(1) The term "Commission" means the Public Service Commission;

(2) The term "commissioner" means one of the members of the Commission;

(3) The term "corporation" includes all bodies corporate, joint stock companies or associations, domestic or foreign, their lessees, assignees, trustees, receivers or other successors in interest, having any of the power or privileges of corporations not possessed by individuals or partnerships;

(4) The term "person" includes all individuals, partnerships or associations other than corporations;

(5) The term "public" means the public generally or any limited portion of the public, including a person or corporation;

(6) The term "telephone utility" includes persons and corporations, their lessees, assignees, trustees, receivers or other successors in interest owning or operating in this State equipment or facilities for the transmission of intelligence by telephone for hire, including all things incident thereto and related to the operation of telephones;

(7) The term "rate" means and includes every compensation, charge, toll, rental and classification, or any of them, demanded, observed, charged or collected by any telephone utility for any communications service offered by it to the public and any rules, regulations, practices or contracts affecting any such compensation, charge, toll, rental or classification; and

(8) The term "securities" means and includes stock, stock certificates, bonds, notes, debentures, or other evidences of indebtedness, and any assumption or guaranty thereof.

(9) The term "basic local exchange telephone service" means for residential and single-line business customers, access to basic voice grade local service, access to available emergency services and directory assistance, the capability to access interconnecting carriers, relay services, access to operator services, and one annual local directory listing (white pages or equivalent).

(10) The term "carrier of last resort" means a facilities-based local exchange carrier, as determined by the commission, not inconsistent with the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996, which has the obligation to provide basic local exchange telephone service, upon reasonable request, to all residential and single-line business customers within a defined service or geographic area. A carrier of last resort may meet its obligation by using any available technology of equal or greater service quality than is required by applicable commission regulations as of the effective date of this item, including, but not limited to, the provision of a broadband connection that allows the customer to access basic voice grade local service from the carrier of last resort or other available voice provider of the customer’s choice. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, and regardless of the technology used, the basic voice grade local service provided to meet this obligation is subject to the commission’s jurisdiction with respect to service quality and rates, and is entitled to USF support. Initially, the incumbent LEC must be a carrier of last resort within its existing service area.

(11) The term "incumbent local exchange carrier" or "incumbent LEC" means a telecommunications company, its affiliates, successors, or its assigns, which provide local exchange service pursuant to a certificate of public convenience and necessity issued by the commission before July 1, 1995, or operating as a local exchange carrier before that date pursuant to commission authority, to provide local exchange service within a certificated geographic service area of the State. Any such entity must be treated as the incumbent local exchange carrier only within the geographic area where it maintains service pursuant to:

(a) any certificate of public convenience and necessity issued before July 1, 1995; or

(b) any certificate of public convenience and necessity issued to supersede, in whole or in part, any certificate of public convenience and necessity issued before July 1, 1995.

(12) The term "local exchange carrier" or "LEC" means either an incumbent local exchange carrier or a new entrant local exchange carrier.

(13) The term "new entrant local exchange carrier" or "new entrant LEC" means a telecommunications company holding a certificate of public convenience and necessity issued by the commission pursuant to § 58-9-280 (B) after December 31, 1995, to provide local exchange service within a certificated geographic service area of the State.

(14) The term "small local exchange carrier" or "small LEC" means a rural telephone company as defined on February 8, 1996, in the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996.

(15) The term "telecommunications services" means the services for the transmission of voice and data communications to the public for hire, including those nonwireline services provided in competition to landline services.

(16) The term "universal service" means the providing of basic local exchange telephone service, at affordable rates, upon reasonable request, to all residential and single-line business customers within a defined service area.

(17) The term "broadband service" means a service that is used to deliver video or to provide access to the Internet or content and services similar to that accessible through the Internet, and that consists of the offering of:

(a) a capability to transmit information at a rate that is generally not less than one hundred ninety kilobits per second in at least one direction; or

(b) a service that uses one or more of the following to provide this access:

(i) computer processing;

(ii) information storage; and

(iii) protocol conversion.

(18) The term "regulatory staff" means the executive director or the executive director and the employees of the Office of Regulatory Staff.