According to a story by the Associated Press, 2007 will probably mark the first time that households in the U.S. spend more on cell phones than on land lines.
In 2001, U.S. households spent three times as much on their residential phone services as they did on cell phones. But according to government data collected by the Labor Department, households spent $524, on average, for their cell phone bills last year, compared with an average of $542 for residential and pay-phone services.
More consumers are giving up their landlines, and several industry analysts predicted this year would be the first time that cell phone spending would surpass residential landline spending.
VoIP will be a separate line item in the Labor Department’s 2007 survey, according to the AP.