The FCC today released their latest statistics on both broadband (pdf press release, report pdf) and local phone (pdf press release, report pdf) services. According to the report, there are now 50.2 million broadband lines in service, a 33% increase over last year. FCC stats show DSL "won" the year in net additions for the first time ever, adding 5.7 million new subscribers to cable's 4.2 million. The FCC classifies broadband service lines as anything faster than 200kbps in at least one direction. A connection offering at least 200kbps in both directions is deemed an "advanced service line." "Of the 42.8 million advanced services lines reported as of December 31, 2005, 62.3% were at least 2.5 mbps in the faster direction and 37.7% were slower than 2.5 mbps in the faster direction," the agency reports. The low 200kbps water-mark has annoyed critics who suggest it should be raised to at least 1Mbps. The FCC's measure of geographical (particularly rural) coverage has also been a sore point. The.. (full story @ BBR)

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