Where have all the landlines gone?

In 2002, Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs) had almost 160 million access lines. Today, that number is less than 130 million. Berstein Research has forecasted that total access lines will decline at a rate of about 5 percent year-over-year through at least the end of 2007.

Two technology advances have drastically changed the landscape for the landline telephone market. First, as broadband high speed has become the norm for United States Web surfers (broadband penetration of online households has already exceeded 50 percent and is expected to reach 75 percent by 2010), the need for a second landline (for use with dial-up Internet service) has evaporated. Secondly, and more importantly, wireless phones have displaced landlines as the primary means of telephony communications in younger adults. Many households with adults under 30 do not have a landline at all. This phenomenon is known as "wireless displacement."