultations on
prospective major foreign governmental investments in the US, and to consider
proposals for new legislation or regulation relating to foreign investment.
CFIUS
was amended by the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 to give the President
authority to review mergers, acquisitions, and takeovers of US companies by foreign
interests and to prohibit, suspend, or seek divestiture in the courts of investments
that may lead to actions that threaten to impair national security. CFIUS is chaired
by the US Department of the Treasury and has 11 member agencies throughout the
Executive branch.
Committee
T - 1
US:
A telecommunications standards development group sponsored by the Alliance for
Telecommunications Industry Solutions and accredited by the American
National Standards Institute to create network interconnections and interoperability
standards for the United States. Committee T - 1 was established in February 1984
and develops technical standards and reports regarding interconnection and interoperability
of telecommunications networks at interfaces with end-user systems, carriers,
information and enhanced-service providers, and customer
premises equipment (CPE). Committee
T - 1 has six technical subcommittees, each of which develops draft standards
and technical reports in its designated areas of expertise. These subcommittees
are: (1) Performance and Signal Processing; (2) Interfaces, Power and Protection
of Networks; (3) Inter-network Operations, Administration, Maintenance & Provisioning;
(4) Wireless/Mobile Services and Systems; (5) Services, Architectures and Signaling;
and (6) Digital Hierarchy and Synchronization. The subcommittees recommend positions
on matters under consideration by other national and international standards bodies.
Membership in Committee T- 1 is open to all
parties with a direct and material interest in its activities and areas of competence.
[see also Alliance for Telecommunications Industry
Solutions; American National Standards Institute]
Common Carrier
US:
In general, a common carrier is any regulated service provider whose services
are offered indiscriminately to the general public for a fee.
The terms and
conditions of a carrier's particular service
and the way it holds itself out to the public are the key determinants as to whether
a carrier is a 'common' or 'private' carrier.
A
1976 court decision (National Association of Regulatory Commissions v. FCC - 'NARUC
I') clarified that, 'The fundamental concept of a communications common carrier
is that such a carrier makes a public offering to provide, for hire, facilities
by wire or radio whereby all members of the public who choose to employ such facilities
may communicate or transmit intelligence of their own design and choosing.'
The Communications
Act of 1934 provides a somewhat circular definition of the term, defining
'common carrier' as any person engaged as a common carrier for hire.
However, the Telecommunications
Act of 1996 provides some clarification by defining 'telecommunications
services' as the offering of telecommunications for a fee directly to the
public, and then states that a telecommunications
carrier shall be treated as a 'common carrier' only to the extent that it
is engaged in providing such 'telecommunications services.' (See CI '96 Act References
0(3)(a)(49);
0(3)(a)(51))
Thus, a 'common carrier' is a telecommunications
carrier that offers services directly to the public for a fee. common carriers
may offer their services as facilities-based carriers, or as resellers.
Common carriers are required to secure authorization
from the FCC to provide their services under Section
214 (Extension of Lines) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended. (see
also Private Carrier)
Common Costs
US:
Common costs are costs that are incurred in connection with the production of
multiple products or services, and remains unchanged as the relative proportion
of those products or services varies (e.g., the salaries of corporate managers).
Such costs may be common to all services provided by the firm or common to only
a subset of those services or elements. If a cost is common with respect to a
subset of services or elements, for example, a firm avoids that cost only by not
providing each and every service or element in the subset. (CC Docket 96-98)
Communications
Act of 1934 ('34 Act)
US:
The basic U.S. law which established the Federal
Communications Commission and sets forth the principles under which inter-state
and international communication by wire and radio are regulated in the United
States. The '34 Act has been amended incrementally numerous times over the years,
but was not fundamentally altered until passage of the Telecommunications
Act of 1996 in February of 1996. The '96 Act amends, but does not replace,
the Communications Act of
1934.
Communications
Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA)
US:
A US law enacted on October 24, 1994 that requires telecommunications
carriers to modify and design their equipment, facilities, and services
to support the electronic surveillance needed by federal, state, and local
law enforcement agencies. Section 103 of CALEA sets down 'assistance capability
requirements' to ensure that telecommunications carriers' facilities enable law
enforcement officials, with proper authorization, to intercept calls and access
call-identifying information that is reasonably available to the carrier. Section
104 of CALEA requires that carriers comply with 'capacity requirements' established
by the US Attorney General to ensure they meet the 'assistance capability requirements'
of section 103. Sections 109 and 104(e) of CALEA grant the Attorney General authority,
subject to the availability of appropriations, to reimburse a telecommunications
carrier for the reasonable costs associated with compliance of the 'assistance
capability' and 'capacity requirements.'
Sections 109 and 104(e) of
CALEA grant the Attorney General authority, subject to the availability of appropriations,
to reimburse a telecommunications carrier for the reasonable costs associated
with compliance of the 'assistance capability' and 'capacity requirements.'
Comparably Efficient Interconnection (CEI)
US:
An interim network unbundling requirement applied to Bell Operating Companies
(BOCs) under the FCC's Open
Network Architecture (ONA) regime in which
a BOC could provide individual enhanced services (i.e., information
services) on a structurally integrated basis if it provided competing enhanced
service providers access to its basic transmission network on terms and conditions
comparable to those provided by the carrier to
its own enhanced service affiliate. These interim
service-specific CEI approvals would no longer be required once the BOC received
FCC approval of its overall ONA network unbundling plan. [See also enhanced
service; information service; Open
Network Architecture (ONA).]
Competitive Access Provider
(CAP)
US:
A name given to competitors who entered the local exchange markets prior to enactment
of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 who provided
access links between end-customers and the switching nodes of inter-state long
distance carriers, generally bypassing the facilities
of the incumbent local exchange carrier. While
most states prohibited local competition, local access for inter-state services
of the kind provided by CAPs fell under FCC jurisdiction and was therefore open
to competition. The 96 Act opened all local telephone markets to competition as
well, and thus the term 'CAP' is loosing currency
to the more generic 'competitive local exchange carrier,'
or CLEC, to describe new competitors. (see also
ALTS)
Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC)
US:
A name applied informally to new entrants into the local telephone business, a
market opened to competition on a national basis by the Telecommunications
Act of 1996.
Complementary
Network Service (CNS)
US:
A component of the 'Common Open Network Architecture
(ONA) Model' which had been developed by the
Bell Operating Companies and approved by the FCC in 1988. CNSs
are optional unbundled basic features (such as a stutter dial tone) that an end-user
may obtain from a carrier in order to access
or to receive an enhanced service (i.e., an information service). Features that
the BOCs describe as CNS are generally resident in the stored-program-controlled
switch located in a carrier's end office. Software packages in the switch make
these functionalities available to enhanced service providers and end-users.
In the common ONA model, CNSs are locally tariffed,
basic services that the BOCs offer to end-users
whether or not such users are customers of enhanced service providers. [See also
Ancillary Network Service (ANS); Basic
Serving Arrangement (BSA); Basic Service Element
(BSE); enhanced service; information
service; Open Network Architecture (ONA).]
Complete Detariffing
US:
An FCC policy under which carriers are not permitted
to file tariffs with the FCC. (compare 'Permissive
Detariffing,' an FCC policy under which carriers are permitted, but not required,
to file tariffs with the FCC) Component
Economic Areas (CEAs)
US:
Geographic areas based on Economic Areas delineated by the US Department of Commerce.
Each of the 354 CEAs consists of a single economic node and the surrounding counties
that are economically related to the node. The FCC has added six additional CEAs
to complete its coverage of the US and its territories.
Computer Inquiry I (CI I)
US:
Computer Inquiry One was the first attempt in the FCC's decades-long effort to
deal with the regulatory implications of the convergence of telecommunications
and data processing. In a series of three Computer Inquires undertake over
the years, the FCC periodically revisited the issue of how it should distinguish
between services subject to FCC regulation under the Communications
Act of 1934 and services not subject to FCC regulation.
In the Computer I decision
of 1970, the FCC determined that 'communications'services, including message switching,
would be regulated; that 'data processing' services was a highly competitive industry
that would not be regulated; and that 'hybrid services,' combining communications
with data processing would be regulated only in those instances where the
communications function 'predominated.'
The need to determine how to handle 'hybrid'
services on a case-by-case basis made this scheme impractical and led to Computer
Inquiry II . [See also Computer Inquiry II ;
Computer Inquiry III .]
Computer
Inquiry II (CI II)
US:
Computer Inquiry Two was the second attempt in the FCC's decades-long effort to
deal with the regulatory implications of the convergence of telecommunications
and data processing. In a series of three Computer Inquires undertake over the
years, the FCC periodically revisited the issue of how it should distinguish between
services subject to FCC regulation under the Communications
Act of 1934 and services not subject to FCC regulation.
In the Computer II decision
of 1980, the FCC replaced the Computer I classifications with a new regulatory
framework, distinguishing between regulated 'basic' services and non-regulated
'enhanced' services. Basic services are pure
transmission services that transport subscriber information through a network
from point of origin to point of destination without change in the information's
format, content, code, or protocol. Enhanced services
are services, offered over common carrier transmission
facilities used in inter-state communications, which employ computer processing
applications that act on the format, content, code, protocol or similar aspects
of the subscriber's transmitted information; provide the subscriber additional,
different, or restructured information; or involve subscriber interaction with
stored information.
In Computer
II, the FCC also: eliminated all federal price and service regulation of enhanced
services and allowed the Bell System (pre-divestiture AT&T) to offer enhanced
services, but only through structurally separate subsidiaries; and lifted the
structural separation requirement from the independent, i.e., non-BOC,
local exchange carriers. [See also Computer Inquire
I; Computer Inquiry III .]
Computer
Inquiry III (CI III)
US:
Computer Inquiry Three was the third attempt in the FCC's decades-long effort
to deal with the regulatory implications of the convergence of telecommunications
and data processing. In a series of three Computer Inquires undertake over the
years, the FCC periodically revisited the issue of how it should distinguish between
services subject to FCC regulation under the Communications
Act of 1934 and services not subject to FCC regulation.
In the Computer III decision
of 1986, the FCC reaffirmed the 'basic-enhanced' regulatory structure devised
in Computer II, but decided to replace the Computer II 'structural separation'
requirement with 'non-structural' safeguards. This was intended to allow the Bell
Operating Companies (BOCs), (which had by this
time been divested by AT&T under the terms of the Modification
of final Judgment (MFJ) in 1984) to reap
the efficiency benefits of providing the two classes of service on an integrated
basis. (Initially, however, the MFJ expressly prohibited BOCs from providing 'information
services,' i.e., most enhanced services,
unless a specific waiver were granted by the court overseeing implementation of
the MFJ. Restrictions on BOC provision of 'information
services' were ultimately lifted entirely in 1992.)
In
the Computer III decision, the FCC established the procedures through which it
would lift the structural separation requirements for each carrier.
It established an 'interim' solution called 'Comparably Efficient Interconnection'
(CEI) and a longer term solution called 'Open Network
Architecture' (ONA). [See also Comparably
Efficient Interconnection (CEI); Computer
Inquiry I ; Computer Inquiry II ; Open
Network
Conduit
In
the context of 'rights-of-way,' or 'way leaves,' a conduit is a pipe placed in
the ground through which cables are pulled. Conduit systems are structures that
provide physical protection for cables and also allow new cables to be added inexpensively
along a route, over a long period of time, without having to dig up the streets
each time a new cable is placed. Conduit systems are usually multiple-duct structures
with standardized duct diameters. The duct diameter is the principle factor for
determining the maximum number of cables that can be placed in a duct. (FCC NPRM
CS Docket 97-151, 12 August 1997, fn. 68)
Consent Decree
US:
A legal document, approved by a judge, that settles a lawsuit in which a party
agrees to take certain specified actions without admitting guilt for the activity
or circumstance about which the suit was originally brought. [See also AT&TConsent
Decree.]
Cost
Allocation Rules - "Part 64"
US:
Rules prescribed by Part 64, Subpart I of the FCC's Code
of Federal Regulations by which carriers
are required to separate the costs of their regulated activities from the costs
of their nonregulated activities.
Cost Proxy Models
US:
As used in the context of implementation of the Telecommunications
Act of 1996, cost proxy models are computer models intended to enable regulatory
authorities to estimate the forward-looking cost of network facilities and services
without having to rely on detailed cost studies prepared by incumbent
local exchange carriers that otherwise would be necessary. The FCC plans to
use such forward-looking economic cost methodologies as a basis for determining
universal service support levels, cost-based
access charges, and pricing for interconnection
and unbundled network elements. Such models may
also be used by regulators as an independent check on the accuracy of incumbent
LEC cost studies.
Cramming
Cramming
is the term applied to the unauthorized provision of, and billing for, additional
services by a telephone company that its customer has not ordered. [See also Slamming]
Custom Calling Features
Customer Premises Equipment (CPE)
Equipment
employed on the premises of a person (other than a carrier)
to originate, route, or terminate telecommunications. Also referred to as 'terminal
equipment.' [See also CI '96 Act Reference 0(3)(a)(38)]
Customer Proprietary Network
Information (CPNI)
Custom Local Area Signaling
Services (CLASS)
Vertical
switching features that rely on the availability of interoffice signaling and
the transmission of signaling information between the calling and called parties
to provide number translation services, such as caller identification, call return
and call forwarding. (See also Vertical Switching
Features and Custom Calling Features.)