A growing number of households in the US are swapping their landline telephone for a mobile phone, according to a new report from Mediamark Research Inc (MRI), as the number of homes without a landline nearly doubles over the last four years.
In 2000, 4.2% of households had no landline but this figure has risen sharply to 8.1% in 2004 and what’s interesting is that it’s not just the number of homes that’s growing but also the type of people choosing to rely on a mobile telephone has changed over the past few years.
According to the report, non-landline consumers were ‘traditionally downscale’ but by 2004 the demographics of these people had shifted to increasingly ‘younger and more upscale people’. In 2000, the average age for the non-landline population was 23% below the general adult age, compared to 2004, where it was 30% lower.
Vice president of client services, Andy Arthur said: “After years of coexistence between cells and landlines, cellphones have recently begun to contribute to the desertion of landline services. Over the past four years, the percentage of households without landlines has sprung back to levels unseen since the late 1980’s. And while non-landline households traditionally have been characterised by downscale and less-educated consumers, this is clearly no longer the case.”
The MRI research shows that since the survey was conducted in 2001, one or more mobile phones were in 51.6% of US households, however despite such widespread use of mobile technology, only 1.4% of homes were ‘mobile only’, meaning no landline was present.
However, since 2001, the number of mobile phones has continued to grow and according to the 2004 MRI study, 68.9% of households have at least one mobile phone and the percentage of mobile-only households has risen nearly fourfold in three years, from 1.4% in 2001 to 5.5% in 2004. Mobile-only households now account for 69% of homes without a landline, compared to 30% in 2001.
| Percentage Of US Mobile Only Households |
| |
|
| Year |
Percentage |
| 2001 |
1.4 |
| 2004 |
5.5 |
The MRI data shows that the number of households with a mobile phone is still rising, as is the percentage of homes with multiple mobile phones. MRI said: “Young, tech-savvy consumers, particularly those who live in single-person households are abandoning fixed, landline phones in favour of a new mobile-only lifestyle.”
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