One-in-five phone users say they plan to ditch their fixed-line phone in their next house move and use only a mobile, a new poll shows. A Newspoll survey commissioned by the world's largest mobile phone company Vodafone found 40 per cent of people in Australia used their mobile phone as their main point of contact and 22 per cent said they would get rid of their landline and use only a mobile if they moved houses. Telstra announced two weeks ago that in the six months to December 31, customers cut off 100,000 phone lines, slicing its revenues by $313 million.
Vodafone spokesman Richard Sherwood said other players in the telecommunications industry were also experiencing a sharp fall in fixed line revenues. "Australians are wising up to the waste of paying $30 per month line rental for a phone they don't use and instead are putting the money towards calls on their mobile," Mr Sherwood said. He said he expected the demise of the fixed line would move closer as more Australians took up mobile broadband.
However Telstra said that fixed phone lines are declining in Australia but still remains an important mode of telephone usage for millions of Australians. There are currently about 20 million calls a day on Telstra's fixed line network, Telstra public affairs manager Warwick Ponder said
Mr Ponder said Telstra had already advised the markets of an "accelerated decline" of fixed lines in Australia. "Our predictions aren't quite as drastic as this survey but what would you expect from a survey sponsored by the world's biggest mobile phone company," he said. "Customers understand that the biggest advantage with fixed line is that calls are untimed, unlike mobile calls.
Many mobile phone companies are now offering cap deals where consumers can get $230 worth of calls and texts for paying $49 a month. One company even offer a $29 cap which worth up to $120 of national and mobile calls. Comparing to an home line the average monthly line rental with Telstra is $27 before any call costs are added.
Addition to the capped mobile race, companies such as Unwired and other 3G mobile operators, which offer wireless broadband internet access without needing an existing telephone line and the uprising Voice Over IP (VoIP) technology which allow users to make untimed local and STD calls starting at 10 cents each through the internet, traditional teleco like Telstra will surely be facing more challenge on its fixed line phone business as Australian are slowing moving away from expensive and might soon to be obsolete fixed phone line.
According to The Australian, the OECD reports show Australians pay more for their home telephone services than anywhere else in the developed world, apart from Hungary.
With AAP
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