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 NEWS  News  media  Information  202  /  418-  0500  TTY  202  /  418-  2555  Fax-  On-  Demand  202  /  418-  2830  Internet:  http://  www.  fcc.  gov  ftp.  fcc.  gov  Federal  Communications  Commission  445  12  th  Street,  S.  W.  Washington,  D.  C.  20554  This  is  an  unofficial  announcement  of  Commission  action.  Release  of  the  full  text  of  a  Commission  order  constitutes  official  action.  See  MCI  v.  FCC.  515  F  2d  385  (D.  C.  Circ  1974). 
 FOR  IMMEDIATE  RELEASE  NEWS  MEDIA  CONTACT:  February  9,  2000  Mike  Balmoris  at  (202)  418-  0253 
 Email:  mbalmori@  fcc.  gov 
 COMMON  CARRIER  ACTION 
 JOINT  BOARD  STAFF  RELEASES  COMPREHENSIVE  MONITORING  REPORT  ON  UNIVERSAL  SERVICE 


 Washington,  D.  C.  --  The  staff  of  the  Federal-  State  Joint  Board  on  universal  service  has  released  its  most  recent  Monitoring  Report  on  Universal  Service.  This  report 
 reflects  information  on  the  telephone  industry  filed  with  the  FCC  through  December  1999. 


 The  Report  released  today  presents  current  data  in  each  of  the  eleven  subject  categories  selected  for  monitoring:  1)  industry  revenues  and  contributions;  2)  low 
 income  support;  3)  high  cost  support;  4)  schools  and  libraries  support;  5)  rural  health  care  support;  6)  subscribership  and  penetration;  7)  rates  and  price  indexes;  8)  network 
 usage  and  growth;  9)  quality  of  service;  10)  infrastructure;  and  11)  revenues,  expenses  and  investment. 


 A  monitoring  program  was  established  in  the  mid-  1980's,  at  the  recommendation  of  the  separations  Joint  Board,  to  track  trends  related  to  universal  service  and  related 
 matters.  Since  then  the  Joint  Board  staff  has  prepared  Monitoring  Reports  at  least  once  a  year--  a  compendium  of  hundreds  of  pages  of  statistical  data  on  subscribership  and 
 penetration,  loop  costs,  separations  factors,  universal  service  fund  payments,  etc.  In  1998  the  publication  of  this  report  was  changed  from  the  separations  Joint  Board  staff  to  the 
 universal  service  Joint  Board  staff,  and  the  frequency  was  increased  to  twice  a  year.  This  is  the  third  Monitoring  Report  from  the  universal  service  Joint  Board  staff. 


 The  Monitoring  Report  is  unique  in  that  it  is  the  only  document  that  includes  information  on  every  local  telephone  company  in  the  nation.  The  FCC  has  not  imposed 
 any  new  reporting  burdens  on  any  company  to  generate  the  information.  Instead  it  uses  data  which  the  National  Exchange  Carrier  Association  collects  for  its  own  needs,  data 
 from  the  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics  and  other  organizations,  and  publicly  available  ARMIS  submissions.  Another  characteristic  of  the  monitoring  reports  is  that  they  are 
 staff  reports.  They  are  not  intended  to  be  policy  documents  and  contain  only  enough  text  to  describe  the  tables. 
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 A  copy  of  the  Report  is  available  for  inspection  in  the  FCC's  Reference  Information  Center,  Courtyard  Level,  445  12th  Street,  SW.  The  Report  can  be 
 downloaded  by  section  from  the  FCC-  State  Link  internet  site,  which  can  be  reached  at  http://  www.  fcc.  gov/  ccb/  stats  on  the  World  Wide  Web.  Names  for  print  image  files: 
 mrd99-  0.  pdf,  mrd99-  1.  pdf,  ...,  mrd99-  11.  pdf  for  the  introduction  and  each  section  separately.  Names  for  condensed  files  in  word  processor  (Word  97)  and  spreadsheet 
 (Lotus  123  .wk4  or  Excel  97)  formats:  mrd99-  0.  zip,  mrd99-  1.  zip,  ...,  mrd99-  11.  zip. 
 Copies  of  the  Report  are  available  for  purchase  from  the  Commission's  duplicating  contractor,  International  Transcription  Service,  Inc.  (ITS)  at  (202)  857-  3800. 


 -FCC- 
 Common  Carrier  contact:  Alexander  Belinfante  at  (202)  418-  0944;  TTY  (202)  418-  0484. 
 CC  Docket  No.  98-  202 
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