The National Exchange Carrier Association is a not-for-profit association created in 1984 by telecommunications companies to administer the fees that long distance companies pay to access local telephone

Local telephone service

Local telephone service is the provision of telecommunications networks and services within a limited geographic region.Traditionally, local telephone service was provided by small companies based in given cities and towns as opposed to larger, national or international companies...

 networks. After the Telecommunication Act of 1996, NECA became indirectly responsible for the Universal Service Fund

Universal Service Fund

The Universal Service Fund was created by the United States Federal Communications Commission in 1997 to meet Congressional universal service goals as mandated by the Telecommunications Act of 1996...

 (USF) programs through its subsidiary corporation the Universal Service Administrative Company

Universal Service Administrative Company

The Universal Service Administrative Company is an independent American nonprofit corporation designated as the administrator of the federal Universal Service Fund by the Federal Communications Commission. USAC is a subsidiary of the National Exchange Carrier Association...

. It also manages the national Telecommunications Relay Service

Telecommunications Relay Service

Telecommunications Relay Service, also known as TRS, Relay Service, or IP-Relay, or Web-based relay services, is an operator service that allows people who are Deaf, Hard-of-Hearing, Speech-Disabled, or DeafBlind to place calls to standard telephone users via a keyboard or assistive device...

(TRS) fund, which, though considerably smaller than the USF, is also sustained through long-distance telephone service carrier revenues.