By Haidee V. Eugenio
Variety Assistant Editor

THE number of telephone lines in the CNMI dropped by 3 percent, from 31,752 in calendar year 2005 to 30,684 in 2006, according to a Department of Commerce report.
Pacific Telecom Inc. provided the data to Commerce for inclusion in the latest CNMI quarterly economic indicators report.
Almost every year, the number of commercial and residential phone lines on Saipan, Tinian and Rota has been increasing increase over the previous year but due to the general decline in the economy, the number of phone lines dropped in 2006.
In 2003, there were 29,747 telephone lines. This went up to 31,525 in 2004 and to 31,752 in 2005 before dropping to 30,684 last year.
The 3 percent drop in phone lines was mainly due to a 9 percent decrease in the number of residential phone lines — from 11,201 in 2005 to only 10,092 in 2006 — as households also had to deal with the up to 100 percent increase in power bills.
Ninety percent of residential phone lines are on Saipan, and 5 percent each are on Rota and Tinian.
The number of commercial phone lines reached 20,592 last year, a slight increase over the previous year’s 20,551.