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A Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC), in the United States, is a telecommunications provider company (sometimes called a "carrier") that competes with other, already established carriers (generally the incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC)). Telecommunication involves the transmission of signals over a distance for the purpose of communication. ...
A common carrier is an organization that transports persons or goods, and offers its services to the general public. ...
ILEC or Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier is a local telephone company that was in existence at the time of the breakup of AT&T, for example, the Baby Bells and GTE. They compete with upstart Competitive Local Exchange Carriers. ...
Local exchange carriers (LECs) are divided into incumbent (ILECs) and competitive (CLECs). The ILECs are usually the original, monopoly LEC in a given area, and receive different regulatory treatment from the newer CLECs. A Data Local Exchange Carrier (DLEC) is a CLEC that specializes in DSL services by leasing lines from the CLEC and reselling them to Internet Service Providers (ISPs).[1] Local exchange carrier is a regulatory term in telecommunications for so-called local telephone company. ...
ILEC or Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier is a local telephone company that was in existence at the time of the breakup of AT&T, for example, the Baby Bells and GTE. They compete with upstart Competitive Local Exchange Carriers. ...
In economics, a monopoly (from the Latin word monopolium - Greek language monos, one + polein, to sell) is defined as a persistent market situation where there is only one provider of a product or service. ...
DSL may refer to: Damn Small Linux Dark and Shattered Lands, a MUD based loosely on Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance books. ...
“ISP†redirects here. ...
CLECs evolved from the Competitive Access Carriers (CAPs) that began to offer private line and special access services in competition with the ILECs beginning in 1985. The CAPs (such as Teleport Communications Group (TCG)and Metropolitan Fiber Systems (MFS)) deployed fiber optic systems in the central business districts of the largest US cities (New York, Chicago, Boston, etc). A number of state public utility commissions, particularly New York, Illinois and Massachusetts, encouraged this competition. By the early 1990s, the CAPs began to install switches in their fiber systems. Initially, they offered a "shared PBX" service with these switches and interconnected with the ILECs as end-users rather than as co-carriers. However, the New York Public Service Commission authorized the nation's first CLEC when it required the New York Telephone Co. (the ILEC) to allow Teleport's switches in New York City to connect as peers. Other States followed New York's lead so that by the mid-1990s most of the large states had authorized local exchange competition. Metropolitan Fiber Systems Inc, later known as MFS Communications Company, was a last mile provider of business grade telecomunication products such as long distance, and internet access through its own fiber rings in major urban areas such as Washington DC, New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles; bypassing ILEC connections and...
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 incorporated the successful results of the state-by-state authorization process by creating a uniform national law to allow local exchange competition. This had the unintended consequence of stimulating the formation of many more CLECs than the markets could bear. The formation of these CLECs, with easy financing from equipment vendors and IPOs, was a significant contributor to the "telecom bubble" of the late 1990s which then turned into the "bust" of 2001-2002. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was the first major overhaul of United States telecommunications law in nearly 62 years, amending the Communications Act of 1934. ...
The original CAP-CLECS spent the decade from 1985-1995 deploying their own fiber optics networks and digital switches so that their "only" reliance on the ILEC was leasing some DS-1 loops to locations not served by the CLEC's own fiber and interconnecting the CLEC's switches with the ILECs' on a peer-to-peer basis. While not trivial dependencies, the original "facilities-based" CLECs such as TCG and MFS were beginning to become profitable by the time the Telecom Act was adopted. In contrast, many CLECs formed in the post-Telecom Act "bubble" operated using the unbundled Network Element Platform (UNE-P), in which they resold the ILECs'service by leasing the underlying copper and port space on the ILEC's local switch. This greater dependency on the ILECs made these "UNE-P CLECs" extremely vulnerable to changes in the UNE-P rules. Unbundled Network Elements Platform UNE-Platform (also known as UNE-P) is a combination of UNEs (loop + port is SBCs definition, port involves switching which is bought per minute at a cost rate from the RBOCs) that allow end to end service delivery without ANY facilities. ...
In the meantime, the largest facilities-based CLECs, MFS and TCG, had IPOs and then were acquired by Worldcom and AT&T, respectively, in 1996 and 1998 as those long distance companies prepared to defend their business customers from the Regional Bell Operating Companies' (RBOC) incipient entry into the long distance business.
With the Triennial Review in August 2003, a large portion of the FCC rules implementing by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 began to be rewritten. One alternative to the UNE-P is unbundled network element loop (UNE-L), in which the CLEC has access to or operates their own local switch. The underlying copper (loop) that runs to your house is then leased by the CLEC, and cross-connected to the CLEC's switch. Both UNE-P and UNE-L have their own unique advantages and disadvantages. Other CLECs bypass the ILEC's network entirely, using their own facilities. These facility-based LECs include cable companies offering phone service over coaxial cable. 2003 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December A timeline of events in the news for August, 2003. ...
Coaxial Cable Coaxial cable is an electrical cable consisting of a round conducting wire, surrounded by an insulating spacer, surrounded by a cylindrical conducting sheath, usually surrounded by a final insulating layer (Jacket). ...
In October 2004, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed a lower court's ruling to stand (by refusing to hear the appeal) that voided rules requiring ILECs to lease certain network elements (such as local switching or the high-frequency portion of the loop) at a cost-based regulated wholesale price to CLECs.[2] The FCC agreed earlier in the year to rewrite rather than appeal the validity of the rules. In December, 2004, the FCC released another set of rules which phase out, over a year, all CLEC leasing of ILEC local switching, while preserving access to most copper local loops and some interoffice facilities. October 2004 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December See also: October 2004 in sports Events Deaths in October • 29 HRH Princess Alice • 25 John Peel • 24 James Cardinal Hickey • 23 Robert Merrill • 19 Paul Nitze • 18 K. M. Veerappan • 16 Pierre Salinger • 10 Christopher...
The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C. The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C., (large image) The Supreme Court of the United States, located in Washington, D.C., is the highest court (see supreme court) in the United States; that is, it has ultimate judicial authority within the United States...
It has been suggested that Mandate (law) be merged into this article or section. ...
In law, void means of no legal effect. ...
This article or section should include material from Tenancy agreement A lease is a contract conveying from one person (the lessor) to another person (the lessee) the right to use and control some article of property for a specified period of time (the term), without conveying ownership, in exchange for...
Wholesaling consists of the sale of goods/merchandise to retailers, to industrial, commercial, institutional, or other professional business users or to other wholesalers and related subordinated services. ...
Recent developments with CLECs involve primarily AT&T's Advanced Solutions Inc (ASI), This company acts as a CLEC in competition with others such as Frontier, Covad, etc, but is given preferential treatment by AT&T. Collocation space within a CO is either Virtual or Physical. Physical Collo spaces are separately caged spaces that are physically separate of AT&T's equipment and these spaces are reserved for CLECs like Covad and Frontier. Virtual Collo spaces are incorporated within the floorspace of existing AT&T equipment and are only usable by ASI. AT&T's policy regarding Physical and Virtual collocation is to slowly phase out Physical while filling up the Virtual space with their own equipment (ASI's) in the process. ASI is but a loophole in the Anti-trust lawsuit of 1984 that required the split of AT&T into smaller companies and required CLECs to provide all local communications, while AT&T retained the rights to long-distance. ASI was created in order to preserve AT&T's involvement in the local market.
See also
In general, liberalization refers to a relaxation of previous government restrictions, usually in areas of social or economic policy. ...
An oligopoly is a market form in which a market or industry is dominated by a small number of sellers (oligopolists). ...
Deregulation is the process by which governments remove, reduce, or simplify restrictions on business and individuals in order to (in theory) encourage the efficient operation of markets. ...
Map of the original and current companies. ...
Local loop unbundling (LLU) is the process of allowing telecommunications operators to use the twisted-pair telephone connections from the telephone exchanges central office to the customer premises. ...
External links - FCC Carrier Search -- select "CAP/CLEC" under Principal Communications Type for a complete list of CLECs
References - ^ http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia/defineterm.jhtml?term=DLEC definition from TechWeb
- ^ Nat'l Ass'n of Reg. Utility v. U.S. Telecom Assn., Oct. 12, 2004.
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