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    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE            NEWS MEDIA CONTACT:
  January 31, 2000                      Mike Balmoris at (202) 418-0253
                                                                                Email: mbalmori@fcc.gov
                              
                   COMMON CARRIER ACTION
  
        FCC RELEASES 1998 INTERNATIONAL TRAFFIC DATA
  
       Washington, D.C. -- The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has released a
  report prepared by the Common Carrier Bureau's Industry Analysis Division entitled 1998
  Section 43.61 International Telecommunications Data.
   
       Traffic between the United States and other countries is reported on a country-by-
  country basis for international message telephone and private line services.  Starting with 1998
  traffic data, carriers were no longer required to file country-by-country data for international
  telex and telegraph services.  Although international traffic data is reported in great detail, it
  is not reported until after U.S. and foreign carriers can reconcile their books.  Carriers were
  required to file their 1998 data by July 31, 1999, and revisions by October 31, 1999.
  
       U.S. carriers reported that in 1998, they billed $14.4 billion for international telephone
  service, $9 billion for private line services and $1 billion for international telex, telegraph and
  other miscellaneous services.  U.S. carriers billed for 24.6 billion minutes of telephone service. 
  U.S. carriers handled 20.8 billion of these minutes through traditional settlement
  arrangements, 3.7 billion of these minutes through International Simple Resale (ISR/Hubbing)
  arrangements and 71 million of these minutes through alternative settlement arrangements.
  
       U.S. and foreign carriers compensate each other for completed calls.  Because U.S.
  customers place more calls than do foreign customers, U.S. carriers make net payments to
  foreign carriers.  The net amount was approximately $4.8 billion in 1998, down from $5.5
  billion in 1997.  U.S. carriers retained about $10.7 billion of international revenues, slightly
  down from $10.8 billion in 1997. 
  
       The report is available for reference in the FCC's Reference Information Center,
  Courtyard Level, 445 12th Street, SW, Washington, D.C. 20554.  Copies may be purchased
  by calling International Transcription Services, Inc. (ITS) at (202) 857-3800.  The report,
  including the spreadsheets containing the report's statistical tables and the figures, can be
  downloaded [file names: 4361-98.ZIP or 4361-98.PDF] from the FCC-State Link internet
  site at http://www.fcc.gov/ccb/stats  on the World Wide Web. 
  
                             -FCC-
  
  Common Carrier Bureau contacts: Linda Blake or Jim Lande at (202) 418-0940; TTY (202)
  418-0484.