Unbundled Access

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Unbundled access is required in the United States Telecommunications Act of 1996 that incumbent local exchange carriers (LEC) have to provide competing telecommunications carriers with access to individual elements of the LEC'sown network on an unbundled basis.

1 Introduction
2 Influence
3 See also
4 References

[edit] Introduction

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 provided three ways for companies to enter the new competitive telecommunications market: facilities systems, unbundled access, and resale networks. Unbundled access is defined as "The duty to provide, to any requesting telecommunications carrier for the provision of a telecommunications service, nondiscriminatory access to network elements on an unbundled basis at any technically feasible point on rates, terms, and conditions that are just, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory in accordance with the terms and conditions of the agreement and the requirements of this section and section 252. An incumbent local exchange carrier shall provide such unbundled network elements in a manner that allows requesting carriers to combine such elements in order to provide such telecommunications service.^[1]"

[edit] Influence

This option allows companies, such as cable television, wireless providers, and electric/gas utilities, who already have customers, installation and maintenance crews, and billing systems, to lease the network elements they are missing, such as a voice switches, or electronic ordering systems, to complete their local telephone system. The 1996 Act, thus mandates that the traditional vertical hierarchy of the telephone industry be divided into parts, known as Unbundled Network Elements(UNE), so that competitive new entrants can choose what they need to provide competitive local telecommunications service^[2].

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ Telecommunications Act of 1996. FCC. FCC. Retrieved on 2007-02-24.
^ Sharon, Black (2001). Telecommunications Law in the Internet Age. Morgan Kaufmann. ISBN 1558605460.