alities of demand as for the dif- ferences. So what are these additional services? Many believe that the key to enhanced market success lies in a well-planned entry on the part of the ILECs into the video services market, offering content and interactive video-based services. This could also lead to enhanced success for broad- band wireless technologies such as the Local Multipoint Distribution Service (LMDS), WiMAX, and the Multipoint, Multichannel Distribution Service (MMDS). Some service providers are already looking at content delivery; consider, for example, Telus in western Canada. Telus was the first service provider in North America to deploy a regionwide IP back- bone, one of the first to offer IP-based voice services, and now offers Telus TV, which is the equivalent of cable content delivered over DSL. Indus- try analysts continue to examine the viability of ILEC/satellite provider alliances, which would give ILECs an enormous footprint for service delivery and potential access to far-ranging content, and the satellite company access to a large collection of potential subscribers. And while this combination may not be ideal, it is worth considering in the future. Consider SBC's recent interest in DirecTV. Today, 11 service providers control 85 percent of the global telecommunications marketplace, and ILECs are responsible for 85 percent of all equipment spending. So, they are without question a force to be reckoned with. ILEC Summary So, what are the primary challenges facing the ILECs? First, they are experiencing declining revenues brought on by wireless substitution, cable incursion and broadband IP voice in both the enterprise and end user sectors. Second, because of OPEX issues, they often lose money on DSL deployment. Third, their debt load is high. Finally, uncertainty asso- ciated with regulatory decisions leaves them with a number of unan- swered questions. Nevertheless, the market is currently theirs to lose because they do own the bulk of the customers. However, they must refo- cus their effo