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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: 
 August  20,  2001  Mike  Balmoris  at  (202)  418-  0253 
 E-  mail:  mbalmori@  fcc.  gov 


 FCC  Releases  Study  on  Telephone  Trends 
 Washington,  D.  C.  –  Today,  the  Federal  Communications  Commission  (FCC)  released  it  s 
 bi-  annual  report,  Trends  in  Telephone  Service.  The  report  provides  answers  to  some  of  the  most 
 frequently  asked  questions  about  the  telephone  industry  asked  by  consumers,  members  of 
 Congress,  other  government  agencies,  telecommunications  carriers,  and  members  of  the  business 
 and  academic  communities. 


 The  report  includes  a  new  table  (10.12),  Bell  Operating  Company  (BOC)  Applications  to 
 Provide  In-  region  InterLATA  Service,  which  summarizes,  to  date,  BOC  Section  271  long  distance 
 applications. 


 Highlights  from  sections  in  the  report  on  advanced  telecommunications  services,  local 
 telephone  competition,  telephone  rates,  subscribership,  and  toll-  free  numbers  are  shown  below: 


 Advanced  Telecommunications  Services  x  High-  speed  lines  (over  200  kbps  in  at  least  one  direction)  connecting  homes  and  businesses  to 
 the  Internet  increased  by  63%  during  the  second  half  of  2000,  to  a  total  of  7.  1  million  lines  (or 
 wireless  channels)  in  service  at  the  end  of  2000  from  4.4  million  in  June  2000.  The  rate  of 
 growth  for  the  full  year  was  158%. 


 x  Of  the  total  7.1  million  high-  speed  lines,  5.2  million  were  residential  and  small  business 
 subscribers. 


 x  About  4.3  million  of  the  7.1  million  high-  speed  lines  provided  services  at  speeds  of  over  200 
 kbps  in  both  directions,  and  thus  met  the  Commission’s  definition  of  advanced  services,  an 
 increase  of  51%  during  the  last  six  months  of  the  year  2000.  The  rate  of  growth  for  the  full 
 year  was  118%. 


 Local  Telephone  Competition  x  As  of  December  2000,  Competitive  Local  Exchange  Carriers  (CLECs)  provided  16.4  million 
 (or  8.  5%)  of  the  approximately  194  million  nationwide  local  telephone  lines  that  were  in 
 service  to  end  users  as  opposed  to  8.3  million  (or  4.4%)  of  nationwide  local  telephone  lines  at 
 the  end  of  1999.  This  represents  a  97%  growth  in  CLEC  market  size  during  year  2000. 
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 x  About  one-  third  of  CLEC  end-  user  lines  are  served  over  “local  loop”  facilities  that  the  CLECs 
 own. 


 x  Incumbent  Local  Exchange  Carriers  (ILECs)  reported  providing  other  carriers  about  6.8 
 million  lines  on  a  resale  basis  at  year-  end  2000,  compared  to  about  5.7  million  lines  six  months 
 earlier,  and  they  provided  about  5.  3  million  unbundled  network  element  (UNE)  loops  at  the 
 end  of  the  year  2000,  an  increase  of  62%  during  the  six  months. 


 Telephone  Rates  x  Local  phone  rates  have  remained  steady  during  the  last  decade.  The  average  monthly  local 
 residential  charge  for  service  was  $20.  78  in  October  2000  as  compared  to  $19.  24  in  1990. 
 x  For  a  business  with  a  single  phone  line,  the  representative  charge  for  service  was  $41.  80  in 
 October  2000  as  compared  to  $41.21  in  1990. 


 Subscribership  x  Twenty  million  households  have  been  added  to  the  nation's  telephone  system  since  November 
 1983.  As  of  November  2000,  100.2  million  households  had  telephone  service. 
 Toll-  Free  Numbers  x  There  are  currently  four  toll-  free  prefixes  in  use  -  800,  888,  877,  and  866  -  with  almost  24.  5 
 million  toll-  free  numbers  assigned  as  of  the  end  of  July  2001. 
 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:  TREND101.ZIP, 
 TREND101.  PDF]  from  the  FCC-  State  Link  Internet  site  at  <www.  fcc.  gov/  ccb/  stats>. 


 --  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. 
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