Study: Independent telcos still heavily dependent on access revenues

Despite significant declines, many small independent telcos are still heavily dependent on access revenues, which they collect from other carriers for connecting calls to and from their customers. This was one of several key findings of a recent study of independent telcos conducted by the Telergee Alliance, a network of seven certified public accounting firms with telecom specialties. For calendar year 2008, the median percentage of total operating revenues comprised of interstate access revenues was 36.6% for the 196 respondents, while intrastate access comprised a median 11.1% of total operating revenues. These high values were particularly surprising, considering that interstate access revenues declined a median of 1.3% between 2007 and 2008, and that intrastate revenues declined a median of 7% during that period. The decline in access revenues was partially a result of fewer access minutes. Interstate access minutes declined a median of 7.7%, while intrastate access minutes declined a median of 10.8%, the study found.