About LATA's: Local Access and Transport Areas

Once upon a time, there was one big telephone company, American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), who ruled over all the land. Then along came the Modification of Final Judgment (MFJ), which caused the break up of AT&T into what was known as the "baby Bells." Under the terms of the MFJ, local access and transport areas (LATA), a term used in United States telecommunication regulation, represent geographical areas in which a particular Regional Bell operating company (RBOC) can offer exchange access services and telecommunications.

That's a fancy way of saying that the US Justice Department sued AT&T and then divided the spoils among several phone companies. Interestingly, since that time, in the 80's, both deregulation and several phone company mergers have created a situation where there are now only three main carriers, AT&T, Bell and Qwest.

Originally, the LATA boundary lines were drawn around specific markets and grouped into regions where each particular RBOC had permission to offer their services. These boundaries generally had no connection to state borders or area codes, and some LATAs cross both; a LATA may exist in multiple area codes, and vice versa. Generally, RBOCs have to stay in their own LATA, under the terms of the MFJ, however, as a result of the mergers, some LATA lines are now blurred.

Generally, LATAs in each of regions are assigned a three digit number, starting with the same digit associated with a particular area and carrier. For example, "1XX" (where X equals a number between 2 and 9) represents the New York and New England region under Verizon.

LATAs are one of the reasons why long distance phone service can be so confusing. Regulatory limitations that overlap each other, inter-business arrangement between companies, and different long distance services being offered by the various companies, all with different rates are just some of the issues that cross both state and LATA lines, creating a perplexing situation for most consumers. Add to that the complex legal and financial issues, the fact that most phone companies don't even try to explain their long distance rate plans, and how some local carriers have made up their own terms for LATA (such as "service area" or "regional calling area") and you can see why some customers end up very surprised when the bill arrives.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has attempted to resolve some of these issues by eliminating all the provincial LATAs in 2000, and there is now a single LATA for all of Canada.