§ 7501 - Purpose; definitions - Vermont Statutes

§ 7501. Purpose; definitions

(a) It is the purpose of this act to create a financial structure that will allow every Vermont household to obtain basic telecommunications service at an affordable price, and to finance that structure with a proportional charge on all telecommunications transactions that interact with the public switched network.

(b) As used in this chapter:

(1) "Basic telecommunications service" means that a customer has available at his or her location:

(A) switched voice grade interactive telecommunications service permitting origination and termination of calls;

(B) the ability to transmit network switching instructions through tones generated by customer-owned equipment;

(C) the ability to transmit and receive the customer's computer-generated digital data, either by digital or analog transmission, reliably and at common transmission rates, using customer-owned equipment;

(D) the ability to communicate quickly and effectively with emergency response personnel; and

(E) telecommunications relay service, as authorized under section 218a of this title.

(2) "Interactive" means that a communications medium is regularly used to transmit information in two directions.

(3) "Private network" means a telecommunications system entirely owned and operated by a single corporate or individual person other than a telecommunications service provider and not available to the general public.

(4) "Public switched network" means the communications network owned and operated by telecommunications service providers, some of whom are common carriers.

(5) "Telecommunications service" means the transmission of any interactive electromagnetic communications that passes through the public switched network. The term includes, but is not limited to, transmission of voice, image, data and any other information, by means of but not limited to wire, electric conductor cable, optic fiber, microwave, radio wave, or any combinations of such media, and the leasing of any such service.

(A) Telecommunications service includes but is not limited to:

(i) local telephone service, including any facility or service provided in connection with such local telephone service;

(ii) toll telephone service;

(iii) directory assistance;

(iv) two-way cable television service; and

(v) mobile telephone or telecommunication service, both analog and digital.

(B) Notwithstanding the above, for purposes of this chapter, telecommunications service does not include:

(i) Services consisting primarily of the creation of artistic material or other information that is later transmitted over telecommunications equipment, including information services and electronic bulletin boards, but only to the extent that charges for such information processing are separated from charges for other telecommunications services, and only to the extent that such information is not used by any telecommunications service provider in the administration of the telecommunications network.

(ii) Mobile radio and paging services that do not have an electronic interface into the public switched network.

(iii) Private network services; provided, however, that payments by a private network to a telecommunications service provider, such as for point-to-point transmission services, are not exempt under this subdivision.

(iv) [Repealed.]

(v) Telecommunications services paid for at the point of purchase by depositing coins or currency.

(vi) Charges incurred by utilizing prepaid telephone calling cards or prepaid authorization numbers.

(6) "Telecommunications service provider" means a company required by law to hold a certificate of public good from the public service board to offer telecommunications service for intrastate service, or is authorized by the Federal Communications Commission to offer interstate telecommunications service. (Added 1993, No. 197 (Adj. Sess.), § 5; amended 1995, No. 99 (Adj. Sess.), § 12; 1997, No. 71 (Adj. Sess.), § 29, eff. March 11, 1998; No. 156 (Adj. Sess.), § 31, eff. April 29, 1998.)