SAN DIEGO-If the wireless industry can ensure high-quality, in-home coverage, as well as high-quality Internet access, close to half of all U.S. households would drop their landline phone in favor of a wireless device, according to a new study from PriMetrica and Ernst & Young.
Nearly half of all U.S. households would trade in their primary wireline service for a “family share” wireless service plan that provided unlimited local calling from home and 600 anytime minutes, including long-distance for $50 per month, according to the study. The hypothetical wireless plan assumes the consumer would have high-quality coverage throughout the home and access to the Internet comparable with their current form of access-the two major roadblocks for wireless displacement, according to the study.
The survey of 700 U.S. households inquired about attitudes toward wireline service providers, experience with wireless service and willingness to trade wireline service for a “family share” wireless plan.
“Wireline telephone companies face a real competitive threat to their primary fixed-line business and need to develop strategies to counter the threat,” said Kevin Duffy-Deno, director of analytical services at PriMetrica and author of the study. “Mobile wireless providers need to be careful as well-because capacity constraints will become problematic should they add customers too quickly. And few wireless providers are in a position to make significant cap-ex investments in the short term to accommodate a tidal wave of new customers.”
