Mobile Phones Pushing At Landline Usage

Call it a sign of the times or what you will, but a new report by British communications watchdog Ofcom has shown that British mobile phone usage has continuedto rise, at the expense of the traditional landlines.   Mobile calls now account for over a third of all time spent on phone calls. Out of a total of 234 billion minutes spent on the phone inBritain, 82 billion of those were spent on mobiles.   Additionally, according to the report, 9% of UK households only have mobile phones, while 7% only have a landline. There are fewer landlinesubscribers, too – the figure fell to 33.6 million in 2006, a fall of 1.5%.   “There are more households which are now mobile-only in terms of their phone. The first quarter of 2007is the first time that has happened,” said Ofcom spokesman Peter Phillips.   But people spent more on mobile services, thanks to the wider adoption of PDAs and Blackberrys, along withgreater tariff competition. More kids are using mobiles, too; the figure among eight-to-15 years olds rose to 53% in 2006, up 3% over 2005.   The Ofcom report stated that the average cost of alltelecoms – that’s landlines, mobiles, texts and broadband – fell to £69.85 per month for residential customers in 2006, from £76.36 the previous year.