ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier)
An ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier) is a telephone company in the U.S. that was providing
local service when the Telecommunications
Act of 1996 was enacted. ILECs include the former Bell operating companies (BOCs) which were
grouped into holding companies known collectively as the regional Bell operating companies (RBOCs)
when the Bell System was broken up by a 1983 consent decree. ILECs are in contradistinction to CLEC
(competitive local exchange carriers).
A "local exchange" is the local "central office" of an LEC. Lines from homes and businesses
terminate at a local exchange. Local exchanges connect to other local exchanges within a local
access and transport area (LATA) or to interexchange carriers (IXC) such as long-distance carriers
AT&T, MCI, and Sprint.
This was last updated in March 2008
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