For purposes of the part:

(a) Access minutes or Access minutes of use is that usage of exchange facilities in interstate or foreign service for the purpose of calculating chargeable usage. On the originating end of an interstate or foreign call, usage is to be measured from the time the originating end user's call is delivered by the telephone company and acknowledged as received by the interexchange carrier's facilities connected with the originating exchange. On the terminating end of an interstate or foreign call, usage is to be measured from the time the call is received by the end user in the terminating exchange. Timing of usage at both the originating and terminating end of an interstate or foreign call shall terminate when the calling or called party disconnects, whichever event is recognized first in the originating and terminating end exchanges, as applicable.

(b) Access service includes services and facilities provided for the origination or termination of any interstate or foreign telecommunication.

(c) Annual revenue requirement means the sum of the return component and the expense component.

(d) Association means the telephone company association described in subpart G of this part.

(e) Big Three Expenses are the combined expense groups comprising: Plant Specific Operations Expense, Accounts 6110, 6120, 6210, 6220, 6230, 6310 and 6410; Plant Nonspecific Operations Expenses, Accounts 6510, 6530 and 6540, and Customer Operations Expenses, Accounts 6610 and 6620.

(f) Big Three Expense Factors are the ratios of the sum of Big Three Expenses apportioned to each element or category to the combined Big Three Expenses.

(g) Cable and wire facilities includes all equipment or facilities that are described as cable and wire facilities in the Separations Manual and included in Account 2410.

(h) Carrier cable and wire facilities means all cable and wire facilities that are not subscriber line cable and wire facilities.

(i) Central Office Equipment or COE includes all equipment or facilities that are described as Central Office Equipment in the Separations Manual and included in Accounts 2210, 2220 and 2230.

(j) Corporate operations expenses are included in General and Administrative Expenses (Account 6720).

(k) Customer operations expenses include Marketing and Services expenses in Accounts 6610 and 6620, respectively.

(l) Direct expense means expenses that are attributable to a particular category or categories of tangible investment described in subpart D of this part and includes:

(1) Plant Specific Operations expenses in Accounts 6110, 6120, 6210, 6220, 6230, 6310 and 6410; and

(2) Plant Nonspecific Operations Expenses in Accounts 6510, 6530, 6540 and 6560.

(m) End user means any customer of an interstate or foreign telecommunications service that is not a carrier except that a carrier other than a telephone company shall be deemed to be an “end user” when such carrier uses a telecommunications service for administrative purposes and a person or entity that offers telecommunications services exclusively as a reseller shall be deemed to be an “end user” if all resale transmissions offered by such reseller originate on the premises of such reseller.

(n) Entry switch means the telephone company switch in which a transport line or trunk terminates.

(o) Expense component means the total expenses and income charges for an annual period that are attributable to a particular element or category.

(p) Expenses include allowable expenses in the Uniform System of Accounts, part 32, apportioned to interstate or international services pursuant to the Separations Manual and allowable income charges apportioned to interstate and international services pursuant to the Separations Manual.

(q) General support facilities include buildings, land, vehicles, aircraft, work equipment, furniture, office equipment and general purpose computers as described in the Separations Manual and included in Account 2110.

(r) Information origination/termination equipment includes all equipment or facilities that are described as information origination/termination equipment in the Separations Manual and in Account 2310 except information origination/termination equipment that is used by telephone companies in their own operations.

(s) Interexchange or the interexchange category includes services or facilities provided as an integral part of interstate or foreign telecommunications that is not described as “access service” for purposes of this part.

(t) Level I Contributors. Telephone companies that are not association Common Line tariff participants, file their own Common Line tariffs effective April 1, 1989, and had a lower than average Common Line revenue requirement per minute of use in 1988 and thus were net contributors (i.e., had a negative net balance) to the association Common Line pool in 1988.

(u) Level I Receivers. Telephone companies that are not association Common Line tariff participants, file their own Common Line tariffs effective April 1, 1989, and had a higher than average Common Line revenue requirement per minute of use in 1988 and thus were net receivers (i.e., had a positive net balance) from the association Common Line Pool in 1988.

(v) Level II Contributors. A telephone company or group of affiliated telephone companies with fewer than 300,000 access lines and less than $150 million in annual operating revenues that is not an association Common Line tariff participant, that files its own Common Line tariff effective July 1, 1990, and that had a lower than average Common Line revenue requirement per minute of use in 1988 and thus was a net contributor (i.e., had a negative net balance) to the association Common Line pool in 1988.

(w) Level II Receivers. A telephone company or group of affiliated telephone companies with fewer than 300,000 access lines and less than $150 million in annual operating revenues that is not an association Common Line tariff participant, that files its own Common Line tariff effective July 1, 1990, and that had a higher than average Common Line revenue requirement per minute of use in 1988 and thus was a net receiver (i.e., had a positive net balance) from the association Common Line pool in 1988.

(x) Line or Trunk includes, but is not limited to, transmission media such as radio, satellite, wire, cable and fiber optic cable means of transmission.

(y) [Reserved]

(z) Net investment means allowable original cost investment in Accounts 2001 through 2003, 1220 and the investments in nonaffiliated companies included in Account 1410, that has been apportioned to interstate and foreign services pursuant to the Separations Manual from which depreciation, amortization and other reserves attributable to such investment that has been apportioned to interstate and foreign services pursuant to the Separations Manual have been subtracted and to which working capital that is attributable to interstate and foreign services has been added.

(aa) Operating taxes include all taxes in Account 7200;

(bb) Origination of a service that is switched in a Class 4 switch or an interexchange switch that performs an equivalent function ends when the transmission enters such switch and termination of such a service begins when the transmission leaves such a switch, except that;

(1) Switching in a Class 4 switch or transmission between Class 4 switches that is not deemed to be interexchange for purposes of the Modified Final Judgement entered August 24, 1982, in United States v Western Electric Co., D.C. Civil Action No. 82-0192, will be “origination” or “termination” for purposes of this part; and

(2) Origination and Termination does not include the use of any part of a line, trunk or switch that is not owned or leased by a telephone company.

(cc) Origination of any service other than a service that is switched in a Class 4 switch or a switch that performs an equivalent function ends and “termination” of any such service begins at a point of demarcation that corresponds with the point of demarcation that is used for a service that is switched in a Class 4 switch or a switch that performs an equivalent function.

(dd) Private line means a line that is used exclusively for an interexchange service other than MTS, WATS or an MTS-WATS equivalent service, including a line that is used at the closed end of an FX WATS or CCSA service or any service that is substantially equivalent to a CCSA service.

(ee) Public telephone is a telephone provided by a telephone company through which an end user may originate interstate or foreign telecommunications for which he pays with coins or by credit card, collect or third number billing procedures.

(ff) Return component means net investment attributable to a particular element or category multiplied by the authorized annual rate of return.

(gg) Subscriber line cable and wire facilities means all lines or trunks on the subscriber side of a Class 5 or end office switch, including lines or trunks that do not terminate in such a switch, except lines or trunks that connect an interexchange carrier.

(hh) Telephone company or Local exchange carrier as used in this part means an incumbent local exchange carrier as defined in section 251(h)(1) of the 1934 Act as amended by the 1996 Act.

(ii) Transitional support

(TRS) means funds provided by telephone companies that are not association Common Line tariff participants, but were net contributors to the association Common Line pool in 1988, to telephone companies that are not association Common Line tariff participants and were net receivers from the association Common Line pool in 1988.

(jj) Unit of capacity means the capability to transmit one conversation.

(kk) WATS access line means a line or trunk that is used exclusively for WATS service.

(ll) Equal access investment and equal access expenses mean equal access investment and expenses as defined for purposes of the part 36 separations rules.

(mm) Basic service elements are optional unbundled features that enhanced service providers may require or find useful in the provision of enhanced services, as defined in Amendments of part 69 of the Commission's rules relating to the Creation of Access Charge Subelements for Open Network Architecture, Report and Order, 6 FCC Rcd ____, CC Docket No. 89-79, FCC 91-186 (1991).

(nn) Dedicated signalling transport means transport of out-of-band signalling information between an interexchange carrier or other person's common channel signalling network and a telephone company's signalling transport point on facilities dedicated to the use of a single customer.

(oo) Direct-trunked transport means transport on circuits dedicated to the use of a single interexchange carrier or other person, without switching at the tandem,

(1) Between the serving wire center and the end office, or

(2) Between two customer-designated telephone company offices.

(pp) End office means the telephone company office from which the end user receives exchange service.

(qq) Entrance facilities means transport from the interexchange carrier or other person's point of demarcation to the serving wire center.

(rr) Serving wire center means the telephone company central office designated by the telephone company to serve the geographic area in which the interexchange carrier or other person's point of demarcation is located.

(ss) Tandem-switched transport means transport of traffic that is switched at a tandem switch—

(1) Between the serving wire center and the end office, or

(2) Between the telephone company office containing the tandem switching equipment, as described in §36.124 of this chapter, and the end office.

Tandem-switched transport between a serving wire center and an end office consists of circuits dedicated to the use of a single interexchange carrier or other person from the serving wire center to the tandem (although this dedicated link will not exist if the serving wire center and the tandem are located in the same place) and circuits used in common by multiple interexchange carriers or other persons from the tandem to the end office.

(tt) [Reserved]

(uu) Price cap regulation means the method of regulation of dominant carriers provided in §§61.41 through 61.49 of this chapter.

(vv) Signalling for tandem switching means the carrier identification code (CIC) and the OZZ code, or equivalent information needed to perform tandem switching functions. The CIC identifies the interexchange carrier and the OZZ identifies the interexchange carrier trunk to which traffic should be routed.

(ww) Interstate common line support (ICLS) means funds that are provided pursuant to §54.901 of this chapter.

[52 FR 37309, Oct. 6, 1987]