Will your landline soon be gone? Since its first version created in 1876 by Alexander Graham Bell, this electronic device has undergone many evolutions. First with wire, then without, the latter invaded homes during the 20th century. However, it seems more and more neglected.

On May 24, 2023, the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications, Posts and Press Distribution (Arcep) published its observatory of the electronic communications market for the year 2022. The study states that the use of the telephone fixed is steadily declining. Despite a slight rebound during the Covid-19 pandemic, the latter seems to be in distress.

“With the increase in mobile usage, the volume of voice consumption from fixed lines, all networks combined, has been in continuous decline since 2013, between -10% and -15% over the period 2013-2019” , says the study. Moreover, the duration of calls fell by three hours over the month over the past ten years. However, this particularly concerns fixed telephones. For smartphones, voice consumption would be 3 hours 35 minutes on average per month over the year 2022.

The figures for the duration of calls on fixed or mobile telephones are also felt on operators’ revenues. For the first, the telephone service represents 1,223 million euros in 2022. This represents a drop of 3.7% over the last four years. For mobile networks, national and international call terminations bring in 679 million euros in 2022, a decrease of 27% over four years. Calls are therefore declining for fixed or mobile devices. They are most often replaced by other communication networks found on smartphones.

In addition, text messages have also experienced a decline over the past ten years. In 2022, 118 SMS were sent per month on average compared to 245 in 2013.