Unbundled Network Element(UNE)

US: Any one of six local network components that incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) are required by FCC rules under the '96 Act to provide individually or in combination to new entrants seeking to provide competitive local telephone service, including: local loops (including subloops): network interface devices; local circuit switching; interoffice transmission facilities; signaling and call-related database facilities; and operation support systems.

Uncompleted Call Signaling

US: In the context of international 'call-back' services, uncompleted call signaling refers 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.) Uncompleted call signaling is also called 'code calling.' (see also 'Hot Line' Call-Back Service) 

UNE Platform

US: A term used to refer to a combination of all unbundled network elements (UNEs) that incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) are required by FCC rules under the '96 Act to provide to new entrants seeking to provide competitive local telephone service

Uniform System of Accounts - "Part 32"(USOA)

US: An accounting system prescribed by Part 32 of the FCC's Code of Federal Regulations used by incumbent LECs to record all of their booked expenses and their cost of investment. The USOA is an historical financial accounting system, kept in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, that reports the results of operational and financial events in a manner that enables management, regulators, the financial community and others to assess these results within a specified accounting period. 

Universal Service

Europe: Definition according to 2002/21/EC - Framework Directive

"universal service" means the minimum set of services, defined in Directive 2002/22/EC (Universal Service Directive), of specified quality which is available to all users regardless of their geographical location and, in the light of specific national conditions, at an affordable price;

Definition according to (Com(2000)393): 'universal service' means a set of services, defined in Directive [on universal service and users' rights relating to electronic communications networks and services], of specified quality which is available to all users regardless of their geographical location and, in the light of specific national conditions, at an affordable price;

Definition according to (97/33/EC) and (98/10/EC):

"universal service" means a defined minimum set of services of specified quality which is available to all users independent of their geographical location and, in the light of specific national conditions, at an affordable price

 

US: Universal service, historically in the U.S., has referred to a common set of basic telecommunications services which are made available to all subscribers who wish to have them (i.e., on a 'universal' basis) at rates that are 'reasonable.' The Telecommunications Act of 1996 establishes the additional principle that universal service should be available at just, reasonable, and 'affordable' rates. 

As further defined by the Telecommunications Act of 1996, universal service is an evolving level of telecommunications services that the FCC is directed to establish periodically, taking into account advances in telecommunications and information technologies and services. The FCC is directed by the '96 Act to establish the definition of the services that are to be supported by Federal universal service support mechanisms, taking into account the extent to which such telecommunications services: are essential to education, public health, or public safety; have, through the operation of market choices by customers, been subscribed to by a substantial majority of residential customers; are being deployed in public telecommunications networks by telecommunications carriers; and are consistent with the public interest, convenience, and necessity. The FCC may also designate additional services for Federal universal support mechanisms for schools, libraries, and health care providers for specified purposes e.g., health care providers serving persons who reside in rural areas. New universal service rules based on the FCC's implementation of the '96 Act became effective January 1, 1998.  [See also CI '96 Act Reference I(101)(254)(c)(1)] 

Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC)

US: An independent corporation serving as the permanent administrator of all federal universal service support programs, effective January 1, 1999. USAC has three divisions: Schools and Libraries Division; Rural Health Care Division; and the High Cost and Low Income Division. Three committees of the USAC Board of Directors oversee the operations of these three divisions.

This structure replaced a more elaborate structure originally established in July 1997 under which three separate independent corporations were established to administer the universal service support programs -- USAC (to administer the high-cost and low income programs), the Schools and Libraries Corporation, and the Rural Health Care Corporation. In 1998 the US Congress concluded that the FCC lacked authority to establish such a structure, whereupon the FCC folded the separate corporate entities into a single USAC.

Universal Service Fund (USF)

US: A funding program through which interexchange carriers (IXCs) subsidize that portion of local exchange carriers' (LECs) local "loop" costs that exceeds 115 percent of the national average. (e.g., The national average cost per loop based on year-end data for 1995 was $248.43. Therefore, under the existing rules an LEC would have to have loop costs exceeding $285.69 per year ($23.81 per month) before it would be eligible to receive USF support.) 

The USF is administered by the National Exchange Carrier Association which determines each year the LECs' loop costs and number of working loops, calculates the total amount of USF assistance needed and prepares tariffs to recover that amount from the contributing IXCs. Each IXC with at least .05 percent of presubscribed lines nationwide contributes to the fund an amount based on the number of its presubscribed lines. In 1994, the USF was $725.4 million, in 1995, $749.5 million and in 1996, $734.6 million. 

In the May 1997 Report & Order in which the FCC took initial steps to implement the universal service provisions of the '96 Act, it explicitly rejected proposals to establish a principle to minimize the size and growth of the Universal Service Fund. 

Unlicensed Wireless Service

US: As used in the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the term 'unlicensed wireless service' means the offering of telecommunications services using duly authorized devices which do not require individual licenses, but does not mean the provision of direct-to-home satellite services. [See also CI '96 Act Reference VII(704)(a)]

Utility

US: Any person who is a local exchange carrier or an electric, gas, water, steam, or other public utility, and who owns or controls poles, ducts, conduits, or rights-of-way used, in whole or in part, for any wire communications. The term does not include any railroad, any cooperatives or any federally or state-owned entity. (Communications Act of 1934, as amended - 47 U.S.C. 224(a)(1))