DSL line growth exceeded cable modem growth for the first time in the Federal Communications Commission’s bi-annual report on high-speed service for Internet access, the federal agency reported today. In a separate report on local phone competition, the FCC saw a sharp rise in voice service provided over coaxial cable, however.

Despite the fact ADSL is available to only 78% of residents, compared to 92% who can get cable modem service, ADSL deployment grew by 3.2 million lines during the second half of 2005, or more than double the 1.6 million lines added by cable, the FCC reported. For all of 2005, ADSL grew by 5.7 million lines compared to 4.2 million new lines for cable modem service.

Major telephone companies have been aggressively promoting DSL by lowering prices and bundling services. Cable modem service is still predominant, with 57.5% of the market compared to DSL’s 40.8%. Cable has an even bigger edge in “advanced” services – those that are 200 kb/s or faster in both directions – outranking DSL by a 62.4% to 36.2% margin.

In a separate report on local telephone competition, the FCC said CLECs now claim 18% of the market, including a 3% market share for services provided over coaxial cable networks, such as the cable industry’s burgeoning VoIP services. There are now 143.8 million switched access lines on incumbent networks and 31.6 million switched access lines on CLEC networks. In addition, there were 203.7 million mobile telephony service subscriptions at the end of 2005.

The FCC said it estimates 98% of the country’s population has access to at least one competitive service provider. CLECs serve 13% of the residential market and 26% of the business market, the agency said.