October 26, 2000 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Producer prices for telephone communications continue to decline

In 1999, producer prices for telephone communications fell 3.0 percent, following a 1.7-percent drop in 1998.

[Chart data—TXT]

The price index for the telephone communications industry has decreased four years in a row—and in each successive year the price decline has been sharper.

Due to competition among long-distance carriers, prices for long-distance phone service ("public switched toll service") dropped by 5.8 percent in 1999. Not all of the industry's products experienced price decreases in 1999, though. Prices for local service (except private lines) increased slightly—by 0.2 percent.

These data are a product of the BLS Producer Price Index program. Prices in this article (1) are those received by producers in the industry providing telephone communications, except radiotelephone and (2) represent December-to-December changes. A separate price series for wireless communications began in June 1999 and is not included here. Learn more in "Rising producer prices in 1999 dominated by energy goods," by Eleni Xenofondos and William F. Snyders, Monthly Labor Review, August 2000.