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Competitive Local Exchange Carriers CLECs |
| Navigation Links: -Notes |
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 imposed new obligations on incumbent local telephone companies to force them to open their networks to competition. The Act envisaged 3 forms of CLEC entry:
- Full facilities-based entry
- Purchasing access to network elements (UNEs), and
- Resale of the incumbent's retail telephone services.
In order to promote competition in the local network, the following obligations were imposed on carriers:
Interconnection
Sec. 251(a) |
Resale, Number Portability, Dialing Parity, Access to ROW, Reciprocal Compensation Sec. 251(b) |
Good faith Negotiations, Interconnection, UNEs, Resale, Notice of Changes, Collocation, Sec. 251(c) |
Entrance into IXC Sec. 271 |
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LECs |
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Carriers |
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"Any entity may become a carrier" The term "any entity" was litigated with regard to municipalities and it was determined that municipalities did not fall under this "any entity" provision.
The market followed the historical pattern of high burst of competition and then market consolidation.
