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Many services running on modern digital telecommunications networks require accurate synchronization for correct operation. For example, if telephone exchanges are not synchronized, then bit slips will occur and degrade performance. Telecommunication networks rely on the use of highly accurate primary reference clocks which are distributed network-wide using synchronization links and synchronization supply units.
Ideally, clocks in a telecommunications network are synchronous, controlled to run at identical rates, or at the same mean rate with a fixed relative phase displacement, within a specified limited range. However, they may be mesochronous in practice. In common usage, mesochronous networks are often described as synchronous.