Okay, what is >>intra-LATA as well as inter-LATA
LATAs are Local Access Transport Areas, which are geographic regions that roughly correspond to telephone area code regions. In the telecommunications industry, long distance telephone calls between LATAs are known as "interLATA" calls, and local long distance calls sent and received within a single LATA are known as "intraLATA" calls. Utilities regulations allocate the privilege of providing local, intraLATA long distance, and interLATA long distance services among the telecommunications providers, and whether you are making a call inter- or intra-LATA will thus affect who carries your call, how much you are charged, and whether you need to dial the area code or any access number or not.
For a discussion of how LATAs affect direct dialing parity (not likely, but just in case you are interested...) see In re Complaint of MCI Telecommunications Corp, 240 Mich App 292; 612 NW2d 826 (2000).
