FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
                  WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2003

Patricia Buscher                                                    CB03-12
Public Information Office
(301) 763-3030/457-3670 (fax)
(301) 457-1037 (TDD)
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              Wireless Tech Shows Stronger Growth;
           Information Business Revenues Up 3 Percent
                                
  While revenues for the nation's information firms increased marginally,
cellphone and wireless telecommunication revenues grew nearly one-third in
2001, the Commerce Department's Census Bureau reported today.

  Revenues of the nation's information firms increased 3 percent in 
2001 to $878 billion from $853 billion in 2000.

  Within the information-related industries, wireless telecommunications
revenues continued to show strong growth, increasing 29 percent to 
$83 billion in 2001, from $65 billion in 2000.

  Revenues for wired telecommunications firms $264 billion showed no
significant change from 2000 to 2001.

  Tables from 2001 Service Annual Survey Information Sector showed
revenues and expenses for information employer firms as follows:

  Information and data processing services

  -  Revenues from data-processing services increased 12 percent to 
     $47 billion.

  -  Revenues from online information services, led by Internet access 
     services at $16 billion, increased 8 percent to $29 billion.

  Publishing

  -  Publishing industry revenues remained unchanged between 2000 and 
     2001 at $233 billion; advertising revenue for newspapers was 
     $33 billion.

  -  Software publishers, at $91 billion, accounted for 39 percent of the 
     publishing industry's revenues and showed a growth of 3 percent.

  Cable networks and program distribution

  -  Revenues from cable and other program distribution was up 12 percent 
     to $53 billion. Expenses were $55 billion.

  -  Cable networks' revenues increased 5 percent to $22 billion. 
     Expenses were $16 billion.
  
  Radio and television broadcasting

  -  Radio and television broadcasting revenues decreased 11 percent to 
     $47 billion. Expenses were $39 billion. Sales of time by stations 
     totaled $29 billion and network-time sales amounted to $14 billion.

  Motion picture and sound recording

  -  Motion picture and video industries' revenues increased 3 percent to 
     $55 billion; revenues for the sound-recording industries decreased 
     5 percent to $12 billion.

  For the first time, the 2001 Service Annual Survey estimates for the
information sector use provisional North American Product Classification
System codes. Consequently, because of definitional differences, the
detailed product data for some information industries may not be
comparable to previously published estimates. Therefore, only 2001
detailed product estimates are shown.

  The data are subject to sampling variability and nonsampling error.
Sources of nonsampling error include errors of response, nonreporting and
coverage. Measures of sampling variability, presented as relative standard
errors, are shown in selected tables of the product.