B-ICI (B-ISDN Inter-Carrier Interface). An ATM Forum defined specification for the interface between public ATM networks to support user services across multiple public carriers.

B-ISDN (Broadband ISDN). A high-speed network standard (above 1.544 Mbps) that evolved narrowband-ISDN with existing and new services with voice, data and video in the same network.

Backbone. The network of broadband connections between the infrastructure equipment on a network.

Billing account number. A number used by carriers that identifies the subscriber that will be billed.

Band. The range of frequencies within two defined limits.

Bandwidth. The range of frequencies a signal needs for its successful transmission. The broader the bandwidth, the greater the information-carrying capacity of a channel. In digital systems, bandwidth is measured in bits per second (bps). In analog systems, it is measured in hertz.

Base rate. A nondiscounted charge for a basic telephone service.

BAT (Bouquet Association Table). DVB SI table that contains data on groups of services with common themes

Baud. The traditional term (seldom used now) for measurement of data rate over a link.

Bearer service. A service that provides the underlying network capacity, necessary for transmission to occur, between two points in the same or different networks.

BER (Bit Error Rate). The percentage of bits in a transmitted signal that are in error, relative to the total number of bits received. BER is generally expressed as ten to the power of a negative number. For example, a BER of 10 to the -9, means that one bit was in error, out of 1,000,000,000 bits transmitted.

Binary. The base two numbering system that digital systems use to represent data. It consists of just two numbers: "0" and "1".

Bit. The smallest unit of data in digital systems, having a binary value of either 0 or 1. Bits are normally stored in multiples called bytes.

Bit duration. A technique used to measure delay times in the transfer of digital signals through a transmission medium. In essence, the bit duration is the time measurement for a signal bit to pass a specified point.

Bit error rate. The ratio of the number of bits received in error on a digital link to the total number of bits received.

Block. A group of seven cells.

Blocked call. A call that enters the network but does not reach the requested destination. Normally due to network problems.

bps (Bits per second). In digital communications systems, the data rate is measured in bps.

Broadband. A communications channel with a bandwidth of more that 674 kbps (kilobits per second) normally used for high-speed data communications over standard telephone circuits.

Broadband access. An ISDN access capable of supporting one or more broadband services.

BS (Base Station). In a cellular radio network, the base station (BS) is used for the transmission and reception of the radio signals between the mobile terminal (i.e. the mobile phone) and the network.

BSC. The Base Station Controller is the network node that connects the Base Transceiver Station (BTS) and the Mobile services Switching Center (MSC).

BSS (Base Station Subsystem). A system comprised of the Base Station Controller (BSC) and the Base Station Transceivers (BTS) in GSM.

BSS (Broadcast Satellite Services). A satellite service where the customer makes the connection via a satellite dish.

BSS (Basic Service Set). The building block of an 802.11 WLAN in which a set of stations are logically associated with each other.

BTS. The Base Transceiver Station is composed of an antenna and transceiver. The BTS handles the radio interface with the mobile phone. It is the first entity within the GSM network that detects the mobile signal. The parameters of a cell are defined by the transceiver signal strength of the BTS.

Bundling. The merging of more than one service rate into a single rate. For example, paying for a particular service and receiving another service at a reduced cost. The two services are only sold as a unit and not individually.

Byte. A unit in which bits are stored. In most digital systems a byte is 8 bits long. The abbreviation of byte is "B" and bit is "b".

Bytecode. This is content encoding where the content is a set of low-level instructions for a specific device.

Byte rate. The speed of digital transmission measured in bits per second.