access line were $13.08, an amount only 50 cents higher than the average 6 years earlier. Even adding increases for access charges and taxes, the total average monthly cost of touch tone service increased only $2 between 1986 and 1992. According to a recent survey, average monthly household expenditures for telephone service totaled $55.10 in 1991, of which about one-half was for toll services and nearly 20 percent for discretionary services (such as touch tone calling, call waiting, directory listing charges, etc.), or additional local lines and cellular service. Business customers pay a significantly higher local rate than residential customers, about $42 in total monthly charges for a single telephone line, compared with an average rate for a home telephone line of less than $20. In the United States, 2.1 percent of annual household expenditures nationwide went for telephone service, but research has indicated there is a strong relationship between income and telephone expenditures. Many states have "lifeline" programs that help promote universal telephone service by subsidizing monthly service charges for the poor. Thus, basic local service is available to needy households for an average price of less than $11 per month. Data for 1997 show that 93.9 percent of U.S. households have telephone service. Since 1984, domestic interstate long distance charges have dropped 31 percent while the CPI for the same period rose 35 percent. The nine-year trend of overall declining prices for long distance service was halted in July 1993 when AT&T filed for overall long distance rate increases of 1.2 percent valued at nearly $500 million. MCI and Sprint also raised their prices slightly. Such small increases should not slow down the continuing 5 percent annual growth in residential toll traffic. Declining prices have also characterized international communications. U.S. billed revenue per minute was $1.34 in 1980, but only $...
