22 Dec 2003

The US telecoms regulator, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has released its latest report on telephone subscribership levels in the United States.

The report presents subscribership statistics based on the Current Population Survey (CPS) conducted by the Census Bureau in March 2003. Statistics from that survey estimated that 95.5% of all households in the United States had telephone service. The report also shows subscribership levels by state, income level, race, age, household size, and employment status.

The report says that by March 2003, the telephone subscribership penetration rate in the USA was 95.5%. It is up 0.2% from the last report, for November 2002.

The telephone penetration rate was 80.5% for households with annual incomes below US$5,000, while the rate for households with incomes over US$75,000 was 99.3%.

By state, the penetration rates ranged from a low of 90.5% in Alabama to a high of 98.5% in Maryland.

Households headed by whites had a penetration rate of 96.2%, while those headed by blacks had a rate of 91.0% and those headed by Hispanics had a rate of 92.3%.

By age, penetration rates ranged from 90.4% for households headed by a person under 25 to 97.3% for households headed by a person between 60 and 64.

Households with one person had a penetration rate of 92.6%, compared to a rate of 97.0% for households with four or five persons.

The penetration rate for unemployed adults was 92.5%, while the rate for employed adults was 96.7%.