FCC says there's 21 million VoIP lines out there

The FCC's Local Telephone Competition report has announced some big news for the VoIP industry. IP communications is on the rise with 21 million end-users taking advantage of VoIP subscriptions from cable, traditional telcos or VoIP providers.

The report noted that there were 162 million wireline retail local telephone service connections as of the end of 2008. Of that figure, 141 million were traditional switched access lines while 21 million were VoIP subscribers. With numbers like that it seems VoIP still has a long way to go before it replaces all the telephones in the U.S., but with the FCC's plans for the all-IP network, these numbers may be shifting more in the coming years. 

For more:
- see the FCC release here
- read FierceTelecom's take here

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