After the telegram perhaps the next to go will be the good old public or pay phone.
With the number of mobiles in the world fast approaching the world population and passing it at around 7.2 billion in the middle of 2014 it is not unexpected that the need for public phones is declining rapidly.
There is an interesting report in a recent Economist quoting UK statistics with British Telecom’s public phones reducing from 92,000 to 60,000 in 10 years to 2012. Of the remaining 60,000 12,000 get less than one call a month – no need to queue or to empty the coin tin to often.
In Australia the rate of decline is even higher with ACMA reporting in its Communication Report 2011/12 that payphones in Oz went from 45,000 in 2008 to 31,000 in 2012.