47 U.S.C. § 153 — Definitions

(1) Advanced communications services means: (A) interconnected VoIP service; (B) non-interconnected VoIP service; (C) electronic messaging service; (D) interoperable video conferencing service; and (E) any audio or video service used by inmates to communicate with people outside prison, no matter what technology is used. (2) Affiliate is a person that owns, controls, is owned or controlled by, or shares common ownership or control with another person, directly or indirectly. "Own" here means owning more than 10 percent of the equity interest. (3) Amateur station is a radio station run by an authorized person who is interested in radio purely as a personal hobby, not for profit. (4) AT&T Consent Decree is the court order entered August 24, 1982, in United States v. Western Electric (the antitrust case), plus any related judgment or order entered on or after that date. (5) Bell operating company (A) means a list of named regional phone companies (including Illinois Bell, New York Telephone, Southwestern Bell, and other companies named in the statute); (B) includes any successor or assignee of those companies that provides wireline phone exchange service; but (C) does not include an affiliate of those companies, unless that affiliate is itself one of the named companies or their successor or assignee. (6) Broadcast station ("broadcasting station" or "radio broadcast station") is a radio station equipped to broadcast, as "broadcasting" is defined next. (7) Broadcasting means sending out radio communications meant for the public to receive, either directly or relayed through other stations. (8) Cable service has the meaning given in section 522 of this title. (9) Cable system has the meaning given in section 522 of this title. (10) Chain broadcasting means two or more connected stations broadcasting the same program at the same time. (11) Common carrier ("carrier") is anyone who, for hire, provides interstate or foreign wire or radio communication, or radio transmission of energy, as a common carrier — except where the law says "common carriers not subject to this chapter." A radio broadcaster is not a common carrier for its broadcasting activity. (12) Connecting carrier is a carrier described in clause (2), (3), or (4) of section 152(b). (13) Construction permit ("permit for construction") is the Commission's authorization, under whatever name the Commission gives it, to build a station or install equipment for transmitting energy, communications, or radio signals. (14) Consumer generated media is content — video, audio, or other multimedia — that consumers create and post to websites and online services. (15) Corporation includes any corporation, joint-stock company, or association. (16) Customer premises equipment is equipment on a non-carrier's property used to start, route, or end telecommunications. (17) Dialing parity is the situation where a company not affiliated with a local phone carrier lets its customers automatically route their calls to whichever telecommunications provider they choose — without dialing an extra access code — from among two or more providers, including that local carrier. (18) Disability has the meaning given under section 12102 of title 42. (19) Electronic messaging service is a service sending real-time or near-real-time text messages between people over communications networks, not voice. (20) Exchange access means offering access to phone exchange services or facilities so that toll calls can start or end. (21) Foreign communication ("foreign transmission") is communication or transmission between the United States and a foreign country, or between a U.S. station and a mobile station located outside the U.S. (22) Great Lakes Agreement is the Agreement for the Promotion of Safety on the Great Lakes by Means of Radio, plus its regulations, currently in force. (23) Harbor ("port") is any place ships can go for shelter, to load or unload people or goods, or to get fuel, water, or supplies — whether or not officially declared public, and whether natural or built. (24) Information service means offering the ability to generate, get, store, change, process, retrieve, use, or make available information over telecommunications, including electronic publishing. It does not include using that ability just to manage, control, or run a telecommunications system or service. (25) Interconnected VoIP service has the meaning given under section 9.3 of title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations, as that section may be updated over time. (26) InterLATA service is telecommunications between a point inside a local access and transport area and a point outside it. (27) Interoperable video conferencing service is a service that provides real-time video communication, including audio, so users can share whatever information they choose. (28) Interstate communication ("interstate transmission") is communication or transmission (A) between any state, territory, or possession (other than the Canal Zone), or D.C., and any other such place; (B) between the U.S. and the Canal Zone, as far as it happens within the U.S.; or (C) between two points within the U.S. that passes through a foreign country. But — except for section 223 — it does not include wire or radio communication between two points in the same state, territory, possession, or D.C. that passes through an outside place, if a state commission regulates that communication. (29) Land station is a station, other than a mobile station, used to communicate by radio with mobile stations. (30) Licensee is whoever holds a radio station license granted or kept in force under this chapter. (31) Local access and transport area ("LATA") is a connected geographic area that was either (A) set up by a Bell operating company before February 8, 1996, so that no exchange area crosses more than one metropolitan statistical area, consolidated metropolitan statistical area, or state, except as expressly allowed under the AT&T Consent Decree, or (B) set up or changed by a Bell operating company after February 8, 1996, and approved by the Commission. (32) Local exchange carrier is anyone who provides telephone exchange service or exchange access. This does not include someone providing commercial mobile service under section 332(c), unless the Commission decides that service should count. (33) Mobile service is a radio communication service between mobile stations or receivers, and between mobile stations and land stations, and among mobile stations themselves. It includes (A) one-way and two-way radio services; (B) a service giving a regularly interacting group of base, mobile, portable, and related stations for private one-way or two-way land mobile radio communication over set areas; and (C) any service needing a license under the personal communications service rulemaking (GEN Docket No. 90–314; ET Docket No. 92–100) or any later proceeding that replaces it. (34) Mobile station is a radio station that can be moved and that ordinarily does move. (35) Network element is a facility or piece of equipment used to provide a telecommunications service. This also includes features, functions, and capabilities the facility or equipment provides — like subscriber numbers, databases, signaling systems, and billing and collection information — or anything used to transmit, route, or otherwise provide a telecommunications service. (36) Non-interconnected VoIP service (A) means a service that (i) allows real-time voice calls that start or end at the user's location using Internet protocol or a later version of it, and (ii) needs Internet-protocol-compatible customer equipment; (B) it does not include any service that already counts as interconnected VoIP service. (37) Number portability is the ability of telecommunications users to keep their existing phone numbers, at the same location, without losing quality, reliability, or convenience, when they switch carriers. (38) Operator (A) on a U.S. ship, for parts II and III of subchapter III, means someone holding the right class of radio operator's license issued by the Commission. (B) On a foreign ship, for part II of subchapter III, it means someone holding a matching certificate under the International Telecommunication Convention's radio regulations, or under an agreement or treaty between the U.S. and the ship's registered country. (39) Person includes an individual, partnership, association, joint-stock company, trust, or corporation. (40) Radio communication ("communication by radio") means transmitting writing, signs, signals, pictures, and sounds by radio, including everything used to make that transmission happen — the instruments, facilities, equipment, and services, such as receiving, forwarding, and delivering the communications. (41) Radio officer (A) on a U.S. ship, for part II of subchapter III, means someone holding at least a first- or second-class radiotelegraph operator's license from the Commission; if that person operates a radiotelegraph station on a U.S. ship, they must also be licensed as a "radio officer" under chapter 71 of title 46. (B) On a foreign ship, for part II of subchapter III, it means someone holding at least a matching certificate under the International Telecommunication Convention's radio regulations. (42) Radio station ("station") is a station equipped to engage in radio communication or radio transmission of energy. (43) Radiotelegraph auto alarm, on a U.S. ship subject to part II of subchapter III, is automatic alarm equipment that responds to the radiotelegraph alarm signal and that the Commission has approved. On a foreign ship, it is the same kind of equipment, approved instead by the ship's home government, but only if the U.S. and that country are parties to the same treaty setting the requirements. This chapter does not require the U.S. to recognize such equipment on a foreign ship if the U.S. and that country are not parties to the same treaty on it. (44) Rural telephone company is a local exchange carrier that: (A) serves a study area without any incorporated place of 10,000 or more people (or part of one), and without any territory in an urbanized area as the Census Bureau defined it on August 10, 1993; (B) provides phone exchange service, including exchange access, to fewer than 50,000 access lines; (C) provides phone exchange service in a study area with fewer than 100,000 access lines; or (D) had less than 15 percent of its access lines in communities over 50,000 people as of February 8, 1996. (45) Safety convention is the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, plus its regulations, currently in force. (46) Ship ("vessel") (A) is any watercraft or other artificial device, except aircraft, used or able to be used to transport people or things on water, whether or not it is actually floating right now. (B) It is a "passenger ship" if it carries, or is licensed or certified to carry, more than 12 passengers. (C) A "cargo ship" is any ship that is not a passenger ship. (D) A "passenger" is anyone on board except: the officers and crew running the ship, people employed to run the ship's business, and people on board only because the captain had to rescue or carry shipwrecked or distressed people, or because of something beyond the control of the captain, owner, or charterer. (E) A "nuclear ship" is a ship with a nuclear power plant. (47) State includes the District of Columbia and the territories and possessions. (48) State commission is the commission, board, or official — whatever it is called — that has regulatory power over a carrier's intrastate operations under state law. (49) Station license ("radio station license" or "license") is the Commission's authorization, under whatever name the Commission gives it, to use or operate equipment for transmitting energy, communications, or radio signals. (50) Telecommunications means sending information the user chooses, between or among points the user specifies, without changing the form or content of that information along the way. (51) Telecommunications carrier is any provider of telecommunications services, except aggregators of telecommunications services as defined in section 226. It counts as a common carrier under this chapter only to the extent it provides telecommunications services — except the Commission decides whether fixed and mobile satellite service counts as common carriage. (52) Telecommunications equipment is equipment, other than customer premises equipment, that a carrier uses to provide telecommunications services, including the software built into that equipment, including upgrades. (53) Telecommunications service means offering telecommunications for a fee, directly to the public or to a group of users broad enough to count as directly available to the public, no matter what facilities are used. (54) Telephone exchange service is (A) service inside one phone exchange, or a connected system of exchanges in the same exchange area, giving subscribers the kind of intercommunicating service a single exchange normally provides, covered by the exchange service charge; or (B) similar service provided through switches, transmission equipment, or other facilities that let a subscriber start and end a telecommunications service. (55) Telephone toll service is phone service between stations in different exchange areas, charged separately from the subscriber's regular exchange service contract. (56) Television service: (A) "Analog television service" means service under the transmission standards in the Commission's rule 73.682(a). (B) "Digital television service" means service under the transmission standards in the Commission's rule 73.682(d). (57) Transmission of energy by radio ("radio transmission of energy") includes the transmission itself plus everything used to make it happen — the instruments, facilities, and services involved. (58) United States means the states and territories, the District of Columbia, and U.S. possessions, but not the Canal Zone. (59) Wire communication ("communication by wire") means transmitting writing, signs, signals, pictures, and sounds by wire, cable, or a similar connection between the sending and receiving points, including everything used to make that transmission happen — the instruments, facilities, equipment, and services, such as receiving, forwarding, and delivering the communications.