A dataset of units sold, rates, and revenues from 1992 to 2009 for BellSouth’s interstate communication services is now available. BellSouth, now part of the new AT&T, developed as a regional Bell (Telephone) Operating Company (RBOC) serving customers in nine states in the U.S. Southeast. This dataset has been compiled from price-cap tariff data publicly filed at the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC). It is intended to foster better understanding of communications industry developments, keener appreciation for the realities of economic regulation, and more informed public policy deliberation.
The dataset distinguishes some types of special access and trunking revenue by state. From tariff filing years 2000 to 2003, the state distribution of revenue for these services shifts away from states that accounted for a larger share of BellSouth’s revenue (Florida and Georgia) and toward states that accounted for smaller shares (Alabama and South Carolina). This shift in the distribution of special access and trunking price-cap revenue is associated with FCC grants of BellSouth petitions to remove services from price cap regulation (pricing flexibility petitions).[*]
The number of BellSouth rates under price cap regulation increased greatly from 1992 to 2009. The number of filed rates increased from 1,168 in filing year 1992 to 37,059 in 2007, and then fell to 21,223. The share of non-zero-revenue rate elements declined from 55% in 1992 t0 12% in 2009. The net effect was that the number of filed rates associated with non-zero revenue fell from filing year 2000 to filing year 2009. The broad pattern is similar to that for Bell Atlantic price-cap rate counts. Identifying significant rates is important for efficient use of regulatory effort.
Looking at rates by descending order of associated revenue provides one view of economically significant rates. Comparing the top-100 BellSouth special access and trunking rate elements in filing years 1999 and 2009 indicates considerable service revenue inertia. The leading rate element in 2009 was a DS1 local channel termination. A DS1 local channel provides 1.5 Mbits/s symmetric service. It generated about $43 million for BellSouth in demand-year-2008 revenue. That’s a lot of revenue for an old service which, by current standards, provides rather meager bandwidth.
Customer demands for rapid service installation apparently have increased. In the 1999 filing, $3.2 million in revenue was associated with a rate element specifying a special access service order interval of less than 4 days. In the 2009 filing, a special access (SPA) service date advancement generated $13 million in revenue. Customers seeking rapid order fulfillment pay millions to get it.
In the 2009 filing, a “Data-Universal” rate element is associated with $35 million in revenue. This rate element has been included in filings since 1999, but prior to the 2009 filing, negligible revenue was associated with it. The nature of the “Data-Universal” element isn’t clear. However, innovation is vitally important to the future of telephone companies. Generating $35 million in revenue in 2009 for the “Data-universal” rate element may be an indication of BellSouth innovating.
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Here’s the BellSouth rate-detail dataset.
Spreadsheet data discussed above:
- comparison of rate detail data with TRP data (Excel version)
- distribution of state-specified special access and trunking revenue (Excel version)
- Top 100 special access and trunking rate elements in 1999 and 2009 (Excel version)
Note:
[*] An FCC order adopted on Aug. 5, 1999, set out a procedure (“pricing flexibility” petitions) for removing rate elements from existing price-cap regulation. On Dec. 15, 2000, the FCC’s Common Carrier Bureau granted a BellSouth petition for pricing flexibility. The order granting that petition apparently isn’t online, but an affirming review of that order, which includes a list of the metropolitican statistical areas (MSAs) to which it applies, is online. Here’s a better formated version of the MSA list. On Nov. 22, 2002, the Bureau adopted an order granting another BellSouth petition for pricing flexibility. On May 16,2008, the Bureau granted a third BellSouth petition for pricing flexibility.