FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                  NEWS MEDIA CONTACT:
December 3, 1999                             Mike Balmoris at (202) 418-0253


                            COMMON CARRIER ACTION                          

                                
                 COMMON CARRIER BUREAU RELEASES
          Statistics of Communications Common Carriers

     Washington, D.C. - Each year since 1939, the FCC has published Statistics of
Communications Common Carriers, the reference work widely used by academics, consultants,
and other researchers in the field of telecommunications.  This report includes a wealth of data on
telecommunications costs, revenues, prices, and usage.  

     The report is prepared and sent to publication as soon as possible after final international
traffic data are reported each year on October 31.   In order to expedite release of the
information, the FCC is making all of the data available electronically prior to the report's formal
publication. A further notice will be issued when printed versions can be purchased from the U.S.
Government Printing Office.

     The 340-page volume is divided into eight sections:  general information on industry
structure; financial and operating data relating to telephone carriers; data relating to the
COMSAT Corporation; data on international communications;  information on rates for long
distance telecommunications services; historical financial and operating data on the
communications industry; historical rate tables for AT&T, MCI WorldCom, and Sprint; and data
on industry trends.
 
     The full report is available for reference in the FCC's Reference Information Center, 
Courtyard Level, 445 12th Street S.W.  The publication can be downloaded  [File names:  981-
all.zip, 982-all.zip ... 988-all.zip]  from the FCC-State Link internet site at
http://www.fcc.gov/ccb/stats on the World Wide Web.  Copies of the tables also may be
purchased by calling International Transcription Services, Inc. (ITS) at (202) 857-3800.

                            - FCC -

Common Carrier Bureau contact: Industry Analysis Division at (202) 418-0940;  TTY (202) 418-
0484.