Kiwi landlines to be extinct by 2040

21 February 2019

Kiwi utilities experts are predicting the death of landline phones by 2040.

Michael Speight and Denis Tyurkov are the founders of utilities comparison websites Glimp.co.nz and CompareBear.co.nz.

Users simply type in a few details about their current providers and usage and are delivered a better alternative on-the-spot. The whole process takes less than four minutes.

For the past 12 months, 78% of users have been wanting to switch to plans which do not include a landline.

“Over the years, we’ve seen a decreasing number of people wanting landlines, and at this rate, we think there will be such little demand by 2040, that retailers will stop providing landlines as an option,” Tyurkov says.

“Landlines are obsolete now. Like all great technology, they revolutionised things and served their purpose for a long time, but now, there are better options.”

Speight says there are multiple culprits in killing off landlines.

“Cheaper-than-ever smartphones, great plans with unlimited minutes, and the inconvenience of having multiple contact numbers: these are just a few of the reasons landlines are heading to their graves.”

“There’s almost no reason to have a landline for domestic calls. Additionally, internet calling — which connects any two people in the world by video for free — has helped play a big part in killing landlines.”

A report two years ago suggested 1 in 5 New Zealanders didn’t have landlines, where as more than 90% of Kiwis had landlines 12 years ago.

“The data we have suggests the drop is exponential and not linear. So it’s not going to be a 10 percent drop in usage every 10 years; it’s going to be much higher than that and forever increasing.

“From what we can tell, landlines will be completely gone in New Zealand by 2040.”

ENDS

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