Released September 17, 2009
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Probably no industry has changed more in the past decade than the phone industry with the rise and growing popularity of cell phones. How has this changed the way we now communicate using phones?
Mike Walden, North Carolina Cooperative Extension economist in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at N.C. State University, responds:
"Well, I think it's the obvious thing - people know this, I'm just going to put some numbers on it. It's obviously increased the usage of cell phones at the expense of land lines.
Indeed, for the first time in 2008, of the households who only have one kind of communication - that is, they only have a cell phone or they have only a land line, they don't have both - more have only a cell phone than have only a land line. That's the first time that ever happened, in 2008.
Indeed, 21 percent now have only a cell phone compared to 19 percent only have a land line. Now the majority still have both. In fact, 60 percent have both.
Many experts in this field expect the trend is still going to go more toward the cell phone and away from the land line, so that probably in 10 years, that 60 percent is going to be, maybe, 40 percent, and the vast majority of people will only have one kind of phone communication. And it will be a cell phone."
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http://www.ncsu.edu/project/calscommblogs/news/archives/2009/09/economic_perspe_450.html
