FCC Internet Access and Telephone Competition Reports Released

The Federal Communications Commission released a couple of reports today titled Internet Access Services and Local Telephone Competition.  Both  reports are based on data submitted by carriers every six months on FCC Form 477. Each report tracks Internet service subscribers using 72 different speed teir combinations along with the number of wireline, mobile and interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone subscribers. These reports cover FCC data collected through June 30, 2010.

Highlights from the Internet Access Services report include the following:

• 60% of connections were slower than the benchmark 4 megabits per second (Mbps)
  download speed identified by the FCC as the minimum bandwidth generally required to
  accommodate today’s uses: high-quality voice, data, graphics, and video. 
• Growth of fixed broadband service appears to have flattened at 1% in the first half of 2010, to 82 million connections.

Highlights from the Local Telephone Competition report include the following:

• Interconnected VoIP grew by 21% between June 2009 and June 2010.
• Conventional switched access lines (i.e., traditional wireline telephone lines) decreased
  by 8% between June 2009 and June 2010.
• 28% of all residential wireline connections were interconnected VoIP as of June 2010.
• An estimated 77% of interconnected VoIP subscribers received service through a cable
  provider.
• The number of subscriptions to wireless phone service grew by 5% in the year.

 Both reports can be downloaded at www.fcc.gov/wcb/stats.

Last month, the FCC began to consider reforms to the Form 477 program, with concerns about the lag time time between data collection and reporting. As an example - we're just seeing reporting today on data that was collected the first six months of 2010.

You can comment on reforms here http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/, using WC Docket No. 11-10. Initial comments are due on or before March 30. Reply comments are due on or before April 14.