The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has released a report on local telephone competition, reflecting data submitted by incumbent and competitive local exchange carriers through December 31, 2009.
Once again, the statistics in this report highlight the trend toward mobile phone subscribership and away from traditional wireline services, and the growing importance of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service.
Some specific highlights of the report include the following statistics:
- The total number of wireline local telephone service connections declined by 6% during 2009, from 162 million to 153 million.
- Interconnected VoIP service subscriptions increased by 22% during 2009, from 21 million to 26 million. During the same period, switch access line decreased by 10%, from 141 million to 127 million.
- 84% of interconnected VoIP subscribers received service through a broadband bundle in December 2009. 87% of these bundles were provide via cable modem, 13% via fiber connections, and less than 1% via fixed wireless or other connections.
- Of the 153 million total connections in service at the end of 2009, 45% were residential switched access lines, 38% were business switched access lines, 15% were residential interconnected VoIP subscriptions, and 2% were business interconnected VoIP subscriptions;
Read the complete text of the Commission’s Report on local telephone competition.
