LANSING – Incumbent telecommunications providers have continued to experience a decrease in their traditional wireline customer lines, a trend that began in 2002, while competitive providers have experienced a small decrease in their overall lines after three years of increasing wirelines, according to a report released Monday by the Public Service Commission.

Competitive providers appear to be relying less on the incumbents’ network and more on provisioning their lines over their own networks, the report said. At the same time, alternative technologies, such as wireless and voice over Internet protocol, continue to add subscribers. The broadband market also continues to experience growth, especially in mobile wireless customers.

The 13th and final annual report on competition in telecommunications service in the state said there were more than 3 million total wirelines provided by incumbent local exchange carriers (ILEC) and competitive local exchange carriers (CLEC) in 2012, the two primary groups the report analyzes. Though that is down 266,000 from 2011 (reflecting a 6 percent trend that began in 2002), the rate of decrease was slightly lower than the average annual loss of lines over the past 14 years, the report said.

Specifically, the market share was divided among AT&T Michigan at 52 percent (a 2.4 percentage point decrease from 2011), CLECs at 33.2 percent, Frontier at 10.6 percent and ILECs at 4.2 percent. The rate of CLECs represents a new high for competitive wirelines in the state, the report said.

The percent of competitive lines served by competitive providers’ own facilities was 35.7 percent in 2012, the same as in 2011, the report said.

Though the commission does not regulate wireless providers, the Federal Communications Commission’s most recent report on the status of local telephone competition as of December 31, 2011, shows Michigan has continued to see an increasing number of wireless subscriptions, with a small decrease between June and December 2011. It is unknown if that decrease will continue in the short-term.

According to FCC data, there were approximately 9.25 million wireless telephone subscribers in Michigan as of December 31, 2011.

“Competition in the telecommunications market in Michigan continues to thrive, benefitting customers,” PSC Chair John Quackenbush said in a statement about the report. “In addition, competitive providers are continuing to invest in their own facilities, another positive economic sign.”

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