Earlier this month, US Telecom released its report "Industry Metrics and Trends 2020: The Broadband Boom." Among the report's key projections for 2020:
- 84% of U.S. households (109 million) will subscribe to fixed broadband by the end of 2020;
- Wireless will account for 79% of voice connections, compared to 4% for traditional phone lines;
- 6% of U.S. households will use traditional phone lines, while 65% will be wireless-only and 29% will be Internet-based voice service, mostly from cable operators; and
- Traditional switched telephone subscriptions will be 24 million, down from 186 million in 2000.
US Telecom's report data and projections regarding the decline of switched access lines and the concomitant rise of wireless and VoIP service are particularly striking, yet not at all surprising in light of trends over the last several years.
A public policy implication of such dramatic declines in traditional voice services should be the elimination of the FCC's unbundling and resale regulations. The Commission has an ongoing proceeding in which it proposes to remove certain unbundling mandates. For more, see my February 13 Perspectives from FSF Scholars paper, "FCC Should Go Full Speed Ahead in Removing Unbundling Regulations."
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