U.S. Telcos Have Lost 62% of Voice Lines

From 2000 to year-end 2013, telcos will have lost nearly 62 percent of all traditional phone lines and 70 percent of traditional residential voice lines, USTelecom says.

For the twelve-month period from mid-2011 through mid-2012, residential and business consumers dropped 10.1 million ILEC switched voice lines, a twelve-month decline of 10.7 percent, according to Federal Communications Commission data..

From 2000 to mid-2012, the number of ILEC switched lines fell from 186 million to 84 million, or a decline of 55 percent. Straight-line trends suggest ILECs will have lost approximately 62 percent of these lines by the end of this year, according to the USTelecom.

Telco switched line losses have been greatest in the residential market, where the annual rate of decline from mid-2011 to mid-2012 was 13.6 percent, USTelecom says.

In 2000, some 120 million consumer voice lines were in service. As of mid-2012, there were approximately 45 million consumer telco lines being purchased, a decline of 63 percent.

And though it sometimes escapes attention, U.S. cable TV providers now have about 53 percent share of the video market.

Telcos will have lost around 70 percent of their former customers by the end of 2013, USTelecom notes, when about 25 percent of U.S. households will buy fixed network voice service from telcos.

Total Subscribers Reported (Millions)

Fixed Broadband	90.0
Wireline	38.4
Wireline NonFiber	32.1
Fiber to the Premises	6.3
Cable Modem	49.7
Satellite & Fixed Wireless	1.9
Mobile Broadband	153.4
Total Mobile + Fixed	243.4

Residential Subscribers Reported (Millions)

Fixed Broadband	82.2
Wireline	33.6
Wireline NonFiber	27.7
Fiber to the Premises	5.9
Cable Modem	47.0
Satellite & Fixed Wireless	1.6
Mobile Broadband	114.5
Total Mobile + Fixed	196.7