April 30, 2014
Released April 30, 2014
An updated USTelecom analysis of residential voice competition data reaffirms previous research showing that an overwhelming majority of consumers are dropping traditional switched telephone landlines from incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) in favor of modern mobile and Internet Protocol (IP) options. This analysis provides historical estimates and straight line projections through 2015 for both household-level voice service and total voice connections. By the end of 2012, U.S. households using wireless-only phone service had surpassed households using traditional ILEC switched landlines. By the end of 2013, an estimated 42 percent of households were wireless only while 30 percent were using non-switched services and less than 28 percent were using traditional landlines (see Chart 1). Based on current trends, wireless only households will be approaching 50 percent over the next couple of years and traditional landlines will fall below 20 percent of households. Based on trends, from 2000 to 2015 ILECs will have lost a projected 70 percent of switched access lines and 79 percent of switched retail residential access lines (see Chart 2) due to facilities-based competition from wireless and cable.