Usually one telephone company

Telephone company

A telephone company is a service provider of telecommunications services such as telephony and data communications access. Many were at one time nationalized or state-regulated monopolies...

, known as the wireline incumbent, owns the telephone line

Telephone line

A telephone line or telephone circuit is a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system...

s in a particular location. Incumbents have structural advantages over challengers. In the case of Wireline Incumbent Carriers, this segment captured 52 percent, or $20.9 billion, of total communications service revenues in 2004. Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier

Incumbent local exchange carrier

An ILEC, short for incumbent local exchange carrier, is a local telephone company in the United States that was in existence at the time of the breakup of AT&T into the Regional Bell Operating Companies , also known as the "Baby Bells." The ILEC is the former Bell System or Independent Telephone...

s (ILECs) include Bell Canada

Bell Canada

Bell Canada is a major Canadian telecommunications company. Including its subsidiaries such as Bell Aliant, Northwestel, Télébec, and NorthernTel, it is the incumbent local exchange carrier for telephone and DSL Internet services in most of Canada east of Manitoba and in the northern territories,...

, Telus

TELUS

Telus is a national telecommunications company in Canada that provides a wide range of telecommunications products and services including internet access, voice, entertainment, video, and satellite television. The company is based in Burnaby, British Columbia, part of Greater Vancouver...

, Aliant

Aliant

Bell Aliant Inc. is a communications company providing services in various areas throughout eastern Canada, as Bell Aliant throughout Atlantic Canada, and under the NorthernTel, and Télébec brands in rural areas of Ontario and Quebec....

, MTS, and SaskTel

SaskTel

Saskatchewan Telecommunications is a provincial Crown Corporation operating under the authority of the Saskatchewan Telecommunications Act. It is the only remaining Crown Corporation in the Canadian telecommunications industry....

. This segment also comprises 40 independent telephone companies

Independent telephone company

An Independent telephone company in the United States was a telephone company providing local service that was not part of the Bell System group of companies, "Ma Bell", before the 1984 Bell System divestiture or breakup of the Bell system...

 operating in Quebec, Ontario, and Prince Rupert, British Columbia.

This data was taken from the Statistics Canada

Statistics Canada

Statistics Canada is the Canadian federal government agency commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. Its headquarters is in Ottawa....

 publication on telecommunications service providers, Survey of Telecommunications Service Providers, and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) publication on broadcast distribution, Broadcast Distribution – Statistical and Financial Summaries, augmented by data found on specific company Web sites.

Verizon Communications

Verizon Communications

Verizon Communications Inc. is a global broadband and telecommunications company and a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average...

is the largest of thousands of wireline incumbents in the United States.