48% Say Mobile is "Primary" Voice Channel

Some 48 percent of the respondents to a survey conducted by CTIA-The Wireless Association and conducted by Qualtrics say their mobiles have become their primary ways of using voice communications.

Also, when asked what they thought was the most important function of their mobile devices, 61 percent said the Internet; 42 percent said text messaging or instant messaging and  40 percent said voice.

Not only has mobile become the primary voice tool for nearly half of respondents, Internet access and messaging were deemed more important than voice.

The survey of about 1,000 U.S. female mobile users also shows that substantial percentages of respondents likewise rely on mobiles as their primary way of accessing the Internet.

More than 38 percent of the women said their mobile devices were their main access point to the Internet and almost a third (32 percent) said mobile broadband had replaced their traditional Internet service.

Wireless substitution, one might argue, has reached truly significant levels. The survey does not, in and of itself, suggest how fast users might decide they do not use, and do not need, their fixed network voice lines.

The public results did not suggest that those same percentages of respondents have stopped buying landline voice service, only that, of the two forms--wireless and fixed--nearly half have shifted their primary voice activities to mobiles.