The survey of 3000 UK consumers found over half (52%) of UK consumers would ditch their landline for good and go mobile, leaving the remaining 47% of traditionalists unwilling to give up their trusty landline. Unsurprisingly, 73% of those were the 65 and above age group. This shows that despite fewer people now relying on their landline and preferring to have a mobile point of contact, there will always be a core set of users, such as the elderly, who are less likely to embrace new technology and are therefore likely to remain reliant on their landlines.
Further research found that the assurance of a constant battery supply featured by landline phones was top priority for consumers (40%), followed by signal strength (39%) which was essential for nearly half (49%) of people in the South West. 20% of UK consumers would want the portability of a mobile phone in a desktop phone form and interestingly this was most popular with the 18-24 age group (24%). Burnside Telecom believe this is due to the disconnect between the functionality of a mobile phone and a multi function device which has been largely designed for SMS, email and web browsing.
Experts believe that by the end of the summer people will spend an average of 168 minutes on their mobile phone, outstripping the number of minutes on a landline. This highlights the growing trend towards fixed to mobile convergence as consumer preference is moving towards mobility and flexibility. Burnside Telecom is the UK’s last cellular handset manufacturer and has seen a significant increase in demand for its range of GSM desk phone and terminal products. The company was recently selected to supply GSM desk phone products to Tesco, the retailer across 2000 stores nationwide.
When Burnside Telecom began to assess the challenges of using landline telephone and mobile phone technologies - and crucially, using them together - it became obvious that two kinds of product would be necessary to provide adequate solutions. A Fixed Cellular Terminal (FCT) is needed to connect a regular telephone, telephone system or computer to the GSM wireless network, providing a central point from which to make voice calls, SMS messages and a connection to the internet. FCT devices (sometimes called 'Premicells') have been in existence for some time, but Burnside has developed the technology further to make its products more flexible and extremely easy to install and use.
Colin Aitken, Chief Executive, Burnside Telecom added “This research emphasizes the continuing pace of evolution and increasing move away from copper and fixed line communications to mobile networks. Burnside Telecom is committed to a range of product and service development to delivery new solutions in numerous sectors including retail, telecare, construction, marine and transport environments.’