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LATA
Last modified: Tuesday, December 11, 2001
Local Access and Transport Area is a U.S. term that refers to a geographic region assigned to one or more telephone companies for providing communication services.
A connection between two telephone companies within the same region is referred to as intraLATA. A connection between two local exchange carriers in different regions is called interLATA, which is the same as long-distance service.
Provisions guiding the use of LATAs are outlined in the Telecommunications Act of 1996.