The UK residential fixed-line telephony market faces a difficult outlook, with an increasing number of customers disengaging with the service. The past few years have seen an increase in customers ‘cutting the cord’, with mobile-only homes now accounting for about one in ten UK households. Landline owners are also using their home phones far less than in the past, leaving providers much more reliant on basic line rental revenues.

Over eight in ten Virgin digital TV subscribers also has a Virgin landline. This is significantly higher than Sky, where 24% of Sky TV customers also have a Sky landline.

The UK residential fixed-line telephony market faces a difficult outlook, with an increasing number of customers disengaging with the service. The past few years have seen an increase in customers ‘cutting the cord’, with mobile-only homes now accounting for about one in ten UK households. Landline owners are also using their home phones far less than in the past, leaving providers much more reliant on basic line rental revenues.

Over eight in ten Virgin digital TV subscribers also has a Virgin landline. This is significantly higher than Sky, where 24% of Sky TV customers also have a Sky landline.

TalkTalk customers are more likely than landline users overall to view ‘moving to a bundled supplier’ a key factor when looking for a new provider. This may reflect the appeal of TalkTalk’s current dual-play (broadband and landline) offer.

BT remain the most popular landline provider, with over one in three (37%) internet users signed up to BT’s landline service.

VoIP has yet to really penetrate as a mainstream communication tool, and hence its negative impact on the fixed-line market should be seen as minimal relative to mobile phones. Only one in ten landline users use the service every day while at home, while the majority (57%) have either never used it or can’t remember the last time they used it.

Landline customers are more likely to use their mobile phone to make calls, even while in the home. Nearly half (46%) of landline customers make mobile calls at home on a daily basis, compared to 39% for landlines.

About one in three landline customers agree that they only have a landline because it is required to as part of their broadband package.