Belgium - A growing number of Europeans don't bother to buy landline telephone service in their homes, relying instead on their cell phones, the European Commission said Thursday.
Cell phones, which first outnumbered human beings in Europe in 2006, did that by an even greater margin in 2007: nearly 112 phones for every 100 people, the EU executive body said.
One reason is that monthly line rental for fixed phones costs more on average than a prepaid mobile phone package.
Both trends are changing the business landscape for major telecommunications companies such as Deutsche Telekom AG. They are seeing falling revenues from fixed lines, the traditional core of their business, forcing many to look to mobile calls, Internet services and cable television to generate more profit.
About one-quarter of European Union households have a mobile phone only, the report said. The rate in the United States is believed to be slightly lower.
Eastern European households are more likely to shun fixed lines for mobiles, the European Commission said, because telecommunications infrastructure is less developed in the region. Some 39 percent of households there have a mobile phone only, compared to one-fifth of homes in western Europe.
Finland, home of mobile handset giant Nokia Corp., has the most mobile phone enthusiasts, with 61 percent of households sticking to cell phones alone.
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