BONN (dpa-AFX) - Fewer and fewer people are using the landline telephone. Last year, there were 80 billion call minutes in the fixed network in Germany and thus 13 billion less than in 2021, the Federal Network Agency announced at the request of dpa. In 2020, there were 104 billion minutes. At that time, the pandemic, together with its restrictions, had ensured that people were at home a lot and again reached for the telephone horn more than before. However, this corona-induced upswing in the fixed network was short-lived. A Verivox survey also proves the dwindling demand for the landline telephone.

Interest has been declining for a long time because many people are increasingly talking to each other via online services such as Whatsapp or Signal, or just chatting. Another factor in the decline in demand is that many cell phone calls are now no longer billed per minute, but are paid for as a monthly flat rate - so it is no more expensive to use a cell phone than a fixed-network phone. In 2022, all mobile phone calls in Germany together lasted 159 billion minutes, twice as many call minutes as fixed-network calls. According to the network agency, there were 126 minutes per active sim card per month.

While the agency's figures refer to the period up to the end of 2022, a Verivox survey conducted in May provides information on the current state of affairs. The finding: interest in fixed-network phone calls continues to wane. Of 1005 respondents, 70 percent said they made calls at home via their fixed line. A year earlier, the figure was 81 percent. According to the latest survey, only one in five still uses the fixed network telephone on a daily basis.

The survey by the price comparison portal also showed that older people make calls more frequently via their fixed line than younger people. There is also an urban-rural divide: the smaller the town, the more natural it is to use the landline phone./wdw/DP/jha