The descriptions of terms in this glossary are broad and have been prepared to assist in understanding the use of such terms in the separation procedures. Terms which are defined in the text of this part are not included in this glossary.

Access Line

A communications facility extending from a customer's premises to a serving central office comprising a subscriber line and, if necessary, a trunk facility, e.g., a WATS access line.

Book Cost

The cost of property as recorded on the books of a company.

Cable Fill Factor

The ratio of cable conductor or cable pair kilometers in use to total cable conductor or cable pair kilometers available in the plant, e.g., the ratio of revenue producing cable pair kilometers in use to total cable pair kilometers in plant.

Category

A grouping of items of property or expense to facilitate the apportionment of their costs among the operations and to which, ordinarily, a common measure of use is applicable.

Central Office

A switching unit, in a telephone system which provides service to the general public, having the necessary equipment and operations arrangements for terminating and interconnecting subscriber lines and trunks or trunks only. There may be more than one central office in a building.

Channel

An electrical path suitable for the transmission of communications between two or more points, ordinarily between two or more stations or between channel terminations in Telecommunication Company central offices. A channel may be furnished by wire, fiberoptics, radio or a combination thereof.

Circuit

A fully operative communications path established in the normal circuit layout and currently used for message, WATS access, or private line services.

Circuit Kilometers

The route kilometers or revenue producing circuits in service, determined by measuring the length in terms of kilometers, of the actual path followed by the transmission medium.

Common Channel Network Signaling

Channels between switching offices used to transmit signaling information independent of the subscribers' communication paths or transmission channels.

Complement (of cable)

A group of conductors of the same general type (e.g., quadded, paired) within a single cable sheath.

Complex

All groups of operator positions, wherever located, associated with the same call distribution and/or stored program control unit.

Concentration Equipment

Central office equipment whose function is to concentrate traffic from subscriber lines onto a lesser number of circuits between the remotely located concentration equipment and the serving central office concentration equipment. This concentration equipment is connected to the serving central office line equipment.

Connection—Minute

The product of (a) the number of messages and, (b) the average minutes of connection per message.

Conversation—Minute

The product of (a) the number of messages and, (b) the average minutes of conversation per message.

Conversation—Minute—Kilometers

The product of (a) the number of messages, (b) the average minutes of conversation per message and (c) the average route kilometers of circuits involved.

Cost

The cost of property owned by the Telephone Company whose property is to be apportioned among the operations. This term applies either to property costs recorded on the books of the company or property costs determined by other evaluation methods.

Current Billing

The combined amount of charges billed, excluding arrears.

Customer Dialed Charge Traffic

Traffic which is both (a) handled to completion through pulses generated by the customer and (b) for which either a message unit change, bulk charge or message toll charge is except for that traffic recorded by means of message registers.

Customer Premises Equipment

Items of telecommunications terminal equipment in Accounts 2310 referred to as CPE in §64.702 of the Federal Communication Commission's Rules adopted in the Second Computer Inquiry such as telephone instruments, data sets, dialers and other supplemental equipment, and PBX's which are provided by common carriers and located on customer premises and inventory included in these accounts to be used for such purposes. Excluded from this classification are similar items of equipment located on telephone company premises and used by the company in the normal course of business as well as over voltage protection equipment, customer premises wiring, coin operated public or pay telephones, multiplexing equipment to deliver multiple channels to the customer, mobile radio equipment and transmit earth stations.

Customer Premises Wire

The segment of wiring from the customer's side of the protector to the customer premises equipment.

DSA Board

A local dial office switchboard at which are handled assistance calls, intercepted calls and calls from miscellaneous lines and trunks. It may also be employed for handling certain toll calls.

DSB Board

A switchboard of a dial system for completing incoming calls received from manual offices.

Data Processing Equipment

Office equipment such as that using punched cards, punched tape, magnetic or other comparable storage media as an operating vehicle for recording and processing information. Includes machines for transcribing raw data into punched cards, etc., but does not include such items as key-operated, manually or electrically driven adding, calculating, bookkeeping or billing machines, typewriters or similar equipment.

Dial Switching Equipment

Switching equipment actuated by electrical impulses generated by a dial or key pulsing arrangement.

Equal Access Costs

Include only initial incremental presubscription costs and initial incremental expenditures for hardware and software related directly to the provision of equal access which would not be required to upgrade the switching capabilities of the office involved absent the provisions of equal access.

Equivalent Gauge

A standard cross section of cable conductors for use in equating the metallic content of cable conductors of all gauge to a common base.

Equivalent Kilometers of 104 Wire

The basic units employed in the allocation of pole lines costs for determining the relative use made of poles by aerial cables and by aerial wire conductors of various sizes. This unit reflects the relative loads of such cable and wire carried on poles.

Equivalent Pair Kilometers

The product of sheath Kilometers and the number of equivalent gauge pairs of conductors in a cable.

Equivalent Sheath Kilometers

The product of (a) the length of a section of cable in kilometers (sheath kilometers) and (b) the ratio of the metallic content applicable to a particular group of conductors in the cable (e.g., conductors assigned to a category) to the metallic content of all conductors in the cable.

Exchange Transmission Plant

This is a combination of (a) exchange cable and wire facilities (b) exchange central office circuit equipment, including associated land and buildings and (c) information origination/termination equipment which forms a complete channel.

Holding Time

The time in which an item of telephone plant is in actual use either by a customer or an operator. For example, on a completed telephone call, holding time includes conversation time as well as other time in use. At local dial offices any measured minutes which result from other than customer attempts to place calls (as evidenced by the dialing of at least one digit) are not treated as holding time.

Host Central Office

An electronic analog or digital base switching unit containing the central call processing functions which service the host office and its remote locations.

Information Origination/Termination Equipment

Equipment used to input into or receive output from the telecommunications network.

Interexchange Channel

A circuit which is included in the interexchange transmission equipment.

Interexchange Transmission Equipment

The combination of (a) interexchange cable and wire facilities, (b) interexchange circuit equipment and, (c) associated land and buildings.

Interlocal Trunk

A circuit between two local central office units, either manual or dial. Interlocal trunks may be used for either exchange or toll traffic or both.

Intertoll Circuits

Circuits between toll centers and circuits between a toll center and a tandem system in a different toll center area.

Local Channel

The portion of a private line circuit which is included in the exchange transmission plant. However, common usage of this term usually excludes information origination/termination equipment.

Local Office

A central office serving primarily as a place of termination for subscriber lines and for providing telephone service to the subscribers on these lines.

Loop

A pair of wires, or its equivalent, between a customer's station and the central office from which the station is served.

Message

A completed call, i.e., a communication in which a conversation or exchange of information took place between the calling and called parties.

Message Service or Message Toll Service

Switched service furnished to the general public (as distinguished from private line service). Except as otherwise provided, this includes exchange switched services and all switched services provided by interexchange carriers and completed by a local telephone company's access services, e.g., MTS, WATS, Execunet, open-end FX and CCSA/ONALs.

Message Units

Unit of measurement used for charging for measured message telephone exchange traffic within a specified area.

Metropolitan Service Area

The area around and including a relatively large city and in which substantially all of the message telephone traffic between the city and the suburban points within the area is classified as exchange in one or both directions.

Minutes-of-Use

A unit of measurement expressed as either holding time or conversation time.

Minutes-of-Use-Kilometers

The product of (a) the number of minutes-of-use and (b) the average route kilometers of circuits involved.

Multi-Center Exchange

An exchange area in which are located two or more local central office buildings or wire centers.

Operations

The term denoting the general classifications of services rendered to the public for which separate tariffs are filed, namely exchange, state toll and interstate toll.

Operator Trunks

A general term, ordinarily applied to trunks between manually operated switchboard positions and local dial central offices in the same wire center.

Private Line Service

A service for communications between specified locations for a continuous period or for regularly recurring periods at stated hours.

Remote Access Line

An access line (e.g., for WATS service) between a subscriber's premises in one toll rate center and a serving central office located in a different toll rate center.

Remote Line Location

A remotely located subscriber line access unit which is normally dependent upon the central processor of the host office for call processing functions.

Remote Trunk Arrangement (RTA)

Arrangement that permits the extension of TSPS functions to remote locations.

Reservation

That amount or quantity of property kept or set apart for a specific use.

Reserved

Kept or set apart for a specific use.

Separations

The process by which telecommunication property costs, revenues, expenses, taxes and reserves are apportioned among the operations.

Service Observing Unit

A unit of work measurement which is used as the common denominator to express the relative time required for handling the various work functions at service observing boards.

Sheath Kilometers

The actual length of cable in route kilometers.

Special Services

All services other than message telephones, e.g., private line services.

Station-to-Station Basis

The term applied to the basis of toll rate making which contemplates that the message toll service charge (telephone) covers the use made of all facilities between the originating station and the terminating station, including the stations, and the services rendered in connection therewith.

Study Area

Study area boundaries shall be frozen as they are on November 15, 1984.

Subscriber Line or Exchange Line

A communication channel between a telephone station or PBX station and the central office which serves it.

Subtributary Office

A class of tributary office which does not have direct access to its toll center, but which is connected to its toll center office by means of circuits which are switched through to the toll center at another tributary office.

Tandem Area

The general areas served by the local offices having direct trunks to or from the tandem office. This area may consist of one or more communities or may include only a portion of a relatively large city.

Tandem Circuit or Trunk

A general classification of circuits or trunks between a tandem central office unit and any other central office or switchboard.

Tandem Connection

A call switched at a tandem office.

Tandem Office

A central office unit used primarily as an intermediate switching point for traffic between local central offices within the tandem area. Where qualified by a modifying expression, or other explanation, this term may be applied to an office employed for both the interconnection of local central offices within the tandem area and for the interconnection of these local offices with other central offices, e.g., long haul tandem office.

Toll Center

An office (or group of offices) within a city which generally handles the originating and incoming toll traffic for that city to or from other toll center areas and which handles through switched traffic. The toll center normally handles the inward toll traffic for its tributary exchanges and, in general, either handles the outward traffic originating at its tributaries or serves as the outlet to interexchange circuits for outward traffic ticketed and timed at its tributaries. Toll centers are listed as such in the Toll Rate and Route Guide.

Toll Center Area

The areas served by a toll center, including the toll center city and the communities served by tributaries of the toll center.

Toll Center Toll Office

A toll office (as contrasted to a local office) in a toll center city.

Toll Circuit

A general term applied to interexchange trunks used primarily for toll traffic.

Toll Connecting Trunk

A general classification of trunks carrying toll traffic and ordinarily extending between a local office and a toll office, except trunks classified as tributary circuits. Examples of toll connecting trunks include toll switching trunks, recording trunks and recording-completing trunks.

Toll Office

A central office used primarily for supervising and switching toll traffic.

Traffic Over First Routes

A term applied to the routing of traffic and denoting routing via principal route for traffic between any two points as distinguished from alternate routes for such traffic.

Operator System

A stored program electronic system associated with one or more toll switching systems which provides centralized traffic service position functions for several local offices at one location.

Tributary Circuit

A circuit between a tributary office and a toll switchboard or intertoll dialing equipment in a toll center city.

Tributary Office

A local office which is located outside the exchange in which a toll center is located, which has a different rate center from its toll center and which usually tickets and times only a part of its originating toll traffic, but which may ticket or time all or none, of such traffic. The toll center handles all outward traffic not ticketed and timed at the tributary and normally switches all inward toll traffic from outside the tributary's toll center to the tributary. Tributary offices are indicated as such in the Toll Rate and Route Guide.

Trunks

Circuit between switchboards or other switching equipment, as distinguished from circuits which extend between central office switching equipment and information origination/termination equipment.

TSPS Complex

All groups of operator positions, wherever located, associated with the same TSPS stored program control units.

Weighted Standard Work Second

A measurement of traffic operating work which is used to express the relative time required to handle the various kinds of calls or work functions, and which is weighted to reflect appropriate degrees of waiting to serve time.

Wide Area Telephone Service WATS

A toll service offering for customer dial type telecommunications between a given customer station and stations within specified geographic rate areas employing a single access line between the customer location and the serving central office. Each access line may be arranged for either outward (OUT-WATS) or inward (IN-WATS) service or both.

Wideband Channel

A communication channel of a bandwidth equivalent to twelve or more voice grade channels.

Working Loop

A revenue producing pair of wires, or its equivalent, between a customer's station and the central office from which the station is served.

[71 FR 65747, Nov. 9, 2006]