Tuesday, 03 September 2019 14:19

Landlines now a minority Featured

By

The decline in the number of Australian households with a landline telephone connection has accelerated. For the first time, reputable statistics show that there are now more Australian homes without a landline than with one.

The latest Roy Morgan ‘State of the Nation – Media Report’ says that less than half Australia’s population have a home phone connected (48.6%). The data is based on Roy Morgan’s regular survey of Australian households, based on its ‘Single Source’ large and representative sample.

Data from government sources, such as the Australian Communications and Media Authority and the Australian Bureau of Statistics still show a majority of households with a landline, but their figures are invariably a year to 18 months out of date. The Roy Morgan data is less accurate, but much more current.

The remarkable thing is that Roy Morgan reports that the number of households with landlines is down 9.5 percentage points from a year ago. That means that nearly a million households have ditched landlines just in the last 12 months (there are nearly 10 million households in Australia). The number had previously been declining comparatively slowly.

The report does not spell it out, but there is little doubt that the main reason for the accelerated decline is the increased penetration of the NBN. People with a with a landline that they may not have used much saw little reason to get rid of it, but when faced with the choice of an NBN service with or without a landline the decision became much easier. The NBN rollout is now nearly complete, and the last 12 months has seen more people connected than ever.

ACMA publishes an excellent report each year which shows how Australians use communications technology. The decline in landlines has been accompanied by the almost universal usage of smart phones in Australia, with over 95% of the adult population now owning one. Calls on mobile phones were once much more expensive, but that ceased to be the case some years ago.

ACMA data also shows that older people are much more likely to use landlines and younger people. In May 2018, the most recent period for which ACMA has published data, 79% of people aged 65 and over used landlines, while only 18% of those aged 25 to 34 did so. The proportion using mobiles only declined for every age group except those aged 18 to 24, where usage was a little higher than the group older than them. But many of these people are still living at home with their ageing parents.

There is little doubt that landline usage will continue to decline. In the modern world there is simply no reason to own one. The end of an era and all that.

Read 3368 times

Please join our community here and become a VIP.

Subscribe to ITWIRE UPDATE Newsletter here
JOIN our iTWireTV our YouTube Community here
BACK TO LATEST NEWS here




ELASTICON SYDNEY 2024 LATEST ADVANCEMENTS IN GENERATIVE AI

On 20 February, keynote addresses from NAB, Canva, AWS, and Google Cloud, among others, will feature at ElasticON Sydney 2024.

This event will explore the latest advancements in generative AI

The one-day conference, hosted by leading search analytics company Elastic, will include networking drinks, hands-on labs, technical sessions and a stellar line-up of keynote speakers from finance, technology, and government e=sectors.

ElasticON Sydney 2024 promises to be an enriching experience with a comprehensive exploration of the latest developments in security, observability, generative AI and their real world applications

Don't miss out on this opportunity to network and find answers for what's next from your industry peers and leaders


Register for ElasticON Sydney 2024

REGISTER HERE!

PROMOTE YOUR WEBINAR ON ITWIRE

It's all about Webinars.

Marketing budgets are now focused on Webinars combined with Lead Generation.

If you wish to promote a Webinar we recommend at least a 3 to 4 week campaign prior to your event.

The iTWire campaign will include extensive adverts on our News Site itwire.com and prominent Newsletter promotion https://itwire.com/itwire-update.html and Promotional News & Editorial. Plus a video interview of the key speaker on iTWire TV https://www.youtube.com/c/iTWireTV/videos which will be used in Promotional Posts on the iTWire Home Page.

Now we are coming out of Lockdown iTWire will be focussed to assisting with your webinars and campaigns and assistance via part payments and extended terms, a Webinar Business Booster Pack and other supportive programs. We can also create your adverts and written content plus coordinate your video interview.

We look forward to discussing your campaign goals with you. Please click the button below.

MORE INFO HERE!

BACK TO HOME PAGE
Graeme Philipson

Graeme Philipson sadly passed away in Jan 2021 and he was always a valued senior associate editor at iTWire. He was one of Australia’s longest serving and most experienced IT journalists. He is the author of the only definitive history of the Australian IT industry, ‘A Vision Splendid: The History of Australian Computing.’He was in the high tech industry for more than 30 years, most of that time as a market researcher, analyst and journalist. He was founding editor of MIS magazine, and is a former editor of Computerworld Australia. He was a research director for Gartner Asia Pacific and research manager for the Yankee Group Australia. He was a long time weekly IT columnist in The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, and is a recipient of the Kester Award for lifetime achievement in IT journalism. Graeme will be sadly missed by the iTWire Family, Readers, Customers and PR firms.

Share News tips for the iTWire Journalists? Your tip will be anonymous

Subscribe to Newsletter

*  Enter the security code shown:

WEBINARS & EVENTS

CYBERSECURITY

PEOPLE MOVES

GUEST ARTICLES

Guest Opinion

ITWIRETV & INTERVIEWS

RESEARCH & CASE STUDIES

Channel News

Comments