The decline in new home construction and sales of new and existing homes, combined with the recent mortgage crisis, was perceived to be capable of dealing a blow to telcos' bottom lines.
I've been skeptical how much of an impact there would be since, though fewer new home buyers were requiring service, telcos also weren't losing as many customers as they normally would from out-of-region moves. In addition, money was being saved from truck rolls that didn't need to happen to install new service.
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The Kansas City Star has the story