§ 54.500 Terms and definitions. *Basic maintenance.* A service is eligible for support as a “basic maintenance” service if, but for the maintenance at issue, the internal connection would not function and serve its intended purpose with the degree of reliability ordinarily provided in the marketplace to entities receiving such services. Basic maintenance services do not include services that maintain equipment that is not supported by E-rate or that enhance the utility of equipment beyond the transport of information, or diagnostic services in excess of those necessary to maintain the equipment's ability to transport information.
*Billed entity.* A “billed entity” is the entity that remits payment to service providers for services rendered to eligible schools and libraries.
*Consortium.* A “consortium” is any local, statewide, regional, or interstate cooperative association of schools and/or libraries eligible for E-rate support that seeks competitive bids for eligible services or funding for eligible services on behalf of some or all of its members. A consortium may also include health care providers eligible under subpart G of this part, and public sector (governmental) entities, including, but not limited to, state colleges and state universities, state educational broadcasters, counties, and municipalities, although such entities are not eligible for support. Eligible schools and libraries may not join consortia with ineligible private sector members unless the pre-discount prices of any services that such consortium receives are generally tariffed rates.
*Educational purposes.* For purposes of this subpart, activities that are integral, immediate, and proximate to the education of students, or in the case of libraries, integral, immediate and proximate to the provision of library services to library patrons, qualify as “educational purposes.” Activities that occur on library or school property are presumed to be integral, immediate, and proximate to the education of students or the provision of library services to library patrons.
*Elementary school.* An “elementary school” means an elementary school as defined in 20 U.S.C. 7801(18), a non-profit institutional day or residential school, including a public elementary charter school, that provides elementary education, as determined under state law.
*Internal connections.* A service is eligible for support as a component of an institution's “internal connections” if such service is necessary to transport or distribute broadband within one or more instructional buildings of a single school campus or within one or more non-administrative buildings that comprise a single library branch.
*Library.* A “library” includes: ( 1 ) A public library;
( 2 ) A public elementary school or secondary school library;
( 3 ) A Tribal library;
( 4 ) An academic library;
( 5 ) A research library, which for the purpose of this section means a library that: ( i ) Makes publicly available library services and materials suitable for scholarly research and not otherwise available to the public; and
( ii ) Is not an integral part of an institution of higher education; and
( 6 ) A private library, but only if the state in which such private library is located determines that the library should be considered a library for the purposes of this definition.
*Library consortium.* A “library consortium” is any local, statewide, regional, or interstate cooperative association of libraries that provides for the systematic and effective coordination of the resources of schools, public, academic, and special libraries and information centers, for improving services to the clientele of such libraries. For the purposes of these rules, references to library will also refer to library consortium.
*Lowest corresponding price.* “Lowest corresponding price” is the lowest price that a service provider charges to non-residential customers who are similarly situated to a particular school, library, or library consortium for similar services.
*Managed internal broadband services.* A service is eligible for support as “managed internal broadband services” if provided by a third party for the operation, management, and monitoring of the eligible components of a school or library local area network (LAN) and/or wireless LAN.
*Master contract.* A “master contract” is a contract negotiated with a service provider by a third party, the terms and conditions of which are then made available to an eligible school, library, rural health care provider, or consortium that purchases directly from the service provider.
*Minor contract modification.* A “minor contract modification” is a change to a universal service contract that is within the scope of the original contract and has no effect or merely a negligible effect on price, quantity, quality, or delivery under the original contract.
*National school lunch program.* The “national school lunch program” is a program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and state agencies that provides free or reduced price lunches to economically disadvantaged children. A child whose family income is between 130 percent and 185 percent of applicable family size income levels contained in the nonfarm poverty guidelines prescribed by the Office of Management and Budget is eligible for a reduced price lunch. A child whose family income is 130 percent or less of applicable family size income levels contained in the nonfarm income poverty guidelines prescribed by the Office of Management and Budget is eligible for a free lunch.
*Pre-discount price.* The “pre-discount price” means, in this subpart, the price the service provider agrees to accept as total payment for its telecommunications or information services. This amount is the sum of the amount the service provider expects to receive from the eligible school or library and the amount it expects to receive as reimbursement from the universal service support mechanisms for the discounts provided under this subpart.
*Secondary school.* A “secondary school” means a secondary school as defined in 20 U.S.C. 7801(38), a non-profit institutional day or residential school, including a public secondary charter school, that provides secondary education, as determined under state law except that the term does not include any education beyond grade 12.
*State telecommunications network.* A “state telecommunications network” is a state government entity that procures, among other things, telecommunications offerings from multiple service providers and bundles such offerings into packages available to schools, libraries, or rural health care providers that are eligible for universal service support, or a state government entity that provides, using its own facilities, such telecommunications offerings to such schools, libraries, and rural health care providers.
*Tribal.* An entity is “Tribal” for purposes of E-Rate funding if it is a school operated by or receiving funding from the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), or if it is a school or library operated by any Tribe, Band, Nation, or other organized group or community, including any Alaska native village, regional corporation, or village corporation (as defined in, or established pursuant to, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1601 *et seq.*)) that is recognized as eligible for the special programs and services provided by the United States to Indians because of their status as Indians.
*Voice services.* “Voice services” include local phone service, long distance service, plain old telephone service (POTS), radio loop, 800 service, satellite telephone, shared telephone service, Centrex, wireless telephone service such as cellular, interconnected voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), and the circuit capacity dedicated to providing voice services.
*Wide area network.* For purposes of this subpart, a “wide area network” is a voice or data network that provides connections from one or more computers within an eligible school or library to one or more computers or networks that are external to such eligible school or library. Excluded from this definition is a voice or data network that provides connections between or among instructional buildings of a single school campus or between or among non-administrative buildings of a single library branch.
*Wi-Fi.* “Wi-Fi” is a wireless networking protocol based on Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers standard 802.11.
*Wi-Fi hotspot.* A “Wi-Fi hotspot” is a device that is capable of receiving advanced telecommunications and information services, and sharing such services with another connected device through the use of Wi-Fi.
[63 FR 2128, Jan. 13, 1998, as amended at 68 FR 36942, June 20, 2003; 76 FR 56302, Sept. 13, 2011; 79 FR 49197, Aug. 19, 2014; 79 FR 68634, Nov. 18, 2014; 87 FR 8210, Feb. 14, 2022; 88 FR 55409, Aug. 15, 2023; 89 FR 67324, Aug. 20, 2024]