The FCC recently released their annual “Local Telephone Competition” report, which offers insight into the competition for local telephone service through 2006. The numbers weren’t terribly surprising. CLECs continue to lose market share for local loops, and as of December 2006, provided 17.1% of the 167.5 million local access loops in the U.S. That percentage is down from December 2005’s number of 17.9%. According to the FCC’s numbers, CLECs peaked with 19.1% of local access loops in June 2005. Of course local loops are declining in general, thanks primarily to wireless substitution. There were 175.1 million local loops in December 2005, compared to December 2006’s 167.5 million. RBOCs continued forbearance efforts, where they attempt to escape competitive mandates, aren’t helping either. CLECs highest penetration of local loops occurred in Rhode Island (46%) and lowest penetration occurred in New Mexico (8%). Even though it’s a year old, this FCC report provides a wealth of information about local telephone competition and includes extensive data about ILECs, CLECs, and wireless carriers.
