Importance

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Abstract

The herein disclosed auction service stimulates competition between service providers to carry 800 Customers' traffic and facilitates the 800 Customer's ability to make economic choices between telecommunication carriers. In this method and system, telecommunication switches route toll-free calls (e.g., calls dialed using an NPA of 800 or 888 in the United States and, typically, paid for by the called party, the 800 Customer) in accordance with economic incentives (e.g., least cost routing) resulting from an auction process between participating telecommunication carriers ('Carriers'), administered by a bidding service provider through operation of a central processor, a computer referred to as a bidding moderator (the 'Moderator'). The Moderator provides each Carrier with bid information from other Carriers for at least a portion of all point-to-point routes for which any Carrier has submitted a bid. The Carriers receiving the information will have the opportunity thereafter to submit a lower or higher bid for any point-to-point routes on which they wish, respectively, to stimulate or discourage additional traffic.

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First Claim