You are here: Home: >> Local Exchange Carriers:

Local Exchange Carriers

A local exchange carrier (LEC) is a local telephone company that provides an ordinary local voice-grade telecommunications service under regulation within a specified service area. Local exchange carriers are grouped into two categories.

• Incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) usually consist of the original or monopoly local area carrier for a specified area. These companies receive a different regulatory treatment than other carriers.
• A competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) is a telecommunications provider that competes with other, more established ILECs. A data local exchange carriers (DLEC) is a CLEC that specializes in DSL internet service. The DLEC will lease lines from a competitive local exchange carrier and resell these lines to internet service providers.

Local exchange carriers were created for the management of local telephone lines along with the provisioning of local phone service inside a specific business area. This also includes long distance calls that are originated or terminated in that area.

---

Verizon
Connect To The Things That Matter Most.

---

Vonage
A Better Way to Phone For Less

---

AT&T
Your World. Delivered