BOC

Webopedia Staff
Last Updated May 24, 2021 7:36 am
Short for Bell Operating Company, any of the 22 original operating companies and their successors that were divested from AT&T by court order in 1983 and given the right to provide local telephone service for a specific geographic area, also called ILECs. AT&T was forced to splinter in order to create competition in both the local and long distance service arenas.