NEWS                               November 3, 1997         
                                   

COMMON CARRIER BUREAU RELEASES REPORT ON EQUAL ACCESS LINES AND
PRESUBSCRIBED LINES
              

     The Common Carrier Bureau has released a newly revised staff report entitled Distribution of
Equal Access Lines and Presubscribed Lines.  The report summarizes equal access conversion from
1984 until December 31, 1996.  In addition the report includes newly available data on presubscribed
lines from 1989 to 1996. 

     Equal access enables customers to place long distance calls with the interexchange carrier of their
choice without the need to first dial a special code by allowing customers to be automatically connected
to that carrier when they make a long distance call.  The customer is then said to be "presubscribed"
to the interexchange carrier selected.  In areas where equal access is not yet available, all lines are
presubscribed to AT&T.

     The report contains historical information on the number of lines converted to equal access since
1984.  There is also a table showing the number of equal access lines, the number of lines presubscribed
to the largest long distance carriers, and the number of long distance carriers for each study area as of
December 31, 1996.

     At the end of 1996, Bell Operating Companies had converted almost 100% of their lines to equal
access.  Other companies had converted 97.6% of their lines.  Overall, 99.4% of the nation's lines have
been converted to equal access.  In study areas that have completely implemented equal access, 98.8%
of the study areas had at least five long distance carriers providing service.

     The report is available for reference in the Common Carrier Bureau Public Reference Room,
2000 M Street NW, Room 575.  Copies may be purchased by calling International Transcription
Services, Inc. (ITS) at (202) 857-3800.  The report can be downloaded [file name EQACC-97.ZIP]
from the FCC-State Link internet site at http://www.fcc.gov/ccb/stats on the World Wide Web.  The
report can also be downloaded from the FCC-State Link computer bulletin board (202) 418-0241.

 - FCC -

     For additional information, contact James Eisner or Katie Rangos of the Common Carrier
Bureau's Industry Analysis Division, (202) 418-0940.