Anticompetitive. Refers to the practice of predatory or other unfair behavior by telecommunications firms with monopoly or otherwise dominant market position.
Bandwidth. Information carrying capacity of a transmission medium. Telephone service is considered narrrowband; CATV, broadcast television and backbone networks are broadband, and future networks are expected to carry broadband capacity to the customer.
Barriers to entry. Present day laws, regulations or court decrees which have been erected to separate telecommunications markets: e.g. cable TV from telephone service; local exchange carriers from equipment manufacturing. Also refers to barrier presented historically by a "natural monopoly", where the cost of duplicating an infrastructure was sufficently high to prevent entry by any other party.
BellSouth. The Regional Bell Operating Company in the southeastern United States: one of seven RBOC's formed at the Divestiture of AT&T. Provides local exchange services and intraLATA toll (Long distance) services to customers in its nine state region.
C.O. - Central Office. Telephone switching center to which users' telephone lines are connected and which, through interconnections to each other in a switching hierarchy using fiber optics and other media, comprise the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Customer equipment is connected to an end-office C.O., which typically supports up to 100,000 lines.
Collocation. The placement of in-service customer telecommunications equipment or competing telecommunications service providers' equipment at a carrier's central office, or at another location which provides equivalent network connections ("virtual collocation").
CAP Competitive Access Provider. An alternative provider of access to long distance carriers' telecommunications services, also a potential competitor to the LEC in local exchange services. Typically operates in a major urban area providing data and some voice telecommunications services to large customers.
Common Carrier. A carrier that holds itself out as serving the public (or a segment thereof) indifferently (i.e., without regard to the identity of the customer and without undue discrimination). Common carriers may vary rates based on special considerations and may in fact serve only a small fraction of the general public.
CATV - Cable TV - Community Antenna Television. A community television system, served by cable (coaxial or hybrid fiber/coax) and connected to a common (set of ) antenna(s).
Coax - Coaxial Cable. A copper cable capable of broadband transmission, most commonly used in the subscriber loop of CATV systems, consisting of a solid copper core surrounded by a metallic shield to minimize interference.
Cross ownership. A condition of ownership by one entity of multiple lines of business in the telecommunications and information services industries; prohibited by law or the Modified Final Judgment. Telephone operating companies have not been permitted to own cable TV companies in their service areas, publishers are restricted from ownership of television networks, etc.
Dominant Carrier. A carrier with marketing power and the ability to control overall price levels. LECs are considered dominant in telephone services.
Facilities-Based Carrier - FBC. A carrier that uses its own facilities to provide service, in contrast with resellers who purchase the services of other carriers and then retail the services to customers.
Federal Communications Commission - FCC. The federal regulatory agency charged with enforcement of the 1934 Communications Act and other applicable federal laws, especially as pertains to interstate telecommunications services.
Fiber - fiber optic. Glass fiber used to carry lightwave transmission of telecommunications services. Widely used in carriers' backbone networks, almost exclusively used by CAPs, and increasingly used by in CATV backbones. Fiber has very high transmission capacity and is immune to electrical interference that can distort signals.
Independent telco. A local Telephone company not affiliated with the regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs), but subject to regulatory jurisdiction of the state Public Utility Commissions. (See Telephone co-op).
InterLATA. Telecommunications transmissions or circuits which cross a LATA boundary. These services are provided by an interexchange carrier (IXC); local exchange carriers (LECs) are prohibited from providing them by terms of the MFJ.
Interoperability. The ability of interconnected networks from multiple carriers to provide telecommunications services and functions in a manner transparent to the user.
IntraLATA. Telecommunications transmissions or circuits which do not cross a LATA boundary. These services are provided primarily by a local exchange carrier (LEC); interexchange carriers (IXCs) may be prohibited from providing them by decision of the state PUC.
IXC - Interexchange Company - or IEC. A long distance service provider (AT&T, MCI, Sprint, LDDS, etc.) which primarily provides services which cross LATA boundaries. May be a facilities-based carrier or a reseller.
LATA - Local Access & Transport Area. A geographical region established at the time of Divestiture to separate the telecommunications services to be provided by AT&T from those to be provided by the RBOCs. Tennessee has five LATAs.
LEC - Local Exchange Company. The local telephone company, which may provide local dial tone and local and long distance calling services within a LATA.
Nondiscrimination Safeguards. Safeguards to prevent a carrier, especially a dominant carrier, from discriminating in its provision of network services to a competitor who may wish to procure service elements from the carrier in order to resell to its own customers. See unbundled.
Nonstructural safeguards. Accounting safeguards, most often established by the Federal Communications Commission, to prevent unauthorized transfer of accounts between regulated and unregulated segments of a carrier in the absence of structural safeguards (e.g. a separate subsidiary requirement). Number portability A planned property of future, interconnected networks which will let customers pick their local "phone" company without changing their number or other inconvenience. Similar to today's "equal access" to alternative long-distance carriers.
Overearnings. In a rate of return regulatory regime, earnings by a regulated carrier in excess of a predefined, allowable rate of return. Overearnings may be returned to the ratepayer in the form of direct credits, rate reductions (to the customer or to other carriers in a "flow through" approach) or, in an approach approved by some PUCs, in accelerated investment in network infrastructure.
Price-based (price cap) regulation. An alternate to rate of return regulation. A Commission may regulation by capping a carrier's prices, usually with a "productivity index" factored in and the right to continue to examine the carrier's books.
Provider of last resort. A carrier who is obligated, by law or regulation, to supply "lifeline" or universal service - generally considered to be local telephone dial tone and access to a long distance carrier - under publicly established terms to any customer who requests it.
PUC or PSC Public Utility Commission (sometimes Public Service Commission). The body responsible for regulating the LECs and IXCs within a state's boundaries. Some regulatory authority of the PUCs may be significantly preempted by federal legislation.
Rate of return regulation. A regulatory approach, still in effect for most LECs, under which the earnings of the carrier are examined by the Commission (PUC or FCC), usually on an annual basis, and held within a predefined range by approval of rate increases or reductions.
Regional Bell Operating Companies - RBOC or RHC. Referred to in the MFJ as the Regional Holding Companies. One of the seven "Baby Bell" Companies created at Divestiture. The seven RHCs include: NYNEX, Bell Atlantic, Bell South, Southwestern Bell, U.S. West, Pacific Telesis, and Ameritech. Bell South operates in nine states, providing local phone services and other telecommunications services as South Central Bell and Southern Bell.
Reseller. long-distance carrier (IEC) that does not own a network, but leases bulk capacity and resells portions of it at a higher rate. See facilities-based carrier.
Rights of way. The authority, typically of a local government, to grant permission to a telecommunications provider to use public or shared access facilities such as telephone poles or conduit to install cable for the provider's network. S.652 Legislation in the US Senate in this year's 104th Congress, sponsored by Sen. Pressler and known as Telecommunications Competition and Deregulation Act of 1995, to rewrite the law on telecommunication regulation. S.652 passed the Senate June 15, 1995. See also HR1555.
Scalability. The ability to add power and capability to an existing system - particularly a telecommunications network - without significant expense or overhead. An "economy of scale" exists when a small increase in load produces a less-than-linear increase in overhead. A "diseconomy of scale" exists when a small increase cause a significant increase in overhead.
Tariff. A public document filed with the FCC or a PUC that acts as a public contract and outlines telecommunications services and rates. Usually, all customers are offered the same rate for a specific service, based on published constraints such as volume or term commitments.
Telco - Telephone Company. The local or regional telephone company that owns and operates lines to customer locations and provides local dial tone and access to long distance carriers.
Telephone co-op. A telco which is owned and operated by its customers. It is typically fairly small and not subject to the same PUC regulations to which the RBOC or independent telcos must conform.
Unbundled. The principle by which network service elements offered by a carrier, especially a dominant carrier, must be supplied separately and piecemeal to customers, especially resellers, in order that the resellers may assemble network services to offer to their own customers.
Video dialtone (VDT). Currently refers to telephone company proposals to provide video services to their customers. In the "video dialtone" order, the Federal Communications Commission anticipated that telephone companies could offer multi-channel video transmission services. Under the Commission's plan, the programmers using the transmission service would compete with each other and the existing cable monopolist (less than 1 percent of cable operators faced head- to-head competition from another cable operator in 1992) under rules designed to ensure that the LEC offered nondiscriminatory access to programmers.
Wireline. A carrier which predominantly provides its services using wired facilities; as opposed to a non-wireline carrier such as a cellular telephone company or a television broadcasting station.
Please make suggestions for corrections or additional definitions to:
Jack McFadden
615-741-5080
jmcfadden@mail.state.tn.us