TWENTY-MILLION U.S. TELEPHONE HOUSEHOLDS ARE WIRELESS-ONLY, NIELSEN REPORTS
Wireless Substitutors Use More Mobile Minutes, but Still Save Money
New York, NY and San Francisco, CA — A new study from The Nielsen Company says that more than 20 million U.S. telephone households (17 percent) are wireless substitutors—homes without landlines that rely solely on a mobile phone for their home telecommunications.
The new research is from Nielsen Mobile, a service of The Nielsen Company, and suggests that one in five U.S. households could be wireless-only by the end of 2008.
As the U.S. economy tightens and consumers look for ways to cut household spending, many are eyeing that landline phone bill, which averages $40 per month per landline household. In addition to the universe of U.S. wireless substitutors, Nielsen’s study reports that:
- U.S. cord cutters tend to have lower income-levels—59 percent have household incomes of $40,000 or less
- Smaller households, with just one or two residents, are more likely to cut the cord than larger households
- Moving or changing jobs are the biggest life events associated with cord cutting: 31 percent of cord cutters moved prior to cord cutting and 22 percent changed jobs
- Wireless substitutors tend to use their mobile phones more than their landline peers, 45 percent more per phone, but still save an average $33 per month in a household of one subscriber, less $6.69 for each additional wireless resident, when they cut the cord
“As wireless network quality improves and unlimited calling becomes increasingly pervasive, we expect the trend toward wireless substitution to continue,” said Alison LeBreton, vice president of client services for Nielsen Mobile. “In a tightening economy every dollar counts, and consumers are more and more comfortable with the idea of ditching their landline connection.”
Wireless substitution doesn’t work for everyone. Ten percent of landline phone customers have experimented with wireless-only in their household, but then returned to landline service. Nielsen reports that needing a landline for another service (security system, satellite TV, pay-per-view, fax machine, etc.) is the primary reason people mend the cord.
“Landline wireless substitution may just be the start,” says LeBreton. “As wireless data networks improve and speeds become more and more competitive with broadband, some consumers may cut the Internet cord, as well, favoring wireless data cards and other access through carrier networks.”
The full paper, “Call My Cell: Wireless Substitution in the United States” is available today from Nielsen Mobile. A free download can be found in the Mobile section of The Nielsen Company’s new blog, Nielsen Wire, at http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/.
About Nielsen Mobile
Nielsen Mobile, a service of The Nielsen Company, is the world's largest independent provider of syndicated consumer research to the telecom and mobile media markets. Nielsen Mobile focuses exclusively on tracking the behavior, attitudes and experiences of mobile consumers; their reports also provide up to seven years of data on Internet, video, gaming, audio and advertising trends for mobile phone users. Nielsen’s technology-driven research provides unique and holistic insight into how mobile customers use their devices and what they think about brands, devices and services. For more information, please visit www.nielsenmobile.com.
About The Nielsen Company
The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company with leading market positions in marketing and consumer information, television and other media measurement, online intelligence, mobile measurement, trade shows and business publications (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek). The privately held company is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in New York, USA. For more information, please visit www.nielsen.com.
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Nic Covey
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