Iowa Administrative Code › Agency 199 - Utilities Division › Utilities and Transportation Divisions › Chapter 22 - Service Supplied by Telephone Utilities › Rule 199-22.1 - General Information

Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 3, July 24, 2024
(1)
Application and purpose of rules.
These rules shall apply to
				any telecommunications service provider operating within the state of Iowa
				subject to Iowa Code chapter 476, including local exchange telecommunications
				service providers, interexchange telecommunications service providers, or
				alternative operator services companies. These rules are intended to govern the
				exercise of the commission's powers and duties relating to the provision of
				telecommunications service in the state of Iowa, and to govern the form,
				contents, and filing of registrations, tariffs, and other documents necessary
				to carry out the commission's powers and duties. A request to waive the
				application of any rule on a permanent or temporary basis may be made in
				accordance with rule 199-1.3 (17A,474,476).
(2)
Definitions.
For the
				administration and interpretation of these rules, the following words and terms
				shall have the meanings indicated below:
"Alternative operator services company"
or
"AOS company"
means a nongovernmental company which receives
				  more than half of its Iowa intrastate telecommunications services revenues from
				  calls placed by end-user customers from telephones other than ordinary
				  residence or business telephones. This definition is further limited to include
				  only companies which provide operator assistance, either through live or
				  automated intervention, on calls placed from other than ordinary residence or
				  business telephones, and does not include services provided under contract to
				  rate-regulated local exchange telecommunications service providers. Alternative
				  operator services companies as defined are telecommunications service providers
				  subject to the rules in this chapter.
"Calls"
means telephone messages attempted
				  by customers or users.
"Commission"
means the Iowa utilities
				  commission.
"Competitive local exchange carrier"
or
"CLEC"
means a telecommunications service provider, other than
				  an incumbent local exchange telecommunications service provider, that provides
				  local exchange service.
"Customer"
means any person as defined in
				  Iowa Code section 4.1(20)  responsible by law for payment for communications
				  service from the telecommunications service provider.
"Exchange"
means a unit established by a
				  telecommunications service provider for the administration of communications
				  services.
"Exchange service"
means communications
				  service furnished by means of exchange plant and facilities.
"Exchange service area"
or
"exchange
				  area"
means the general area in which the telecommunications service
				  provider holds itself out to furnish local exchange telephone service.
"High-volume access service"
or
"HVAS"
is any service that results in an increase in total
				  billings for intrastate exchange access for a local exchange telecommunications
				  service provider in excess of 100 percent in less than six months. By way of
				  illustration and not limitation, HVAS typically results in significant
				  increases in interexchange call volumes and can include chat lines, conference
				  bridges, call center operations, help desk provisioning, or similar operations.
				  These services may be advertised to consumers as being free or for the cost of
				  a long distance call. The call service operators often provide marketing
				  activities for HVAS in exchange for direct payments, revenue sharing,
				  concessions, or commissions from local telecommunications service
				  providers.
"Incumbent local exchange carrier"
or
"ILEC"
means a telecommunications service provider, or
				  successor to a telecommunications service provider, that was the historical
				  provider of local exchange service pursuant to an authorized certificate of
				  public convenience and necessity within a specific geographic area described in
				  maps approved by the commission as of September 30, 1992.
"Information service"
means the offering of
				  a capability for generating, acquiring, storing, transforming, processing,
				  retrieving, utilizing, or making available information via telecommunications,
				  and includes electronic publishing, but does not include any use of any such
				  capability for the management, control, or operation of a telecommunications
				  system or the management of a telecommunications service.
"Interexchange service"
is the provision of
				  intrastate telecommunications services and facilities between local
				  exchanges.
"Interexchange telecommunications service
				  provider"
means a telecommunications service provider, a resale
				  telecommunications service provider or other entity that provides intrastate
				  telecommunications services and facilities between exchanges within Iowa,
				  without regard to how such traffic is carried. A local exchange
				  telecommunications service provider that provides exchange service may also be
				  considered an interexchange telecommunications service provider. An
				  interexchange telecommunications service provider that provides local exchange
				  service may also be considered a local exchange service provider.
"InterLATA toll service"
means toll service
				  that originates and terminates between local access transport areas.
"Internet protocol-enabled service"
means
				  any service, capability, functionality, or application that uses Internet
				  protocol or any successor protocol and enables an end user to send or receive
				  voice, data, or video communications in Internet protocol format or a successor
				  format.
"IntraLATA toll service"
means toll service
				  that originates and terminates within the same local access transport
				  area.
"Intrastate access services"
are services of
				  telecommunications service providers which provide the capability to deliver
				  intrastate telecommunications services which originate from end users to
				  interexchange telecommunications service providers and the capability to
				  deliver intrastate telecommunications services from interexchange
				  telecommunications service providers to end users.
"Local exchange service"
means telephone
				  service furnished between customers or users located within an exchange
				  area.
"Local exchange telecommunications service
				  provider"
means a registered telecommunications service provider that
				  provides local exchange service. The telecommunications service provider may
				  also provide other services and facilities such as access services.
"Message"
means a completed telephone call
				  by a customer or user.
"Rates"
means amounts billed to customers
				  for alternative operator services or intrastate access services.
"Registration"
means compliance by all
				  telecommunications service providers with Iowa Code chapter 476. Registration
				  shall be in the form as provided by the commission in 199-Chapter 23.
"Retail services"
means those communications
				  services furnished by a telecommunications service provider directly to
				  end-user customers. For an alternative operator services company, the terms and
				  conditions of its retail services are addressed in an approved intrastate
				  tariff.
"Tariff"
means the entire body of rates,
				  classifications, rules, procedures, policies, etc., adopted and filed with the
				  commission by a local exchange telecommunications service provider for
				  wholesale services, not governed by an interconnection agreement or commercial
				  agreement, or by an alternative operator services company for retail services,
				  in fulfilling its role of furnishing telecommunications services.
"Telecommunications service provider"
or
"service provider"
means a provider of local exchange or long
				  distance telephone services, or both, other than commercial mobile radio
				  service. "Telecommunications service provider" includes alternative operator
				  service companies and providers of wholesale service. "Telecommunications
				  service provider" includes companies formerly included in the definition of
				  "telephone utility" or "utility" and means any person, partnership, business
				  association, or corporation, domestic or foreign, owning or operating any
				  facilities for furnishing communications service to the public for
				  compensation.
"Toll message"
means a message made between
				  different exchange areas for which a charge is made, excluding message rate
				  service charges.
"Traffic"
means telephone call volume, based
				  on number and duration of calls.
"Transitional intrastate access service"
means annual reductions affecting terminating end office access service that
				  was subject to intrastate access rates as of December 31, 2011; terminating
				  tandem-switched transport access service subject to intrastate access rates as
				  of December 31, 2011; and originating and terminating dedicated transport
				  access service subject to intrastate access rates as of December 31,
				  2011.
"Voice over Internet protocol service"
means
				  an Internet protocol-enabled service that facilitates realtime, two-way voice
				  communication that originates from, or terminates at, a user's location and
				  permits the user to receive a call that originates from the public switched
				  telephone network and to terminate a call on the public switched telephone
				  network.
"Wholesale services"
means those
				  communications services furnished by one telecommunications service provider to
				  another provider of communications services. The terms and conditions of
				  wholesale services may be addressed in a telecommunications service provider's
				  approved intrastate access tariff, local interconnection tariff,
				  interconnection agreement reached under Sections 251 and 252 of the federal
				  Telecommunications Act, or in a commercial agreement reached between the
				  providers. Nothing in this chapter shall affect, limit, modify, or expand an
				  entity's obligations under Sections 251 and 252 of the federal
				  Telecommunications Act; any commission authority over wholesale
				  telecommunications rates, services, agreements, interconnection, providers, or
				  tariffs; or any commission authority addressing or affecting the resolution of
				  disputes regarding compensation between telecommunications service
				  providers.