CLEC line share grows to over 11%

Despite bankruptcies and a slow economy, competitive telecom providers continue to increase their market presence, according to the latest statistics released by the Federal Communications Commission (download the report - 951k PDF file).

CLEC access lines grew 10% in the first half of 2002, from 19.7 million to 21.6 million.

As of June 30, CLECs provided about 11.4% of the 189 million total switched access lines in the U.S.

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Despite bankruptcies and a slow economy, competitive telecom providers continue to increase their market presence, according to the latest statistics released by the Federal Communications Commission (download the report - 951k PDF file).

CLEC access lines grew 10% in the first half of 2002, from 19.7 million to 21.6 million.

As of June 30, CLECs provided about 11.4% of the 189 million total switched access lines in the U.S.

Slightly more than half of the CLEC lines serve residential and small business customers, compared to more than 75% of the ILEC lines.

According to the statistics, CLECs are relying heavily upon unbundled network elements to provide services to end users.

Only 21% of the CLEC lines were resold from other carriers, while 50% of the lines relied on the purchase of UNEs from the incumbent carriers. The remaining 29% of the lines were carried over the CLECs’ own facilities.

UNEs have grown sharply since December 1999, when only 24% of the overall CLEC lines relied upon UNEs.

The FCC gathers information on the CLEC market twice a year.