                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

DEFINITIONS (§ 58.1-647)

Terms used in this chapter shall have the same meanings as those used in Chapter
6 of this title, unless defined otherwise, as follows:
		&#8220;Cable service&#8221; means the one-way transmission to subscribers of
(i) video programming as defined in 47 U.S.C. § 522 (20) or (ii) other
programming service, and subscriber interaction, if any, which is required for
the selection of such video programming or other programming service. Cable
service does not include any video programming provided by a commercial mobile
service provider as defined in 47 U.S.C. § 332 (d) and any direct-to-home
satellite service as defined in 47 U.S.C. § 303 (v).
		&#8220;Call-by-call basis&#8221; means any method of charging for
telecommunications services where the price is measured by individual calls.
		&#8220;Coin-operated communications service&#8221; means a communications
service paid for by means of inserting coins in a coin-operated telephone.
		&#8220;Communications services&#8221; means the electronic transmission,
conveyance, or routing of voice, data, audio, video, or any other information or
signals, including cable services, to a point or between or among points, by or
through any electronic, radio, satellite, cable, optical, microwave, or other
medium or method now in existence or hereafter devised, regardless of the
protocol used for the transmission or conveyance. The term includes, but is not
limited to, (i) the connection, movement, change, or termination of
communications services; (ii) detailed billing of communications services; (iii)
sale of directory listings in connection with a communications service; (iv)
central office and custom calling features; (v) voice mail and other messaging
services; and (vi) directory assistance.
		&#8220;Communications services provider&#8221; means every person who provides
communications services to customers in the Commonwealth and is or should be
registered with the Department as a provider.
		&#8220;Cost price&#8221; means the actual cost of the purchased communications
service computed in the same manner as the sales price.
		&#8220;Customer&#8221; means the person who contracts with the seller of
communications services. If the person who utilizes the communications services
is not the contracting party, the person who utilizes the services on his own
behalf or on behalf of an entity is the customer of such service.
&#8220;Customer&#8221; does not include a reseller of communications services or
the mobile communications services of a serving carrier under an agreement to
serve the customer outside the communications service provider&#8217;s licensed
service area.
		&#8220;Customer channel termination point&#8221; means the location where the
customer either inputs or receives the private communications service.
		&#8220;Information service&#8221; means the offering of a capability for
generating, acquiring, storing, transforming, processing, retrieving, using, or
making available information via communications services for purposes other than
the electronic transmission, conveyance, or routing.
		&#8220;Internet access service&#8221; means a service that enables users to
access content, information, electronic mail, or other services offered over the
Internet, and may also include access to proprietary content, information, and
other services as part of a package of services offered to users.
&#8220;Internet access service&#8221; does not include telecommunications
services, except to the extent telecommunications services are purchased, used,
or sold by a provider of Internet access to provide Internet access.
		&#8220;Place of primary use&#8221; means the street address representative of
where the customer&#8217;s use of the communications services primarily occurs,
which must be the residential street address or the primary business street
address of the customer. In the case of mobile communications services, the
place of primary use shall be within the licensed service area of the home
service provider.
		&#8220;Postpaid calling service&#8221; means the communications service
obtained by making a payment on a call-by-call basis either through the use of a
credit card or payment mechanism such as a bank card, travel card, debit card,
or by a charge made to a telephone number that is not associated with the
origination or termination of the communications service.
		&#8220;Prepaid calling service&#8221; means the right to access exclusively
communications services, which must be paid for in advance and which enables the
origination of calls using an access number or authorization code, whether
manually or electronically dialed, and that is sold in predetermined units or
dollars that decrease in number with use.
		&#8220;Private communications service&#8221; means a communications service
that entitles the customer or user to exclusive or priority use of a
communications channel or group of channels between or among channel termination
points, regardless of the manner in which such channel or channels are
connected, and includes switching capacity, extension lines, stations, and any
other associated services that are provided in connection with the use of such
channel or channels.
		&#8220;Retail sale&#8221; or a &#8220;sale at retail&#8221; means a sale of
communications services for any purpose other than for resale or for use as a
component part of or for the integration into communications services to be
resold in the ordinary course of business.
		&#8220;Sales price&#8221; means the total amount charged in money or other
consideration by a communications services provider for the sale of the right or
privilege of using communications services in the Commonwealth, including any
property or other services that are part of the sale. The sales price of
communications services shall not be reduced by any separately identified
components of the charge that constitute expenses of the communications services
provider, including but not limited to, sales taxes on goods or services
purchased by the communications services provider, property taxes, taxes
measured by net income, and universal-service fund fees.
		&#8220;Service address&#8221; means, (i) the location of the
telecommunications equipment to which a customer&#8217;s call is charged and
from which the call originates or terminates, regardless of where the call is
billed or paid. If the location is not known in clause (i), &#8220;service
address&#8221; means (ii) the origination point of the signal of the
telecommunications system or in information received by the seller from its
service provider, where the system used to transport such signals is not that of
the seller. If the location is not known in clauses (i) and (ii), the service
address means (iii) the location of the customer&#8217;s place of primary use.

HISTORY: 2006, c. 780.