Mobile Passed Fixed for Voice in 2000, But Fixed Voice Lines Continue to Grow

You might not be especially surprised that wireless accounts in service surpassed fixed phone lines in Japan, Korea and Finland back in 2000, meaning it has been a decade since a fixed line was the preferred way of using "voice" in the consumer, and part of the business market.

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You might not realize 2000 also was the year that wireless accounts surpassed fixed lines for voice in the U.S. market as well. At the beginning of 2010 there were 2.4 wireless lines in service for every fixed voice line, about 276 million wireless lines compared to about 114 million fixed voice lines.

That said, people often overlook the fact that fixed voice lines in service actually have grown since 2000, from about 100 million lines, up to 114 million lines. The confusion typically is driven by the decline of telco market share compared primarily to the growth of cable operator-supplied lines.

In Japan, cellular phone service was first introduced in 1979. The number of mobile ubscribers exceeded that of fixed phones late 2000.

In Korea, cellular phone service was first introduced in 1984. In 2000, the number of
subscribers exceeded that of fixed telephony.

Finland was the first country to introduce the digital GSM standard in 1992. Mobile revenue surpassed fixed line revenue in 1997.