Report No. IN 96-26 December 31, 1996 INTERNATIONAL BUREAU RELEASES REPORT ON 1995 CIRCUIT STATUS FOR U.S. FACILITY-BASED INTERNATIONAL CARRIERS The International Bureau today released the 1995 year-end circuit status report. This report is the first summary report that contains data of U.S. international facility-based carriers' activated circuits at year-end. The circuit status report covers all international facilities (undersea cable, satellite, and terrestrial microwave link) and identifies the activated circuits for each international point as of December 31, 1995. The number of activated 64 Kbps equivalent circuits at year-end 1995 was 165,111. By service type, International Message Telephone Services (IMTS) accounted for almost 80% of the total circuits used; International Private Line Services accounted for 17%; and the remaining 3% of total circuits was used for video and other miscellaneous services. By transmission type, terrestrial links accounted for 47% of the total activated circuits; undersea cables 37%; and satellites 16%. The report lists the top 30 countries that account for 86% of the total activated circuits at year- end 1995. The report also notes that 43% of the total owned or leased circuits reported by international carriers was idle capacity at year-end 1995. The 1995 data is the first year that carriers were required to file data in an uniform format and were encouraged to submit the data in an electronic format. The report is available for reference in the International Bureau Reference Room, Room 102, 2000 M Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. Copies also may be obtained from the Commission's contractor for public service records duplication: ITS, Inc., 2100 M Street, N.W., Suite 140, Washington, D.C. 20037, (202) 857-3800. Inquires and submissions should be directed to Cathy Hsu, Telecommunications Division, International Bureau, at (202) 418-2114. -- FCC -- INTERNATIONAL BUREAU REPORT 1995 Section 43.82 Circuit Status Data December 1996 Cathy Hsu Telecommunications Division 1995 Section 43.82 Circuit Status Data Introduction This report contains information of U.S. international facility-based carriers' activated circuits at year- end 1995. It is the first summary report that compiles data from reports submitted to the Federal Communications Commission by U.S. carriers pursuant to Section 43.82 of the Commission's rules. Section 43.82 directs facilities-based carriers to file an international circuit status report by March 31, for circuits used to provide international services as of December 31 of the preceding year. The Office of Management and Budget has approved the collection of this information. The detailed filing requirements are set forth in the Manual for Filing Section 43.82 Circuit Status Data and can be found on the International Bureau's Web site at "http://www.fcc.gov/ib." The information is compiled in an aggregated form that will be useful to current industry members, potential new entrants, and the Commission. In addition, this annual circuit status report will serve as a database for determining and monitoring the payments the Commission is required to collect (i.e., annual regulatory fees on active equivalent 64 Kbps international circuits). Reporting Requirements All facility-based international common carriers are required to file circuit status information, both activated and idle capacity. All services are reported in 64 kbps equivalent circuits to meet the Commission's minimum accountable unit for fee collection requirement. In the Commission's manual on filing circuit status reports, we consider international facility-based circuits as "international circuits in which a carrier has an ownership interest which includes outright ownership, indefeasible right of use (IRU) interests, or leasehold interest in bare capacity in an international facility, regardless of whether the underlying facility is a common or non-common carrier submarine cable or an INTELSAT or other satellite system." This definition is consistent with the Commission's Order on Market Entry and Regulation of Foreign-affiliated Entities, 11 FCC Rcd 3873 (1995), recon. pending. The report includes circuits from U.S. domestic points to foreign points and also circuits from U.S. points to offshore U.S. points. U.S. domestic points are the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Foreign points include ships operating in international waters as well as foreign countries. Offshore U.S. points include U.S. possessions such as American Samoa, Guam, Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Midway Atoll, Navassa Island, the Northern Mariana Islands, Palmyra Atoll, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Wake Island. United States and foreign points are identified in the Common Carrier Bureau Industry Analysis Division report titled International Points used for FCC Reporting Purposes (International Points), released April 1, 1994. Carriers are required to file separate data for each U.S. point that they serve, Alaska and Hawaii are considered distinct U.S. points for this purpose. The International Points Report uses the following regional codes: Region Code Western Europe 1 Africa 2 Middle East 3 Caribbean 4 North and Central America 5 South America 6 Asia 7 Oceania 8 Eastern Europe 9 To capture all international points, this report uses an additional code 10 for International water area. The reporting services are: International Message Telephone Service (IMTS), International Private Line Service (IPLS), including video and non-video services, and Miscellaneous or Other International Services. Non-video services account for the majority of the traffic for IPLS. Therefore, in this report, IPLS refers only to non-video services. Video private line services are included in the Miscellaneous Services. Data Presentation Table 1 lists the carriers that filed circuit status reports. MCI and Sprint have requested confidentiality under the Freedom of Information Act. WorldCom, Inc. also requested confidential treatment of its report. These three carriers' reports are not available to the public. Table 2 presents the aggregated circuit status report at year-end 1995. The table lists cable, satellite, terrestrial, and combined medium for each of the major service categories, IMTS, Private Line (P.L.), Other, and Total, for each international points. The data are arranged country-by-country in each region. At the end of the table, a regional summary and each region's share of the U.S. international telecommunications facility market are also presented for quick reference. Finally, the transmission mix by total identifiable capacities and the service mix of each transmission medium are presented at the end of the table. Terrestrial links accounted for the largest share of the transmission capacity with 47%, undersea cables 37%, and satellites with the remaining 16%. IMTS accounted for approximately 80% of the international activated capacity in year-end 1995. Table 3 presents the aggregated activated and idle capacity for all carriers by each country route. It shown that approximately 43% of the total circuits reported by international carriers was idle capacity at the end of 1995. Table 4 lists top 30 international points that account for 86% of the total U.S. activated circuits at year-end 1995. Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, Japan, and Germany are the top five.