Econ Focus

Winter 2003

Beyond the Turmoil

After a period of rapid and uneven growth, the telecommunications industry in the Fifth District is in the midst of a painful reorganization as service providers rethink how to meet customer demand.
By Charles Gerena

Scarce Competition in Short Haul

Despite the best efforts of federal regulators to encourage competition in local markets, there are still a lot of places in the Fifth District where only a handful of competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) offer telecommunications services. Most of West Virginia isn't served by any CLECs at all, while more than half of the zip codes in the District of Columbia have more than four CLECs.

Percentage of Zip Codes With a Specific Number of CLECs

	0 CLECs	1-3 CLECs	4+ CLECs
District of Columbia	19	30	52
Maryland	4	60	36
North Carolina	13	53	35
South Carolina	43	37	20
Virginia	54	30	16
West Virginia	99	1	0
U.S. AVERAGE	40	34	25
Note: Rows may not add to 100 percent due to rounding Source: Local Telephone Competition: Status as of June 30, 2001, Federal Communications Commission

Tim Sablik