Editing Local exchange carrier (section)

{{Short description|Company that provides local phone service}}
{{unreferenced|date=February 2013}}

'''Local exchange carrier''' ('''LEC''') is a [[regulatory]] term in [[telecommunications]] for the '''local telephone company.'''

In the [[United States]], [[telephone|wireline telephone]] companies are divided into two large categories: [[long-distance calling|long-distance]] ([[interexchange carrier]], or IXCs) and local (local exchange carrier, or LECs). This structure is a result of [[Breakup of the Bell System|1984 divestiture]] of then-regulated [[monopoly]] carrier [[American Telephone & Telegraph]]. Local telephone companies at the time of the divestiture are also known as [[Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier]]s (ILEC).

The divestiture created local exchange carriers for the management of local telephone lines and switches, and provisioning of local phone services within their business area, as well as the long-distance calls originating or terminating in their business area. The vast majority of the United States are served by LECs called [[Regional Bell Operating Company|Baby Bell]]s, or [[RBOC]]s (Regional Bell Operating Companies). The rest of the United States, most commonly in rural or outlying suburban areas, are served by independent LECs, known in the industry simply as the "independents." Although [[independent telephone company|independent companies]] typically serve these areas, RBOC LECs still have vast territories of low population density regions of the country. Therefore, independents generally exist as pockets of territory within a greater RBOC region. Popular independents are [[Frontier Communications]], and [[Windstream Communications]].

[[Local call]]s are defined as calls originating and terminating within a [[local access and transport area]] (LATA) which is defined by the [[Federal Communications Commission]]. All of the Baby Bells, as well as other LECs, typically operate businesses in more than one LATA yet their services of local telephone calls are still defined by LATA boundaries, not their business areas.