Economic Costs
US:
Forward-looking incremental costs, plus a portion
of the forward-looking joint and common costs,
are sometimes referred to as "economic costs." (CC Docket 96-98)
Economies of Scope
A
characteristic of production processes involving two or more products in which
it is less costly for a single firm to produce a bundle of the products (goods
or services) together, than it is for two or more firms, each specializing in
distinct product lines, to produce them separately.
Effective Competitive Opportunities - Satellites (ECO-Sat
)
US:
An FCC policy adopted in November 1997 that requires, as a condition for approving
applications to use foreign satellites (non-US-licensed satellites) to provide
services to, from, or within the US, that there be no legal or practical restrictions
on US satellite operators seeking to provide similar services in the market where
the foreign satellite is licensed. This ECO-Sat 'test'
is only one consideration applied by the FCC in evaluating requests to serve the
US market using a foreign satellite. It also considers additional 'public interest'
factors, including spectrum availability, eligibility requirements such as legal,
technical and financial qualifications, operating requirements, and national security,
law enforcement, foreign policy and trade policy concerns, as it deems appropriate. Because
of US trade commitments made in the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement on
basic telecommunications in February 1997, the FCC refrains from applying the
ECO-Sat test to satellites licensed in WTO member countries for fixed and mobile
satellite services as of February 5, 1998, the date the agreement entered into
force. The ECO-Sat policy does apply in most cases involving satellites
licensed in non-WTO countries. However, the policy also applies to satellites
licensed in WTO member countries seeking to offer specific services which the
US explicitly excluded from its WTO commitment. These are DTH (Direct-to-the-Home
Services), DBS (Direct Broadcast Satellite Services)
and DARS (Digital Audio Radio Services).
Effective Competitive Opportunities - Test (ECO Test)
US:
An FCC policy in place since November 1995 that requires, as a condition of foreign
carrier entry into the US market for international telecommunications services,
that there be no legal or practical restrictions on US carrier entry into the
foreign carrier's international services market. ECO Test findings are one of
a number of factors considered by the FCC in deciding whether or not to approve
such entry. An ECO Test may also be applied to foreign investment in common carrier
radio facilities.
Because
of US trade commitments made in the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement on
basic telecommunications in February 1997, the FCC refrains from applying the
ECO Test to applications for market entry from foreign carriers (and US affiliates
of foreign carriers) from WTO member countries
as of February 5, 1998, the date the agreement entered into force.
Efficient Component Pricing Rule (ECPR)
US:
A method of setting prices for, e.g., network elements,
under which the price of an element would be set equal to the incremental
cost of the input plus the opportunity cost that the incumbent carrier
incurs when the new entrant provides the services instead of the incumbent. The
opportunity cost, which is computed as revenues less all incremental costs, represents
both profit and contribution to common costs
of the incumbent, given the existing retail prices of the services being sold.
(CC Docket 96-98) Electronic
Publishing
US:
As defined in the Telecommunications Act of 1996,
`electronic publishing' means the dissemination, provision, publication, or sale
to an unaffiliatedd entity or person, of any one or more of the following: news
(including sports); entertainment (other than interactive games); business, financial,
legal, consumer, or credit materials; editorials, columns, or features; advertising;
photos or images; archival or research material; legal notices or public records;
scientific, educational, instructional, technical, professional, trade, or other
literary materials; or other like or similar information. [See also CI '96
Act Reference I(151)(274)(h)(1)]
Electronic Surveillance
US:
As defined by the FCC for purposes of implementing the Communications Assistance
for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) enacted in 1994, 'electronic surveillance' is
defined as both the interception of communications content (wiretapping) and the
acquisition of call-identifying information (dialed-number information) through
the use of pen register devices and through traps and traces. Pen registers capture
call-identifying information for numbers dialed from the facility that is the
subject of lawful interception (i.e., outgoing calls), while trap and trace devices
capture call-identifying information for numbers received by the facility that
is the subject of lawful interception (i.e., incoming calls).
Eligible Telecommunications Carrier
US:
As defined by the Telecommunications Act of 1996,
an eligible telecommunications carrier is a common
carrier designated by a State public utility
commission (PUC) as eligible to receive universal
service support funding and consequently obliged to offer those services supported
by Federal universal support mechanisms. For unserved areas, the FCC (for inter-state
services) and State PUCs (for intra-state services) are required to select and
designate a common carrier as an eligible telecommunications carrier with an obligation
to serve that area. [See also CI '96 Act Reference I(102)(a)(1)]
Embedded Costs
US:
Embedded costs are the costs that, e.g., an incumbent
local exchange carrier carries on its accounting books that reflect historical
purchase prices, regulatory depreciation rates, system configurations, and operating
procedures. Embedded costs are also referred to as accounting
costs. (CC Docket 96-98)
Emission
Limits
US:
Transmitter performance specifications designed to minimize interference to communications
systems operating on other channels or in other bands.
The interference is minimized by restricting the level of emissions that
are unavoidably transmitted into adjacent channels and other parts of the spectrum. These limits must be carefully selected to provide
acceptable adjacent channel protection while maximizing information transfer and
thus ensuring efficient use of the band. En Banc Hearing
US:
A public hearing conducted by the Federal Communications
Commission usually for the purpose of gathering information rather than considering
specific proposals or making decisions. All five FCC commissioners must be present
for en banc hearings. Enhanced
911 (E911)
US:
A telephone number used to notify police, fire, or medical authorities of an emergency
situation which includes Automatic Numbering Information (ANI), providing emergency
service personnel call back capability if the call is disconnected, and Automatic
Location Information (ALI), enabling emergency service personnel to identify the
geographic location of the calling party. (see also 911)
Enhanced Extended Link (EEL)
US:
A link, or connection, from a customer's premises to the collocation
arrangement that a new competitive entrant has established with the incumbent
local carrier. EELs consist of a combination
of an unbundled local loop, multiplexing or concentrating equipment, and dedicated
transport, allowing new entrants to serve customers without having to collocate
in every central office in the incumbent s territory. Enhanced Service
US:
In FCC rules, enhanced services are services, offered over common
carrier transmission facilities used in interstate 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. Enhanced services are not regulated by the FCC. Enhanced
services are similar to "value added" services, a term in common use in many countries
around the world. [see also 47 CFR 64.702 (a)].
Entrance Facilities
US:
In the network of an incumbent local exchange carrier
(LEC), entrance facilities are transmission facilities
that carry inter-state traffic between an interexchange carrier's (IXC's) point
of presence (POP) and the incumbent LEC's end office (called the serving
wire center, or SWC) serving the POP. The FCC's current Part 69 Access
Charge rules require incumbent LECs to impose flat-rate charges on IXCs to recover
the costs of entrance facilities.
Entrance
facilities also refer to transport (transmission) facilities connecting an incumbent
local exchange carrier's serving wire center with a competing local carrier's
point of presence.
Enum
US:ENUM
(Telephone Numbering Mapping) is a protocol developed by the Internet Engineering
Task Force (IETF) that enables mapping between ordinary telephone numbers and
Internet-based URLs (i.e. Internet addresses called uniform resource locators)
using the e164.arpa top-level domain (i.e. comparable to bcd.com, mno.org, xyz.gov,
etc.) that has been set aside for ENUM. E.164 is the international telephone numbering
plan for ordinary telephone numbers administered by the International Telecommunication
Union (ITU). ENUM enables access to services on the Internet, including voice
over IP, e-mail, instant messaging and web sites, by using only a telephone number,
and thus by using any input device limited to twelve keys, such as an ordinary
telephone. It is a step in the convergence of circuit switched and
Internet Protocol (IP) technologies.
Equal
Access
Europe:Method for
carrier selection whiteout bias in favour of a particular
long distance or international carrier whereby either the default carrier is determined
by the customer with call-by-call override or no default carrier is determined
and each long distance or international call must be preceded by a carrier
selection prefix. (the latter method is not considered to be user friendly) COM(97)20
US:A
regulatory requirement imposed on local exchange
carriers requiring them to provide access service that would enable subscribers
to reach their interexchange carrier (IXC)
of choice without dialing additional digits, or in other words, "1+ dialing."
The court which oversaw the Modification of Final
Judgement (MFJ) required all bell operating
compan ies to provide equal access. GTE was later required by court order to provide
to all IXCs, upon bona fide request, exchange access that is equal in type and
quality to that provided to AT&T. The FCC later imposed similar "equal access"
obligations on independent telephone companies other than GTE.