Mobile data use increases tenfold while landline phone use falls by half

Landline telephone use has been halved in the last six years while mobile data has increased tenfold during the same period, according to a study by Ofcom. 

The number of minutes of calls made from a landline has decreased dramatically, from 103bn in 2012 to 54bn in 2017. 

During the same period the number of mobile phone call minutes increased from 132.1bn to 148.6bn as smart phones have increasingly cemented their dominance. 

The average monthly mobile data usage was almost ten times higher in 2017 than 2012, rising from 0.2 gigabytes to 1.9 gigabytes over the six years with messaging and social media apps becoming increasingly popular. 

The research from Ofcom also revealed that there is a generational divide when it comes to understanding area codes from landline numbers, with older people more likely to recognise whether a number is local to them and can be trusted.

“Some of us can remember a time when we stored phone numbers in our head, rather than our mobile. But the way we use and feel about telephone numbers is changing,” said Liz Greenberg, head of numbering at Ofcom. 

“In the future, as more calls are made over broadband, dialling codes won’t need to be fixed to a particular part of the country. So the question is – could area codes become a thing of the past?”

Ofcom are exploring how to better manage landline numbers, particularly for business use.