May 26, 2000-- According to a study by TeleChoice, DSL lines in service in North America totaled 882,470 at the end of first quarter 2000. 

The study shows that the U.S. ILECs accounted for 74% of the total, followed by CLECs with 24% and IXCs with just under 2%. The IXC deployment figures include only facilities-based deployments and not resold DSL lines. Canada had 127,700 DSL lines in service. To gather this data, TeleChoice interviews each DSL facilities-based service provider on a quarterly basis.

TeleChoice says that these figures represent an impressive 50% overall increase in U.S. deployed lines over the end of year 1999 figures. Specifically, CLECs increased their installed base of DSL lines by 62% while ILECs increased their base by 46% and IXCs by 73%. In Canada, the installed base of DSL lines grew by 34%.

"Last year, the industry focused on DSL network buildout, with an emphasis on deploying DSLAMs in as many central offices as possible," says Pat Hurley, TeleChoice DSL analyst. "These figures show service providers beginning to reap the benefits of this investment as deployment in terms of lines in service begins to grow rapidly. DSL providers must now concentrate on ways to maintain this rapid deployment through streamlining and improving the provisioning process while developing value-added services, like Voice over DSL, to differentiate themselves from increasing competition both from within the DSL industry and from competing technologies like cable modems."

The complete statistics are available on TeleChoice's Web site at www.telechoice.com.