These range from the Baby Bells to small Internet service providers. PSINet is now the largest independent ISP, the others having been grabbed in corporate acquisitions. An additional 2,400 miles were completed between other major cities. The total network is now some 18,000 miles and still growing. With this backbone IXC is an efficient competitor in its two main areas of business, private lines and long distance switched services.
Private lines consist mainly of capacity leased to other carriers.
Switched services are regular long distance circuits that can be used by customers, including long distance resellers. IXC is ahead of most of its independent competitors in technology, such as the number and capacity of its switches. But these newcomers have a semi-permanent advantage in that their networks are much newer and hence have lower costs and higher capacity. There was also a joint venture with UniDial, another major long distance reseller. However, the bottom line improved much more than expected, despite higher overhead due to expansion.