9% of US Citizens Have Cut the Cord

by Russell Buckley on 01. Jun, 2006 in Mobile Operators, Mobile Society

According to the Pew Research centre (via eMarketer) between 7% and 9% of US citizens have now cut the cord and rely solely on the mobile phone, eschewing a landline altogether.

This is no longer a niche habit – more people only have mobile telephony, for instance, than are vegetarians.

We can only expect this trend to accelerate and I’m pretty confident that households with landlines will die out eventually. By when? Hmmm. Certainly by 2020.

Our friend Tomi Ahonen has been ranting along these lines recently – Vodafone have announced that they’re going into the landline business. It does seem a curious decision. A little like Ford in 1930 deciding that they need to make horse-drawn buggies.

Or maybe they have a cunning plan.

—–>Follow us on Twitter too: @russellbuckley and @caaarlo

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  • I would consider myself an early adopter of this sort, however, since I have a home alarm system (ADT) and since I have a DVR (Tivo) I must have a landline. Seems quaint, but it's true.

    I wonder what the percentage is of those who have to have a land line for these reasons, but do not use land lines for voice...
  • TW
    One thing I would point out is that much of the criticism and justification for hammering Vodafone is based on reports of the dying fixed industry. Whilst this is undoubtedly valid in regards to fixed voice (just take a look at minute leakage from fixed networks of all incumbents across WE), I don't think we can call fixed data a dying industry. I haven't actually seen Voda make any reference to plans to offer fixed voice, but rather they want to offer fixed data alone.

    My guess then would be that there is some very heavy lobbying going on behind the scenes to push through naked DSL in more of Voda's core European markets.

    It's only really in Norway that we have seen regulatory intervention to push naked DSL. The impact has been very healthy broadband penetration (50% of households) with amongst the most advanced market for FMS in Western European. In H2 2005, about 49% of total voice minutes were mobile-originated, putting Norway up there with Finland and Portugal at the head of the FMS field. It is these two growth waves that Vodafone is hoping to ride.
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