The decisions by AT&T and MCI earlier this year to halt the marketing of local service to new customers was certain to have an impact on the growth of UNE-P access lines. The following data are taken from the quarterly earnings reports of the RBOCs:

BellSouth: Third quarter UNE-P residence lines totaled 2,082,000, up 35.7% from the third quarter of 2003. However, this reflects a decrease of 3.1% from 2,149,000 lines in the second quarter of 2004.

Verizon: "Resale and Unbundled Network Element-Platform (UNE-P) lines totaled 6.7 million at the end of the third quarter 2004, up from 5.4 million at the end of the third quarter 2003. For UNE-P only, this is a 105,000 increase from the end of the second quarter 2004, which is significantly less than in prior quarters this year."

SBC: "In a reversal of trends over the past three years, SBC posted a 213,000-line decline in wholesale lines (UNE-P and resale) during the quarter. This compares with increases of 323,000 a year ago third quarter and 137,000 in the second quarter of this year."

Qwest: "The company posted a significant improvement in wholesale line trends in the quarter. Total UNE-P lines increased by only 8,000 - a significant improvement from an increase of 125,000 in the second quarter and 138,000 in the third quarter of 2003."