Illinois Administrative Code › Title 83 - PUBLIC UTILITIES › Part 731 - WHOLESALE SERVICE QUALITY FOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS CARRIERS › Subpart A - GENERAL › Section 731.105 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 28, July 12, 2024
"Act" means the Public Utilities Act [220 ILCS 5 ].
"Billing" means the processes and systems used to prepare and
				  provide bills to carriers for service ordered and rendered by the providing carrier.
				  "Billing" also includes the functions required to investigate and dispute bills by
				  the carrier receiving the bill.
"Bona fide request" means a telecommunications carrier's written
				  request to another telecommunications carrier to provide a wholesale service.
"Business day" means Monday through Friday, inclusive, excluding
				  weekends and holidays observed and published by the providing carrier.
"Carrier" means a telecommunications carrier as defined in Section
				  13-202 of the Act [220
				  ILCS 5/13-202 ].
"Carrier to carrier wholesale service quality" means the level of
				  quality of telecommunications service, measured pursuant to this Part, that one
				  telecommunications carrier sells or provides to another telecommunications carrier
				  for the latter carrier's use in providing a telecommunications service to end
				  users.
"Change management" means the series of processes and procedures
				  negotiated between two or more carriers that detail the guidelines by which
				  operation support system (OSS) changes are requested and made and for which notice
				  is provided to the users of the OSS.
"Collocation" means the placement by one carrier of its network
				  equipment at the premises of another carrier.
"Commission" means the Illinois Commerce Commission.
"Customer service record" or "CSR" means account information that
				  a providing carrier maintains about an end user and includes, but is not limited to,
				  the billing name, service address, and billing address of the end user. A CSR shall
				  not be requested until after the requesting carrier has received authorization from
				  the end user customer.
"Firm order confirmation" or "FOC" means the document or
				  electronic record by which a provisioning carrier notifies a requesting carrier that
				  the service order has been received and what due date has been assigned.
"Good cause" is evidence or law presented in a Commission
				  proceeding that establishes a party's entitlement to the relief at issue or
				  requested.
"High frequency portion of the loop" or "HFPL" means the frequency
				  range above the voiceband on a copper loop facility that is being used to carry
				  analog circuit-switched voiceband transmissions. Access to the HFPL is commonly
				  called line sharing or line splitting.
"Interconnection trunks" means network facilities used to
				  interconnect two switches of different carriers.
"Local exchange carrier" or "LEC" means a carrier certificated by
				  the Commission to provide intraexchange service within the same market service area
				  (see Section 13-208 of the Act [220
				  ILCS 5/13-208 ]).
"Local loop" means a transmission facility between a distribution
				  frame (or its equivalent) in a carrier's central office and the loop demarcation
				  point at an end user customer premises. Local loop includes HFPL.
"Loss notification" means the notice or notification given to a
				  requesting carrier that uses the provisioning carrier's facilities to offer service
				  to its end user when the end user of the service decides to switch its service to
				  the provisioning carrier or to another carrier. This notification is sent from the
				  provisioning carrier to the losing carrier to notify the losing carrier that it has
				  lost the end user customer. Typically, this notification is the mechanism through
				  which the losing carrier obtains information to know that it should cease billing
				  the end user for a given service that one carrier sells or provides to another
				  carrier, as a component of, or for the provision of, telecommunications service to
				  end users.
"Maintenance and repair" means the actions taken or functions used
				  to create trouble reports, view or determine trouble report status and trouble
				  report history, receive proactive status on trouble reports, and clear and close
				  trouble reports.
"Measure" means the specific component or attribute of a wholesale
				  service that is being measured to assess service quality pursuant to an adopted or
				  agreed upon standard. Measures are often based on the pre-ordering, ordering,
				  provisioning, maintenance and repair, or billing functions used to deliver the
				  service.
"Operation support systems" or "OSS" means the various systems and
				  business processes used by a carrier to conduct business with its customers.
				  Typically, OSS covers pre-ordering, ordering, provisioning, maintenance and repair,
				  and billing functions.
"Ordering" means the sequence of steps involved in placing an
				  order with a carrier.
"Preexisting plan" means:
A plan implemented by or for a carrier prior to September 1, 2004
				  that contains one or more of the components required for a wholesale service quality
				  plan as set forth in Section
				  731.305
				  (General Plan Requirements), the terms and provisions of which have been
				  specifically reviewed and approved by the Commission within the previous three years
				  in a docketed proceeding, other than a proceeding that reviewed a negotiated or
				  arbitrated agreement pursuant to section 252 of the federal Telecommunications Act
				  of 1996 (
				  47
				  USC 252 ); or
If the terms and conditions of a preexisting plan have not been
				  specifically reviewed and approved by the Commission within the previous three years
				  in a docketed proceeding other than a proceeding that reviewed a negotiated or
				  arbitrated agreement pursuant to section 252 of the federal Telecommunications Act
				  of 1996, then the most recent preexisting plan implemented by that carrier pursuant
				  to a Commission order or, if no preexisting plan was implemented by that carrier
				  pursuant to a Commission order, the most recent preexisting plan implemented by that
				  carrier on a voluntary basis.
"Pre-ordering" means the exchange of specific information (usually
				  an inquiry and response process) between two carriers for the purpose of gathering
				  appropriate information before submitting a request or order.
"Provision" or "provisioning" means to supply, or the supplying
				  of, telecommunications service to a user. With respect to OSS, "provisioning" also
				  means the functions used to manage and monitor an order during the period between
				  the order placement and order completion.
"Provisioning carrier" means the carrier provisioning, or
				  committing or offering to provision, a wholesale service to another carrier.
"Public interest" has the same meaning as in
				  47
				  U.S.C. 252(e).
"Reject notice" means a method by which a carrier notifies a
				  requesting carrier that a service request or order is rejected.
"Remedy" means a payment or credit from one carrier to another
				  carrier or the State of Illinois for failure to provide wholesale service at the
				  standard prescribed in Section
				  731.320 for Level 1 carriers,
				  Section
				  731.615 for
				  Level 2 carriers, and Section
				  731.815 for
				  Level 4 carriers.
"Requesting carrier" means the carrier requesting, ordering, or
				  receiving a wholesale service from another carrier.
"Resold local service" means the sale, for purposes of resale, of
				  a complete telecommunications path (i.e., switch port and loop) and associated
				  support (e.g., 9-1-1) by a facilities-based carrier to another carrier.
"Rural exemption" means the exemption granted to rural telephone
				  companies under section 251(f) of the federal Telecommunications Act (
				  47
				  USC 251(f) ).
"Standard" means the rate or level at which a measure is to be
				  provided.
"Telecommunications Act" means the federal Telecommunications Act
				  of 1934, as amended by the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
"Trouble report" has the same meaning as in 83 Ill. Adm. Code
				  730.
"Unbundled local loop" means the physical connection from the end
				  user's premises to the carrier's point of presence, excluding switching or ports,
				  provided by one carrier to another carrier.
"Unbundled loop return" means the release for reuse by a carrier
				  of an unbundled local loop to a different carrier when the subscriber, whose local
				  telephone service resides on the unbundled loop, authorizes a change in its local
				  telephone service to a different carrier.
"Wholesale out of service" means a situation in which the
				  wholesale service can not be used for its intended function. "Out of service" does
				  not include a situation in which the essential elements of a wholesale service are
				  still operational but there are extra features that are not working (e.g., for dial
				  tone wholesale service a line is not out of service if the call blocking feature is
				  not working but the line has dial tone and can be used to receive and place calls;
				  for non-dial tone wholesale service a line is out of service when the circuit is
				  incapable of transporting voice and/or data).
"Wholesale service" means any telecommunications service subject
				  to the Commission's jurisdiction that one carrier sells or provides to another
				  carrier, as a component of, or for the provision of, telecommunications service to
				  end users, including, but not limited to, any wholesale service that is subject to
				  wholesale service quality standards pursuant to this Part and shall include loss
				  notification, customer service records and unbundled loop returns.
"Wholesale service emergency situation" means a single event that
				  causes an interruption of service or installations affecting wholesale service
				  provided by a carrier. The emergency situation shall begin with the first carrier
				  whose wholesale service is interrupted by the single event and shall end with the
				  restoration or installation of the service of all affected carriers. The term
				  "single event" shall include:
A declaration made by the applicable State or federal governmental
				  agency that the area served by the local exchange carrier is either a State or
				  federal disaster area; or an act of third parties, including acts of terrorism,
				  vandalism, riot, civil unrest, or war, or acts of parties that are not agents,
				  employees or contractors of the local exchange carrier; or a severe storm, tornado,
				  earthquake, flood or fire, including any severe storm, tornado, earthquake, flood or
				  fire that prevents the local exchange carrier from restoring service due to
				  impassable roads, downed power lines, or the closing off of affected areas by public
				  safety officials.
The term "wholesale service emergency situation" shall not
				  include:
a single event caused by high temperature conditions alone; or a
				  single event caused, or exacerbated in scope and duration, by acts or omissions of
				  the local exchange carrier, its agents, employees or contractors or by the condition
				  of facilities, equipment, or premises owned or operated by the local exchange
				  carrier who is claiming that the interruption of service is due to an emergency
				  situation; or any service interruption that occurs during a single event listed
				  above, but is not caused by those single events; or a single event that the local
				  exchange carrier who is claiming that the interruption of service is due to an
				  emergency situation could have reasonably foreseen and taken precautions to prevent;
				  provided, however, that in no event shall such carrier be required to undertake
				  precautions that are technically infeasible or economically prohibitive.
This Part shall be construed as being content neutral as to
				  whether a strike or other work stoppage is a "wholesale service emergency
				  situation". In the event of a strike or other work stoppage, the local exchange
				  carrier's obligations to provide remedies under this Part shall, in the absence of a
				  decision by a court of competent jurisdiction, be determined by the Commission on a
				  case-by-case basis based upon the individual factual circumstances of each strike or
				  other work stoppage. In making such a determination, and notwithstanding the
				  definition of "wholesale service emergency situation", the Commission shall not
				  presume that a strike or other work stoppage is an act of an employee or of the
				  local exchange carrier. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this
				  definition, a carrier shall not treat a strike or other work stoppage as a wholesale
				  service emergency situation for reporting purposes unless and until a determination
				  is made that such strike or other work stoppage constitutes a wholesale service
				  emergency situation.
"Wholesale service quality plan" or "plan" means a plan filed or
				  approved pursuant to Subpart B, C, D, or E of this Part.
"Wholesale special access" means wholesale service subject to the
				  Commission's jurisdiction utilizing a dedicated non-switched transmission path used
				  for carrier-to-carrier service from the customer's NID (Network Interface Device) or
				  POI (Point Of Interface) to the carrier's POI (Point Of Interface) to one or more of
				  the following: the provisioning carrier's POI; another NID or POI on the requesting
				  carrier's network; or another carrier's network. A non-switched transmission path
				  may include, but is not limited to, DS1, DS3, and OCn facilities as well as links
				  for SS7 signaling, database queries, and SONET ring access. "Wholesale special
				  access" includes wholesale special access service subject to the Commission's
				  jurisdiction provided to a wireless carrier or to another telecommunication
				  carrier.