Section 271

Section 271 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 describes the conditions by which a BOC (Bell Operating Company) may enter the market to provide interLATA (Local Access and Transport Area) services, long distance in particular, within the region where they operate as the dominant local telephone service provider. The Act mandates that BOCs must open their local telephone markets to competition as a precondition to entry into the long distance market. The term 271 has come to be used as shorthand for referring to the strategic efforts of the BOCs to prove competition exists, and thereby gain FCC approval to provide interLATA long distance service. Although final authority to approve a BOC's entry into the LD (Long Distance) market is given to the FCC (Federal Communications Commission), Congress provided in Section 271 a checklist to guide the FCC's assessment of local market competition.

The checklist points are (summarized):
1. Interconnection for any requesting telecommunications carrier with the BOC's network that is at least equal in quality to that provided by the BOC to itself.
2. Non-discriminatory access to network elements.
3. Nondiscriminatory access to the poles, ducts, conduits, and rights-of-way owned or controlled by the BOC at just and reasonable rates.
4. Local loop transmission from the central office to the customer's premises, unbundled from local switching or other services.
5. Local transport from the trunk side of a wireline local exchange carrier switch unbundled from switching or other services.
6. Local switching unbundled from transport, local loop transmission, or other services.
7. Non-discriminatory access to 911, directory assistance and operator call completion services.
8. White pages directory listings for customers of the other carrier's telephone exchange service.
9. Nondiscriminatory access to telephone numbers for assignment to the other carrier's telephone exchange service customers.
10. Nondiscriminatory access to databases and associated signaling necessary for call routing and completion.
11. Telecommunications number portability.
12. Nondiscriminatory access to services or information to allow the requesting carrier to implement local dialing parity (the ability to complete a connection without the use of additional access codes).
13. Reciprocal compensation arrangements.
14. Telecommunications services available for resale.

U.S. Telecommunications Act of 1996

(Summarized from Newton's Telecom Dictionary) A federal bill signed into law on Feb. 8, 1996 "to promote competition and reduce regulation in order to secure lower prices and higher quality services for American telecommunications consumers and encourage rapid deployment of new telecommunications technologies." The Act is widely reputed to be among the worst pieces of legislation ever passed by Congress. There were 3 key requirements/objectives related to the ILECs (Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers): 1) required local service providers in the 100 largest MSAs (Metropolitan Service Area) to implement Local Number Portability by the end of 1998, 2) allowed local RBOCs (Regional Bell Operating Company) into long distance once they had met certain conditions about allowing competition in their local monopoly areas, and 3) forced the local phone companies to rent their local copper loops to new telecommunications carriers (Competitive Local Exchange Carriers). President Clinton signed the Telecom Act of 1996 into law using the same pen President Dwight D. Eisenhower used in 1957 to authorize the interstate highways. "We will help create an open marketplace where competition and innovation can move quick as light," Clinton said. The telecom boom began, tons of new CLECs were born and billions of dollars were invested in the telecom sector. By mid-2001 the whole telecom boom had pretty much went bust.
Congress is considering a major overhaul of the 1996 Act.
See Wikipedia for a description of the 7 titles and more info (worth a quick read, it's not that long):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_Act_of_1996

Unbundled Network Element

UNE (Pronounced you nee): The Telecommunications Act of 1996 requires that the ILECs (Incumben Local Exchange Carriers) unbundle their NEs (Network Elements), which must be made available to the CLECs (Competitive Local Exchange Carriers) on the basis of incremental cost. This means that CLECs will pay the additional costs the ILECs incur in making these facilities available. The words "incremental cost" are meant to signal to the ILECs that they are not to inflate the price of these facilities by adding overhead costs (e.g., the salary of the ILEC's people in the charge of investor relations). UNEs are defined as physical and functional elements of the network, e.g., NIDs (Network Interface Devices), local loops, switch ports, and dedicated and common transport facilities. When combined into a complete set in order to provide an end-to-end circuit, the UNEs constitute a UNE-P (UNE-Platform). Unbundled Network Elements is a term used in negotiations between a CLEC and the ILEC to describe the various network components that will be used or leased by the CLEC from the ILEC. These components include such things as the actual copper wire to the customers, fiber strands, and local switching. The CLEC will lease these UNEs with pricing based on the previously-signed Interconnection Agreement between the CLEC and the ILEC. Typically, a CLEC will collocate a switch at the ILEC's wire center, then pay for the "unbundled" local loop to make a connection to the customer. Alternately, a CLEC might lease both an unbundled local loop and an unbundled switch, and make a connection to their network at the LEC's switch.

Subloop

As defined by the Telecommunications Act of 1996, a subloop is a portion of a local loop that is accessible to terminals at any point in the ILEC's (Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier) outside plan, including inside wire. An accessible terminal is any point on the loop where technicians can access the wire or fiber within the cable without removing a splice case. Such points can include a telephone pole or pedestal, the minimum point of entry (MPOE), the single point of interconnection, the main distribution frame (MDF), and the feeder/distribution cable interface. Subloops are one of the categories of Unbundled Network Elements (UNEs), which the ILECs must make available to the CLECs (Competitive Local Exchange Carrier).

*Note: Tomorrow we will explore the Telecommunications Act of 1996 in more detail

Demarc

(Pronounced "D-Marc") The demarcation point is the physical point at which the separation is made between the carrier's responsibilities for the circuit and those of the end user organization. The carrier is responsible for the local loop, which connects the user organization's premises to the carrier's CO (Central Office) or POP (Point of Presence) at the edge of the network. In a residential or small business application, the demarc is at the NIU (Network Interface Unit), which typically is on the side of the house or inside the garage. In a larger business application, it is at the MPOE (Minimum Point of Entry), which is the closest practical point to where the carrier facilities cross the property line or the closest practical point to where the carrier cabling enters a building. While the MPOE typically is in the form of a physical demarc, in older installations it may simply be in form of a tag hung on the entrance cable to identify a point of logical demarcation. There are exceptions. In some older Centrex installations in some states, the demarc is at the jack for each individual voice or data terminal. In some older campus environments, there may be a demarc for each of several cables coming from various directions, and the demarc may be well inside the property line. In either case, it is the responsibility of the carrier to install and maintain the local loop and the demarc device, which includes some form of protector against lightning and other electrical anomalies, and some form of intelligence to support loopback testing. It is the responsibility of the end user organization or building owner to install and maintain the inside cable and wire system, which typically terminates in the demarc through a plug-and-jack arrangement. A demarc for voice services might be in the form of a simple RJ-11C jack (one line or trunk) connection, an RJ-14C (two trunks), an RJ-21X (up to 25 trunks), or a 66-block. A demarc for data services typically supports an RJ-48 (used primarily with a T1 or a Primary Rate Interface) termination.

Local Loop

The physical connection from the subscriber's premise to the carrier's Point of Presence (POP). The local loop can be provided over any suitable transmission medium, including twisted pair, fiber optic, coax, or microwave. Traditionally and most commonly, the local loop comprises twisted pair or pairs between the telephone set, PBX or key telephone system, and the LEC (Local Exchange Carrier) CO (Central Office). As a result of the deregulation of inside wire and cable in the US, the local loop typically goes from the demarc (demarcation point) in the phone room closet, in the basement or garage, or on the outside of the house, to the CO. The subscriber or building owner is responsible for extending the connection from the demarc to the phone, PBX, key system, router, or other CPE device.

Loop

The loop is the pair of wires that winds its way from the phone company's central office to the telephone set or system at the customer's office, home or factory, (i.e. "premises" in telephones).

Exchange

1. Sometimes used to refer to a telephone switching center - a physical room or building. Outside North America, telephone central offices are called "Public Exchanges."

2. A geographic area established by a common communications carrier for the administration and pricing of telecommunications services in a specific area that usually includes a city, town, or village. An exchange consists of one or more central offices and their associated facilities. An exchange is not the same as a LATA (Local Access Transport Area), which defines the area, in a state served by a Bell telephone company, in which the company can provide service. A LATA consists of several adjacent exchanges. (More on that soon!)

3. A term that refers to one of the Fibre Channel "building blocks," composed of one or more non-concurrent sequences for a single operation. (More on that in a future month!)

Wire Center

The physical structure where the telephone company terminates subscriber outside cable plant (i.e. their local lines) with the necessary testing facilities to maintain them. Usually the same location as a class 5 central office. One or more Switching Entities which serve the plant facilities through a single main frame (or two or more main frames joined by the cables), regardless of the number of buildings involved. A wire center might have one or several class 5 central offices, also called public exchanges or simply switches. A customer could get telephone service from one, several or all of these switches without paying extra. They would all be his local switch.

Central Office (CO)

Central office is an ambiguous term in North America. It can mean a telephone company building where subscribers' lines are joined to switching equipment for connecting other subscribers to each other, locally and long distance. Sometimes, that central office means a wire center in which there might be several switching exchanges. That means there will be switches, cable distribution frames, batteries, air conditioning and heating systems, etc. But a central office is sometimes simply a single telephone switch, what Europeans call a public exchange. In short, you need to figure out by the context if central office means a building or a switch, or a collection of switches.

Local Exchange Carrier (LEC)

A local phone company. As defined by the Telecommunications Act of 1996, a local exchange carrier means any person that is engaged in the provision of telephone exchange service or exchange access. Such term does not include a person insofar as such person is engaged in the provision of a commercial mobile service under section 332c, except to the extent that the Federal Communications Commission finds that such service should be included in the definition of such term. The local phone companies, which were either Bell Operating Companies (BOCs) or independents (GTE was an independent before being acquired by Bell Atlantic to form Verizon) which traditionally had the exclusive, franchised right and responsibility to provide local transmission and switching services. Prior to divestiture (1984), the LECs were calls telephone companies or telcos. With the advent of deregulation (1996) and competition, LECs now are knows as ILECs (Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers). This terminology delineates them from CLECs (competitive LECs). Rural ILECs are often referred to as RLECs.

Outside Plant

The part of the LEC (Local Exchange Carrier) telephone network that is physically located outside of telephone company buildings। This includes cables, conduits, poles and other supporting structures, and certain equipment items such as load coils. Microwave towers, antennas, and cable-system repeaters traditionally are not considered outside plant. Outside plant (OSP) includes the local loops from the LEC's switching centers to the customers' premises, and all facilities which serve to interconnect the various switches (e.g., central office and tandem) in the carrier's internal network. Dedicated OSP comprises physical loop facilities which are dedicated from the switching center to the customers' premises.

Dedicated Outside Plant (DOP): DOP means that each customer premises has one or more local loops which connect directly to the "wire center" in which the CO (Central Office) is housed. While this approach is copper-intensive, it allows local loops to be activated remotely, as it is not necessary to "roll a truck" in order to make cross connections between various trunk and feeder facilities in the outside plant network in order to effect the connection. Once the initial investment is made, therefore, the ongoing installation and maintenance expenses are much reduced. In the context of the competitive local exchange environment, the CLEC (Competitive Local Exchange Carrier) commonly desires to lease from the ILEC (Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier) a dedicated outside plant in the form of a "dry copper" circuit. A dry copper circuit is one which has no electronics (e.g., load coils, repeaters or subscriber carrier systems) between the wire center and the customer premises. Such electronics interfere with the provisioning and support of most data services, including high-speed DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) services.

Inside Plant

Everything inside a telephone company central office। Thus, electronic equipment in buildings. Includes central office switches, PBX switches, broadband equipment, distribution frame, power supply equipment, etc. It does not include telephone poles, cable, terminals, cross boxes, cable vaults or equipment found outdoors.

Dedicated Inside Plant (DIP): DIP, most commonly, is a term describing an (Intermediate Distribution Frame) IDF which is dedicated to the purpose of providing a CLEC with a point of interconnection between the local loops it has leased from the ILEC for purposes of customers access, and the facilities which the CLEC uses to serve those customers. The dedicated IDF also is known as a Single Point of Termination (SPOT) frame. From the SPOT frame, the circuit commonly is directed to a secure enclosure in which the CLEC has collocated in the ILEC building a concentrator or multiplexer which is connected to a high-speed transmission link which hauls traffic to the CLEC's own facilities-based network. A common SPOT is a shared dedicated IDF for use by multiple CLECs which are unable to cost justify a SPOT of their own-the cost of the SPOT, plus a reasonable profit margin is passed on to the CLEC by the ILEC.

Plant

A general term for all equipment used by a telephone company to provide telecommunications services. In the telecom business, plant comes in two variations - inside and outside plant. Inside is inside a building. Outside is outside the building - on poles, in the ground. The term plant is not specific to the phone industry. The term plant has been around since the middle of the nineteenth century and is used to describe all the implements of production.