Charges imposed by the local exchange carrier (LEC) to compensate it for the cost of providing equal access capabilities, which enable a subscriber to access any competing interexchange carrier (IXC) with equal ease to place a long distance call. Although the structure of access charges varies from country to country, all include some combination of a Subscriber Line Charge (SLC) and Carrier Access Charge (CAC). In the United States, the LEC bills the monthly SLC to the subscriber. The LEC also bills the IXC for the CAC. See also CAC, equal access, EUCL, and SLC.