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Local exchange carrier

<communications> (LEC) A company allowed to handle local calls following the break-up of the Bell system in the US by anti-trust regulators.

These vary from Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOC) through to small independents such as Farmers Cooperative.

Local exchange carriers are not allowed to handle long-distance traffic.

This is handled by inter-exchange carriers (IXC) who are not allowed to handle local calls.

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local area network Local Area Transport local bus locale local echo	Competitive Access Provider Dataphone Digital Service inter-exchange carrier LEC local exchange carrier	localisation localised locality local loop local loopback addresses