NEWS                                         February 11, 1997

                        FCC RELEASES 1995 INTERNATIONAL TRAFFIC DATA

     The FCC has released a report prepared by the Common Carrier Bureau's Industry
Analysis Division entitled 1995 Section 43.61 International Telecommunications Data. 

     Traffic between the United States and other countries is reported on a country-by-country
basis for telephone, telegraph, telex and private line 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 1995 data by July 31, 1996, and revisions by
October 31.

     Starting with 1995 data, carriers were required to file facilities-resale traffic separately
from facilities-based traffic. According to reported data, only a very small percentage of
switched traffic was carried on facilities-resale circuits in 1995.  The report also shows that U.S.
carriers billed about $14.8 billion for international services in 1995, up about $2 billion from
1994.  In 1995, U.S. customers made about 2.9 billion  international telephone calls  and
received about 1.5 billion calls.  U.S. carriers billed about $528 million for private line services
as of year-end 1995.  

     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 a net payment to
foreign carriers.  The net amount was $4.9 billion in 1995, up from $4.3 billion in 1994.  U.S.
carriers retained about $9.9 billion of international revenues, up from $8.7 billion in 1994.    

          The report is available for reference in the Common Carrier Bureau Reference Room,
2000 M Street, N.W., Room 575.  Copies may be purchased by calling International
Transcription Services, Inc., (ITS) at (202)857-3800.  The report can be downloaded [BBS file
names: 4361A95.ZIP, 4361B95.ZIP, 4361C95.ZIP, 4361D95.ZIP and 4361E95.ZIP] from the
FCC-State Link internet site, which can be reached through a link from the Common Carrier
Bureau home page (http://www.fcc.gov/ccb/) on the World Wide Web.  The report can also be
downloaded from the FCC-State Link computer bulletin board system at (202) 418-0241.  

FCC
     
     For additional information, contact Linda Blake or Jim Lande of the Bureau's Industry
Analysis Division, (202) 418-0940.