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One fifth of European households use mobiles as their only phone, so no longer need a landline in their homes. Landlines could be becoming less of a necessity in peoples' life and therefore may dye out in households. Equally mobiles are seen as more essential to everyday life. In Czech Republic, Lithuania and Finland, nearly 50% of the population have replaced their landline with a mobile. However only just over 10% of households in countries like the UK and Germany has replaced landlines with mobiles, but mobile phone users are constantly increasing. There seems to be a division in mobile phone behaviour within Europe. In old European countries like UK, Germany, Luxembourg and Italy, landlines and mobile phones are both heavily relied on. There also seems to be more mobile phones in use than people. In Luxembourg for every 100 people there are 158 mobiles and in Italy there are 122 mobile phones per 100 people. In new European countries like Lithuania and Romania, landlines are seen as less important but not everyone has a phone at all, with 62 mobiles per every 100 people in Romania. It is possible that the divide in cultural lifestyles in Europe affects the use of phones. In new Europe a telephone could be seen as a necessary service where you either have a landline or a mobile. In The UK we all seem to have both; a mobile for business, social and convenience purposes and a landline for broadband and international calls. As more people are getting mobiles in new Europe there is a chance that landlines may be in considerable less demand, but in countries like the UK mobile phones will increase constantly but landline use will probably only reduce slightly as they still have their uses in our technological hungry society.
Staff editor, Section, November 2007 |
