What is an ILEC in VoIP?

ILEC stands for Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier. An ILEC is a company that provided LEC services before the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 targeted the Bell Corporation and broke it up into smaller companies.

These companies still own the majority of buried and aerial phone lines. They are forced to allow CLECs to use them to promote competition and break up monopolies.