Consumer
Any natural or judicial person other than a Provider of Telecommunications Services. See also End User.

Consumer Affairs
Any regulation related to consumers and Telecommunications Equipment and Services.

Customer
The Person who receives Telecommunications Services and pays the corresponding fees for a period of time by virtue of an agreement with or pursuant to terms established by the Service Provider.

Customer Premises Equipment (CPE)
Any technical devices, including wiring, that are suitable for connecting to the Network Termination Interface that is owned or controlled by an End User within his or her private premises without commercial purpose and which may be used to originate, route, terminate, store or convert any communication over the network. Importation, sale and use of such CPE may be subject to equipment standards specified in the Radio and Telecommunications Terminal Equipment (RTTE) Type Approval Guidelines but is not subject to licensing under the present Guidelines.

C-band
The spectrum band comprising frequencies between 3400-4200 MHz.

CA
Conditional access (ITU-T J.193 (04), 3.10).
The conditional granting of access to cable services and content based upon what service suite has been purchased by the customer.

Cable modem
A technology that allows high-speed interactive services, including Internet access, to be delivered over a cable TV network.

CAGR
Compound annual growth rate.

CATV
Cable television.
A system for delivery of television video and audio content via a wired network, employing either co-axial cable or fibre.

CDMA
Code division multiple access.
A technology for digital transmission of radio signals based on spread spec-trum techniques where each voice or data call uses the whole radio band and is assigned a unique code.

CDMA2000
Code division multiple access 2000.
A third-generation digital cellular standard based on Qualcomm technology. Includes CDMA2000 1x, 1xEV-DO (evolution, data optimized) and 1xEV-DV (evolution, data and voice). One of the IMT-2000 “family” of standards.

Cellular
A mobile telephone service provided by a network of base stations, each of which covers one geographic cell within the total cellular system service area.

CERTs
Computer emergency response teams.

Channel
One of a number of discrete frequency ranges utilized by a base station to transmit and receive information from cellular terminals (such as mobile handsets).

CIF/QCIF
Common intermediate format/ Quarter common intermediate format. An international standard size for low-resolution image and video display formats. CIF dimensions are 352 × 288 pixels and QCIF are 176 × 144 pixels.

Circuit-switched connection
A temporary connection that is estabished on request between two or more stations in order to allow the exclusive use of that connection until it is released. At present, most voice networks are based on circuitswitching, whereas the Internet is packet-based. See also Packet-based.

CLEC
Competitive local exchange carrier.
A network operator or carrier – often a new market entrant – that provides local telephony in competition with the incumbent carrier.

Cloud computing
Typical cloud computing providers deliver common business applications online, which are accessed from a web browser, while the software and data are stored on servers.

CMTS
Cable modem termination system.
Equipment typically found in a cable company’ she had end and is used to provide high-speed data services, such as cable Internet or voice over IP, to cable subscribers.

CODEC
A device or computer program capable of encoding and/or decoding a digital data stream or signal.

Cognitive radio
Technology that could make efficient use of unused spectrum, allowing dynamic reallocation of available spectrum at any given time and avoiding interference among licensed or unlicensed users.

Collocation
(Also Co-location/Colocation.) Facility- sharing in which the incumbent operator houses communications equipment of competitive operators to facilitate connectivity to end users.

Connectivity
The capability to provide, to end users, connections to the Internet or other communication networks.

Convergence
A term used to describe a variety of technological and market trends involving the blurring of previously distinct lines between market segments such as cable television, telepho- ny and Internet access, all of which can now be provided through a variety of different network platforms.

Copresent user sharing
Condition where multiple individuals are sharing the same computer sys-tem at the same time.

Coverage
Refers to the range of a mobile cellular or any wireless network, measured in terms of geographic coverage (the percentage of the territorial area covered by mobile cellular) or population coverage (the percentage of the population within range of a mobile cellular network).

CPE
Customer premises equipment.

CPNP
Calling Party’s Network Pays.
In a CPNP regime, the call receiver’s provider levies some predetermined charge per minute on the call originator’s provider for termination, while the call receiver’s operator pays nothing.

CPP
Calling Party Pays.
Billing option whereby the person making the call is charged. By contrast, in a “receiving party pays” (RPP) system, the individual that receives the call pays all charges for that call.

CSMA
Carrier sense multiple access.
A network protocol in which a node verifies the absence of other traffic before transmitting on a shared physical medium, such as an electrical bus, or a band of electromagnetic spectrum.

Cybersecurity
Protection of network integrity and content from electronic infiltration or “hacking” to disrupt networks or to illegally obtain private or restricted data.