A geographic service area defined at the time of the breakup of Ma Bell. The geographically defined local access and transport areas in which LECs are authorized to provide local exchange services.
A defined region in which a telephone and long distance carrier operates. Important concept for those CHINs that depend upon phone lines. When creating communications networks, you try to avoid crossing boundaries of these, if possible, since costs escalate dramatically when there is a need to communicate over more than one LATA. Local Codes - A generic term for code values that are defined for a State or other local division or for a specific payer. Commonly used to describe HCPCS Level III Codes.
The area within which Local Exchange Carriers can provide end-user services.
Geographical area designated by the FCC for the provision and administration of telephone service to individual customers.
The US term LATA arose out of the post-divestiture fight between the local telephone companies and AT&T over who could carry which traffic as AT&T split itself up. Roughly, a LATA maybe geographically defined as larger than a local calling area and smaller than a whole state. However, this is not a hard and fast rule -- the state of Connecticut has one LATA, for instance. The importance of the LATA is that it defines the operational areas of the US telco until it is allowed to venture beyond that boundary per the US 1996 Telecommunications Act provisions for the release of the telcos into the long haul environment.
A service territory within which a Regional Bell Operating Company (RBOC) may provide local and long distance service. LATAs were created as a result of the court-ordered break-up of AT&T in 1984.
One of approximately 164 geographical areas within which local operating companies connect all local calls and route all long-distance calls to the customer's inter-exchange carrier.
Also known as the Regional Calling Area, the area within which certain calling features can be used, such as Caller ID, Caller ID With Name, Intelligent 800 Service and Dedicated 800 Service.
The geographical areas defining local telephone service. Any call within a LATA is handled by the local telephone company but calls between LATAs must be handled by long-distance companies, even if the same local telephone company provides service in both LATAs.
A region served by a local exchange carrier (LEC) that consists of one or more area codes.
