Code of Maryland Regulations › Title 20 - PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION › Subtitle 45 - SERVICE SUPPLIED BY TELEPHONE COMPANIES › Chapter 20.45.01 - General › Section 20.45.01.03 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 51, No. 14, July 12, 2024
A. These definitions are intended to supplement tariff definitions which are adopted by reference in this subtitle. The following words and terms, when used in this subtitle, have the meaning indicated.
B. Terms Defined.
(1) "Administrator" means the entity managing the North American Numbering Plan.
(2) "Acquiring utility" means a utility that acquires the customers and the associated service contracts of another utility that has discontinued service.
(3) "Average busy season-busy hour traffic" means the average volume for the busy season, busy hours.
(4) "Base rate area" means the developed portion or portions within each exchange service area as set forth in the telephone utility's tariffs, maps, or descriptions. Service within this area is furnished at uniform rates without mileage charges.
(5) "Busy hour" means the two consecutive half-hours during which the greatest volume of traffic is handled in the central office.
(6) "Busy hour drain" means the average amount of electric current used by a particular type of telephone equipment over a period of 1 hour at the time of maximum use. This is expressed as ampere hours per busy hour.
(7) "Busy season" means the period composed of those months of highest load for the particular service being considered. The busy season shall ordinarily include 3 months, not necessarily consecutive. The beginning of the "month" may be other than the beginning of the calendar month, if good cause and consistency can be shown.
(8) "Calls" means customers' telephone messages attempted.
(9) "Carrier" means a transmission system which uses multiplexing, either time or frequency division, to facilitate the transmission of multiple channels of voice, data, or telegraph over a single facility.
(10) "Central office" means a switching unit, in a telephone system which provides service to the general public, having the necessary equipment and operating arrangements for terminating and interconnecting subscriber lines and trunks or trunks only. There may be more than one central office in a building.
(11) "Channel" means an electrical path or paths, for the transmission of communications between two or more points or between channel terminations in telephone company central offices. A channel may be furnished by wire, radio, or a combination of both.
(12) "Class of service" means the various categories of service generally available to customers; i.e., business or residence.
(13) "Commission" means the Public Service Commission of Maryland.
(14) "CSR" means customer service record.
(15) "Customer or subscriber" means any person, association, partnership, corporation, or governmental agency, provided with telephone service by a telephone utility.
(16) "Customer trouble report" means any oral or written report delivered to an authorized representative of a telephone company by a subscriber or user of telephone service, relating to a difficulty or dissatisfaction with the operation of telephone facilities.
(17) "Exchange" means a unit established by a telephone utility for the administration of communications service under specific Local Exchange Services Tariff provisions. It consists of one or more central offices with associated plant used in furnishing service.
(18) "Exchange area" means the entire area within which are located the telephones which a customer may call at the rate and charges specified in the Local Exchange Services Tariff.
(19) "Flat rate telephone service" means a monthly rate allowing unlimited local calling.
(20) "Grade of service" means the type of service furnished a customer with respect to the number of main telephones which may be connected to a central office line (1-party, 2-party, 4-party, and multi-party).
(21) "Intercept" consists of a line operator or a suitable recorded announcement or tone.
(22) "Message" means a completed customer telephone call.
(23) "Message unit" means a unit of measurement used for charging for measured message telephone exchange traffic within a specified area.
(24) "Metering" means the metering of data concerning a customer's call which is used to prepare the customer's bill for service. The metering of call data may be made by operators, Automatic Message Accounting (AMA), Centralized Automatic Message Accounting (CAMA), Local Automatic Message Accounting (LAMA), Message Registers, or other acceptable data recorder methods.
(25) "Mobile telephone service" means communication service by means of radiotelephone, between a wire telephone and a mobile radiotelephone or between two units of mobile telephone equipment. Mobile radiotelephone service may be either manual or dial.
(26) "Outside plant" means the telephone equipment and facilities installed on, along, over, or under streets, alleys, highways, or on private rights-of-way between the central office and customer's locations or between central offices.
(27) "Subscriber line" means the wires or channels used to connect the telephone equipment at the subscriber's premises with the central office. This includes the noncommon equipment in the central office which is associated with each line.
(28) "Tariff" means the schedule of rates and charges for public utility service filed with the Commission by a telephone company as prescribed by the Public Utility Companies Article, Annotated Code of Maryland.
(29) "Toll trunks" means a general classification of trunks carrying toll traffic. Toll trunks connect a local and a toll office. Intertoll trunks connect toll offices.
(30) "Toll station" means a telephone connected to a toll line or directly to a toll board.
(31) "Transmission loss" means the net decrease in electrical energy in a transmission facility. The loss is usually expressed in decibels at a single frequency and excludes any loss associated with measuring equipment, test pads, and similar devices.
(32) "Underlying provider" means the utility providing an underlying telephone facility or resold service.
(33) "Utility" means a "telephone company" as defined in Public Utilities Article, §1-101, Annotated Code of Maryland.