As used in this article:

(1) "CMRS connection" means each mobile number assigned to a CMRS customer.

(2) "Commercial Mobile Radio Service" (CMRS) means commercial mobile radio service under Sections 3(27) and 332(d), Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996, 47 U.S.C. Section 151, et seq., Federal Communications Commission Rules, and the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993. The term includes any wireless two-way communication device, including radio-telephone communications used in cellular telephone service, personal communication service, or the functional and/or competitive equivalent of a radio-telephone communications line used in cellular telephone service, a personal communication service, or a network radio access line. The term does not include services that do not provide access to 911 service, a communication channel suitable only for data transmission, a wireless roaming service or other nonlocal radio access line service, or a private telecommunications system.

(3) "Commission" means the Public Service Commission.

(4) "Deaf person" means an individual who is unable to hear and understand oral communication, with or without the assistance of amplification devices.

(5) "Department" means the Department of Revenue.

(6) "Dual party relay system" or "DPR" means a procedure in which a deaf, hearing, or speech impaired TDD user can communicate with an intermediary party, who then orally relays the first party's message or request to a third party, or a procedure in which a party who is not deaf or hearing or speech impaired can communicate with an intermediary party who then relays the message or request to a TDD user.

(7) "Dual sensory impaired person" means an individual who is deaf/blind or has both a permanent hearing impairment and a permanent visual impairment.

(8) "Exchange access facility" means the access from a particular telephone subscriber's premises to the telephone system of a service supplier. Exchange access facilities include service supplier provided access lines, PBX trunks, and Centrex network access registers, all as defined by the South Carolina Public Service Commission. Exchange access facilities do not include service supplier owned and operated telephone pay station lines, or wide area telecommunications service (wats), foreign exchange (fx), or incoming lines.

(9) "Hard of hearing person" means an individual who has suffered a permanent hearing loss which is severe enough to necessitate the use of amplification devices to hear oral communication.

(10) "Hearing impaired person" means a person who is deaf or hard of hearing.

(11) "Local exchange provider" means a local exchange telephone company operating in this State.

(12) "Operating fund" means the Dual Party Relay Service Operating Fund which is a specific fund to be created by the commission and established, invested, managed, and maintained for the exclusive purpose of implementing the provisions of this chapter according to commission regulations.

(13) "Prepaid wireless consumer" means a person or entity that purchases prepaid wireless telecommunications service in a prepaid wireless retail transaction.

(14) "Prepaid wireless provider" means a person or entity that provides prepaid wireless telecommunications service pursuant to a license issued by the Federal Communications Commission.

(15) "Prepaid wireless retail transaction" means the purchase of prepaid wireless telecommunications service from a prepaid wireless seller for any purpose other than resale.

(16) "Prepaid wireless seller" means a person or entity that sells prepaid wireless telecommunications service to another person or entity for any purpose other than resale.

(17) "Prepaid wireless telecommunications service" means any commercial mobile radio service that allows a caller to dial 911 to access the 911 system, which service must be paid for in advance and is sold in units or dollars which decline with use in a known amount.

(18) "Speech impaired person" means an individual who has suffered a loss of oral communication ability which prohibits normal use of a standard telephone handset.

(19) "Subscriber" means any person, company, corporation, business, association, or party who is provided telephone (local exchange access facility) service or CMRS service or VoIP service.

(20) "Telecommunications device" or "telecommunications device for the deaf, hearing, or speech impaired" or "TDD" or "TTY" means a keyboard mechanism attached to or in place of a standard telephone by some coupling device used to transmit or receive signals through telephone lines.

(21) "Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service" means interconnected VoIP service as that term is defined in 47 C.F.R. Section 9.3 as may be amended.

(22) "Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) provider" means a person or entity that provides VoIP service.

(23) "Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) subscriber" means a person or entity that purchases VoIP service from a VoIP provider.

(24) "Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service line" means a VoIP service that offers an active telephone number or successor dialing protocol assigned by a VoIP service provider to a customer that has outbound calling capability.

HISTORY: 1990 Act No. 488, Section 2, eff May 30, 1990; 1996 Act No. 426, Sections 14A and 14B, eff June 18, 1996; 2006 Act No. 318, Section 71, eff May 24, 2006; 2016 Act No. 181 (S.277), Section 7, eff May 25, 2016.

Editor's Note

1990 Act No. 488, Section 1, eff May 30, 1990, provides as follows:

"The General Assembly finds:

"(1) that telephone service provides a rapid and essential communications link among the general public and with essential offices and organizations such as police, fire, and medical facilities;.

"(2) that all persons should have basic telephone service available to them at a just and reasonable rate;.

"(3) that a significant portion of South Carolina's hearing and speech impaired population has profound disabilities which render normal telephone equipment useless without additional specialized devices; and.

"(4) that there exists a need for a program in which access to basic telephone service for hearing and speech impaired persons is equal in cost to the amount paid by other telephone customers."

Effect of Amendment

2016 Act No. 181, Section 7, rewrote the section.