Arkansas Business discontinued its annual list of telecommunications companies after 2013 because reports filed with the Arkansas Public Service Commission only track regulated local exchange carriers and interexchange carriers — that is, old-fashioned providers of wireline phones and long-distance service — which don’t really reflect the telecom industry anymore.
But we did take a look at the most recent report the state’s largest telephone provider filed with the PSC a few weeks ago, and it’s fair to say that the number of traditional phone lines is still dropping like a rock.
Between the end of 2012 and the end of 2016, combined Arkansas-assessable revenue for AT&T Arkansas (also known as Southwestern Bell Telephone Co.) and AT&T Corp. dropped by a third — from $300.7 million to $200.2 million.
And the total number of phone lines dropped by virtually half just in those four years, to just under 222,000.
And now for a little historical context:
In 2005, a decade into the consumer cellphone era, AT&T had almost 800,000 lines in the state, and almost 500,000 of them were residential.
Here’s the company’s official statement:
“Declines in access lines reflect cord cutting combined with customers choosing Voice over IP and mobile products. Our Entertainment Group is focused on selling video and broadband, and we’re always happy to add voice if our customers want it, although our customers are increasingly less likely to prefer standalone landline phone service.”