Bader’s Bits

Highlighting the tectonic shifts underway in the U.S. telecomm industry, the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) announced that U.S. Wireless Subscriber Level Reaches 194.5 Million in 2005 and are expected to Grow to 270 Million by 2009. Geez, according to census.gov, there’s only 298.476,130 folks in the U.S. at the moment. Sounds like market saturation is approaching, no?

On the flip side, the number of access lines in use continues its five year decline, as the cool kids eschew them, and the cablecos and VoIP provide other alternatives. Market research firm eMarketer reports another TIA statistic not included in their press release, that landlines fell to 172 million lines. They predict consumer VoIP usage to increase to over 30 million users by 2010.

These trends will wreak havoc on the telcos business models. There is still real competition in the wireless space, while the landline business is more of an oligopoly with the cablecos. That’s why they’re fighting so hard for regulatory advantage. But the writing’s on the wall. That’s why net neutrality and a healthy relatively deregulated VoIP market are so crucial to moving the nation’s telecommunications services forward.