Tuesday, March 29, 2011
WITH telecommunications rapidly evolving thanks to
technology, I could not help but wonder about one thing. That is, what
will the world do with all the landlines that are fast approaching
obsolescence? Laugh if you must, but everyone must realise by now
that the only future fixed lines have in this new world order, where
the Internet has taken over lives and smartphones that can do
everything but the laundry are the communication tools of choice, is
the museum or the junkyard.
I have a soft spot for landlines. I am part of that generation that believed having an extension line installed in one's room was a privilege that one aspired to. I am part of that generation that stayed up late to burn the lines talking with friends about high school crushes, homework and everything in between. In those days, not being able to use the stationary telephone was a form of grounding.
Fixed lines became essential when I started working. As a reporter, there had been times when I would work two phones simultaneously to complete an article. I also had a pager (for those who are too young to know what that was, let's say it was a more cumbersome version of text messaging, because one needed a fixed line to send a message. Alas, the life of the pager was curtailed far too early, as is the fate of gadgets that are found to be of little use).
I remember when there were only two types of telephones: the private lines, which were installed in homes and establishments, and the payphones, which were located in phone booths that were sprinkled around public places.
While payphones are now on the verge of extinction, the landline is unlikely to disappear by tomorrow. Not yet. It has so far managed to find a niche. It is still a staple in the newsroom; it is still the weapon of choice of pollsters; and my family still has one at home (we use it to call for delivery). In some countries, the landline is still the only way to call emergency numbers. But its increasing impracticability is obvious, not only to those who still use them — and to those who don't — but also to those that offer the service.
Last month, Nielsenwire released findings of a study it conducted in Indonesia which revealed that mobile phone penetration in the world's fourth most populated country tripled in just five years to 54 per cent of the population, while the number of landlines dropped to 11 per cent from 25 per cent in 2005.
"Consumers in Indonesia have mostly headed straight to mobile phones as their communication tool," said Viraj Juthani, director for the Telecom Practice Group, The Nielsen Company, Indonesia.
Financial statements of telecommunications companies in the region attest to the dwindling interest in landlines — a complete reversal of the trend seen just 20 years ago, when in the Philippines, particularly, people had to wait between six months and several years just to have one installed.
In its latest financial report, the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company, the Philippines' largest telecommunications carrier, revealed that its landline business saw revenues declining by four per cent in the nine months ending September 30, 2010 to 37.043 billion pesos from 38.388 billion pesos in the same period the prior year.
The carrier said this was "due to decrease in revenues from our national long distance, international long distance and local exchange services", adding that the sluggish performance was already "partially offset by the increase in revenues from our data and other network services".
That the carriers are adapting to changing times by establishing their own mobile phone service providers and bundling up landline subscriptions with other services such as cable television and broadband Internet shows that they are not holding out hope that fixed lines will in the future reclaim their glorious past.
An article which came out in The Economist two years ago quoted telecom operators in the US as saying that customers had been abandoning landlines at a rate of 700,000 per month in favour of mobile phones. It also quoted figures from America's Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, which had noted that in 2009, 20.2 per cent of the country's households became mobile-only homes, compared to only 7.3 per cent in 2005.
"If the decline of the landline continues at its current rate, the last cord will be cut sometime in 2025," the article stated.
I concede, grudgingly, that sometime soon, the landline will have no place in this cyberspace-dominated world. But I hope that however way it disappears, it would still somehow make its presence felt.
I would like to tell my children about those days when chatting involved not computers but phones with rotating dials and corded receivers. And when they look at me with disbelieving eyes and gaping mouths, I would like to be able to take them to a place where I could show them the instrument that had been an integral part of my childhood and professional life.
The views of the writer are her own and do not necessarily reflect those of The Brunei Times.
The Brunei Times
I have a soft spot for landlines. I am part of that generation that believed having an extension line installed in one's room was a privilege that one aspired to. I am part of that generation that stayed up late to burn the lines talking with friends about high school crushes, homework and everything in between. In those days, not being able to use the stationary telephone was a form of grounding.
Fixed lines became essential when I started working. As a reporter, there had been times when I would work two phones simultaneously to complete an article. I also had a pager (for those who are too young to know what that was, let's say it was a more cumbersome version of text messaging, because one needed a fixed line to send a message. Alas, the life of the pager was curtailed far too early, as is the fate of gadgets that are found to be of little use).
I remember when there were only two types of telephones: the private lines, which were installed in homes and establishments, and the payphones, which were located in phone booths that were sprinkled around public places.
While payphones are now on the verge of extinction, the landline is unlikely to disappear by tomorrow. Not yet. It has so far managed to find a niche. It is still a staple in the newsroom; it is still the weapon of choice of pollsters; and my family still has one at home (we use it to call for delivery). In some countries, the landline is still the only way to call emergency numbers. But its increasing impracticability is obvious, not only to those who still use them — and to those who don't — but also to those that offer the service.
Last month, Nielsenwire released findings of a study it conducted in Indonesia which revealed that mobile phone penetration in the world's fourth most populated country tripled in just five years to 54 per cent of the population, while the number of landlines dropped to 11 per cent from 25 per cent in 2005.
"Consumers in Indonesia have mostly headed straight to mobile phones as their communication tool," said Viraj Juthani, director for the Telecom Practice Group, The Nielsen Company, Indonesia.
Financial statements of telecommunications companies in the region attest to the dwindling interest in landlines — a complete reversal of the trend seen just 20 years ago, when in the Philippines, particularly, people had to wait between six months and several years just to have one installed.
In its latest financial report, the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company, the Philippines' largest telecommunications carrier, revealed that its landline business saw revenues declining by four per cent in the nine months ending September 30, 2010 to 37.043 billion pesos from 38.388 billion pesos in the same period the prior year.
The carrier said this was "due to decrease in revenues from our national long distance, international long distance and local exchange services", adding that the sluggish performance was already "partially offset by the increase in revenues from our data and other network services".
That the carriers are adapting to changing times by establishing their own mobile phone service providers and bundling up landline subscriptions with other services such as cable television and broadband Internet shows that they are not holding out hope that fixed lines will in the future reclaim their glorious past.
An article which came out in The Economist two years ago quoted telecom operators in the US as saying that customers had been abandoning landlines at a rate of 700,000 per month in favour of mobile phones. It also quoted figures from America's Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, which had noted that in 2009, 20.2 per cent of the country's households became mobile-only homes, compared to only 7.3 per cent in 2005.
"If the decline of the landline continues at its current rate, the last cord will be cut sometime in 2025," the article stated.
I concede, grudgingly, that sometime soon, the landline will have no place in this cyberspace-dominated world. But I hope that however way it disappears, it would still somehow make its presence felt.
I would like to tell my children about those days when chatting involved not computers but phones with rotating dials and corded receivers. And when they look at me with disbelieving eyes and gaping mouths, I would like to be able to take them to a place where I could show them the instrument that had been an integral part of my childhood and professional life.
The views of the writer are her own and do not necessarily reflect those of The Brunei Times.
The Brunei Times
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