Landing Rights
"Landing rights" involve one country granting permission for another
country's land-line cable or communication satellite to provide service or "land"
in its country.
Law Enforcement Tracking Systems (LETS)
US: Radio-based tracking
systems which remotely locate thin transmitters disguised as paper currency.
Lifeline
US: One of two explicit
support mechanisms administered by the FCC since 1985 in cooperation with state
regulators and local telephone companies designed to increase telephone subscribership
by reducing monthly charges to qualifying low-income consumers. (see also Link
Up)
The FCC changed and expanded the Lifeline program in its May
1997 Report & Order implementing the universal
service provisions of the Telecommunications
Act of 1996. Lifeline was made part of the universal service support mechanisms
and all carriers eligible to receive Federal universal service support funds
are now required to offer Lifeline service to qualifying low-income consumers.
The FCC ensures baseline federal support to qualifying consumers in all states
of $5.25 per month without state matching support. Support can rise well above
that amount when a state provides matching funds. (see CI's Concise
Summary of the May '97 Universal Service R & O for additional detail.)
Line Sharing
US:
Line sharing is the simultaneous use of discrete electromagnetic frequencies
on a single wire pair (subscriber line) to provide separate communications
services, enabling two different service providers simultaneously to offer
their services over the same line. In December 1999 the FCC issued rules requiring
incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs)
to make available the high-frequency portion of the telephone subscriber line
to competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs).
CLECs may use this high-frequency portion of the line to provide high-speed
digital subscriber line (DSL) services for
Internet access and other data services while
at the same time the ILEC is using the low frequency portion of the same line
to provide basic telephone service.
Link Up
US: One of two explicit
support mechanisms administered by the FCC since 1985 in cooperation with state
regulators and local telephone companies designed to increase telephone subscribership
by reducing initial connection charges by up to one half for eligible low-income
consumers. (see also Lifeline)
The Link Up program helps low-income subscribers initiate telephone
service by paying half of the first $60.00 of installation charges. To be eligible
for this program, a subscriber must meet a state-established means test, and
may not, unless over 60 years old, be another's dependent for federal income
tax purposes. Pursuant to the FCC's May 1997 Report & Order implementing
the universal service provisions of the Telecommunications
Act of 1996, this program will be funded through contributions from all
interstate telecommunications carriers. Support
is available only for the primary residential connection and states are prohibited
from restricting the number of service connections per year for which low-income
consumers who relocate can receive Link Up support. (see CI's Concise
Summary of the May '97 Universal Service R & O for additional detail.)
Local Access and Transport Area (LATA)
US: A geographic area
within which a bell operating company may provide
exchange telecommunications and exchange access services,
i.e., local services.
LATAs were established as part of the reorganization of the Bell
System under the terms of the 1982 Modification
of Final Judgment, or MFJ, the court approved settlement of the antitrust
suit against AT&T. The settlement required the divestiture by AT&T of
the bell operating companies, who were permitted to provide exchange telecommunications
and exchange access, i.e., local services, but prohibited from providing interexchange
telecommunications services, i.e., long distance or toll services. LATAs, of
which there are over 160 designated nationwide, were proposed by the Bell telephone
companies in 1983 and adopted by the US District Court overseeing the BOCS to
delineate the areas in which the BOCs may offer their services. The '96 Act
adopted the LATA construct but vacated the BOCS and the line of business restrictions
it placed upon the BOCs. [See also CI '96 Act Reference 0(3)(a)(43)]
Local and State Government Advisory Committee(LSGAC)
US: An advisory committee
comprised of elected and appointed officials of municipal, county, state and tribal
governments that provides advice and information to the FCC on issues relevant
to the committee's membership, including public rights-of-way, facilities siting,
universal service,
removal of barriers to competitive entry and public safety communications.
Local Circuit Switching
US: One of six
unbundled network elements
(UNEs) that incumbent local
exchange carriers (ILECs) are required by FCC rules under the '96
Act to provide individually, or in combination with other UNEs, to new entrants
seeking to provide competitive local telephone service. Local circuit switching
routes calls from the telephone of the calling party to the telephone of the
called party.
Local Loop
US: One of six
unbundled network elements (UNEs) that incumbent local
exchange carriers (ILECs) are required by FCC rules under the '96
Act to provide individually, or in combination with other UNEs, to new entrants
seeking to provide competitive local telephone service. Local loops are the
subscriber lines running from the customer premises to the local switch of the
ILEC, and include high-capacity lines, loops capable of providing DSL (digital subscriber
line) service, any inside wiring (inside the customer premises) owned
by the ILEC and dark fiber loops.
Local Exchange Carrier (LEC)
US: A local telephone
company. A local exchange carrier is a telephone company that provides telephone
exchange service and exchange access service.
Telephone exchange service is equivalent to local telephone service. Exchange
access service is a service in which the local exchange carrier provides the connection
between an interexchange (long distance) carrier
and its customer for the purpose of originating and terminating interexchange
calls and for which it charges the interexchange
carrier an access fee, or access charge. [See also CI '96 Act Reference 0(3)(a)(44)]
Local Multipoint Distribution Service (LMDS)
US: A 'wireless' cable
TV service for which the FCC has allocated 2 GHz of spectrum in the 28 GHz band.
LMDS could be used for high-speed data services, television, and two-way video
or imaging services, with a potential bit rate of more than 2 Gbps. The
propagation characteristics of the 28 GHz band are such that an LMDS system must
operate in multiple ''cells' with radii of three to six miles (5 to 10 kilometers)
in order to provide service to a metropolitan area that could be covered by a
single wireless cable transmitter. The FCC auctioned LMDS licenses during February
and March 1998.
Local Taxing Jurisdiction
US: As used in the
Telecommunications Act of 1996, the term 'local
taxing jurisdiction' means any municipality, city, county, township, parish, transportation
district, or assessment jurisdiction, or any other local jurisdiction in the territorial
jurisdiction of the United States with the authority to impose a tax or fee, but
does not include a State. [See also CI '96 Act Reference VI(602)(b)(3)]
Location and Monitoring Service (LMS)
US: A telecommunications
service operating in the 902-928 MHz frequency band and using advanced radio
technologies to support Intelligent Transportation Systems and to improve the
efficiency and safety of highways in the United States. There are two types of
LMS systems -- multilateration and non-multilateration.
Multilateration LMS systems are designed to locate vehicles or
other objects by measuring the difference in time of arrival, or difference
in phase, of signals transmitted from a unit to be located and a number of fixed
points. Multilateration systems are used, for example, by trucking companies
to track individual vehicles, by municipalities to pinpoint the location of
their buses, and by private entrepreneurs developing subscriber-based services
for recovery of stolen vehicles.
Non-multilateration LMS systems typically employ narrowband technology
to transfer information between an electronic device placed in a vehicle and
one of the system's stations when the vehicle passes nearby. Examples of such
systems include automated toll collection devices and systems used by railway
companies to monitor the location of railroad cars.
Location Portability
US: The ability of
end users of telecommunications services to retain existing telecommunications
numbers without impairment of quality, reliability, or convenience when moving
from one physical location to another. Currently in the US, telephone subscribers
must change their telephone numbers when they move outside the area served by
their current service provider's central switching office. The FCC currently places
no requirements on telecommunications carriers
to provide location portability. (See also Number
Portability, Number Transferability and Service
Portability)
Location Routing Number (LRN)
US: A system devised
by AT&T to support local number portability
in which a unique 10-digit number is assigned to each local exchange end office.
When a customer changes carriers, the LRN for
that customer is changed to reflect the new carrier's end office, but the customer's
telephone number remains unchanged.
Long Term Support (LTS)
US: A subsidy payment
made by the larger incumbent local exchange carriers
(ILECs), with lower loop costs, to smaller ILECs
with higher loop costs. The paying ILECs recover the revenue for their LTS payments
by increasing their own per-minute carrier common
line access charges assessed on interexchange
carriers. The FCC decided to abolished LTS in May 1997 in its universal
service and access charge reform decisions, finding it to be inconsistent
with the '96 Act 's requirement that support for universal service be collected
on a non-discriminatory basis from all providers of interstate telecommunications
services.