Local Access and Transport Area (LATA) 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.
