*Pages 1--2 from Microsoft Word - 6324.doc* 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: January 24, 2001 Mike Balmoris at (202) 418- 0253 Email: mbalmori@ fcc. gov FCC Releases Study on the Long Distance Telecommunications Industry Washington, D. C. – Today, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a new report, Statistics of the Long Distance Telecommunications Industry. The report replaces a previous report, Long Distance Market Shares, which was last published in March 1999. The new report covers several of the subjects in the previous report as well as consolidates a variety of statistics on the long distance market. The report is divided into two sections. The first section contains information that describes the total long distance market, such as revenues, market shares, number of companies, and international calling volumes. The second section shows data on residential long distance calling, focusing on usage patterns, market shares, prices, and expenditures. Highlights from the report are shown below: ƒ In 1999, the long distance market had more than $108 billion in revenues, compared to $105 billion in 1998. In 1999, long distance carriers accounted for over $99 billion and local telephone companies accounted for the remaining $9 billion. ƒ Interstate long distance revenues increased by 12.8% in 1999 compared to 1.5% the year before. ƒ Since 1984, international revenues have grown more than 5 fold from less than $4 billion in 1984 to over $20 billion in 1999. The number of calls has increased from about half a billion in 1984 to almost 8 billion in 1999. ƒ In 1984, AT& T’s market share was about 90% of the toll revenues reported by long distance carriers. By 1999, AT& T’s market share had declined to about 40%, WorldCom’s share was 25%, Sprint’s was 10% and more than 700 other long distance carriers had the remaining quarter of the market. ƒ According to a sampling of residential telephone bills, in 1999 the average household spent $64 monthly on telecommunications. Of this, $21 were for services provided by long distance carriers, $34 for services by local exchange carriers and the remainder for services by wireless carriers. 1 ƒ According to the same sampling of residential telephone bills, 38% of toll calls in 1999 were interstate and accounted for 50% of toll minutes. Also, 33% of residential long distance minutes were on weekdays, 30% on weekday evenings and 37% on weekends. This report is available for reference in the FCC's Reference Information Center, Courtyard Level, 445 12th, S. W. Copies may be purchased by calling International Transcription Services, Inc. (ITS) at (202) 857- 3800. The report can be downloaded [file names: LDRPT101. ZIP, LDRPT101. PDF] from the FCC- State Link Internet site at . -- FCC -- For further information, contact the Industry Analysis Division, Common Carrier Bureau, at (202) 418- 0940, or for users of TTY equipment, call 202- 418- 0484. News about the Federal Communications Commission can also be found on the Commission’s web site www. fcc. gov. 2