SP Solutions Local Loop Bypass Application Note

Historically, incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) have always stood between competitive telecom service providers and their customers. The ILECs' ownership of the local loop has meant that other providers have had to 1) incur local carrier charges as part of all their service offerings and 2) depend on ILECs for a wide range of provisioning and operational needs. With the advent of VoIP technology, however, service providers can now bypass the PSTN local loop by having customers use their Internet data connections for last-mile transport of voice calls. This eliminates the utilization costs incurred when phone calls first travel over ILEC call-switching infrastructure and provides immediate accessibility to customers. By taking advantage of VoIP, service providers can quickly bring new voice services to market at extremely competitive price-points. They can completely eliminate the equipment co-location, service activation, and call accounting hassles that typically arise when dealing with ILECs.