Copper landlines gone by 2013

COPPER LANDLINES GONE BY 2013
[SOURCE: TelephonyOnline, AUTHOR: Ed Gubbins]
The copper “last mile” line to the house won’t exist in six years, according to Tom Evslin, co-founder of Internet service provider AT&T Worldnet and voice-over-IP wholesaler ITXC. "By 2012 [there will be] no more reason to use our landlines -- so we won’t,” Evslin said. “I don’t think the copper plant will last past 2012. The problem is the cost of maintaining and operating it when it has very few subscribers. Obviously [it’s] a huge problem for AT&T and Verizon. And an important social issue as well.” Evslin pointed to a study showing the percentage of homes with landline phones declining from about 96% to 94% between 1998 and 2003 while cell phone penetration jumped from 36% to 63%. Those trends have probably accelerated since then, he argued. By 2012, copper landlines will have been replaced by WiFi-enabled mobile phone services like the one T-Mobile will roll out nationwide this summer, Evslin wrote. Such services will highlight the superiority of mobile phones over land lines in consumers’ minds: mobile phones are more capable (with built-in cameras, directories and address books, etc.) and less expensive.
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