Common carrier

A common carrier is a business that provides transporation of persons or goods over a definite route according to a regular schedule, making its services available to all who choose to employ them.

The term has also come to be used to refer to a telecommunications company that holds itself out to the public for hire to provide communications transmission services. Similarly it is used in relation to power supplies: a common carrier company provides the final transmission link to consumers' homes or businesses, but consumers can buy their gas or electricity from any of a number of supplier companies, all of whom feed power into the common transmission line (see electricity retailing).