Editing Pager (section)

===Decline===
[[File:Pagers.jpg|thumb|Pagers in Canada, 2024]]

By early 2002, pager usage was rapidly declining in places like North America due to the proliferation of cellular telephones.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/11/technology/the-bell-is-tolling-for-the-beeper.html?pagewanted=2 | archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20150527210223/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/11/technology/the-bell-is-tolling-for-the-beeper.html?pagewanted=2 | archive-date=27 May 2015 | title=The Bell is Tolling for the Beeper | work=[[The New York Times]] | date=11 April 2002 | last1=Selingo | first1=Jeffrey }}</ref>

The U.S. paging industry generated $2.1&nbsp;billion in revenue in 2008, down from $6.2&nbsp;billion in 2003.<ref name="paging industry market size">[http://www.anythingresearch.com/industry/Paging.htm AnythingResearch.com report on Paging Industry market size] 2003 and 2008 research data used with permission</ref> In Canada, 161,500 Canadians paid $18.5&nbsp;million for pager service in 2013. [[Telus Communications]], one of the three major mobile carriers, announced the end to its Canadian pager service as of 31 March 2015, but rivals [[Bell Telephone Company|Bell]], Rogers and [[PageNet]] intend to continue service.<ref name=cbctelus/>

In 2017 the UK [[National Health Service]] was thought to have been using over 10% of the remaining pagers in the world (130,000),<ref name=":0">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/sep/09/old-technology-nhs-uses-10-of-worlds-pagers-at-annual-cost-of-66m|title=Old technology: NHS uses 10% of world's pagers at annual cost of £6.6m|newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |date=9 September 2017}}</ref> with an annual cost of £6.6&nbsp;million.<ref>{{cite news |title=NHS still reliant on 'archaic' fax machines |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-44805849 |access-date=12 July 2018 |publisher=BBC News |date=12 July 2018}}</ref> [[Matt Hancock]], (then) [[Secretary of State for Health and Social Care]], announced in February 2019 that the 130,000 pagers still in use were to be phased out.<ref>{{cite news |title=NHS told to ditch 'outdated' pagers |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-47332415 |access-date=23 February 2019 |publisher=BBC |date=23 February 2019}}</ref> [[NHSX]] announced plans in May 2020 to replace pagers and bleepers with "more modern communication tools," accelerated by the pressure placed on the service by the [[COVID-19 pandemic in England]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Pandemic spurs NHS to 'urgently' speed up elimination of pagers |url=https://www.hsj.co.uk/technology-and-innovation/pandemic-spurs-nhs-to-urgently-speed-up-elimination-of-pagers/7027593.article? |access-date=28 June 2020 |publisher=Health Service Journal |date=11 May 2020}}</ref> In August 2020, a new procurement framework for clinical communications was launched which was intended to phase out pagers by the end of 2021, replacing them with "dedicated clinical-facing communication and tasks management tools" from 25 approved suppliers.<ref>{{cite news |title=New procurement framework helps phase out archaic pagers |url=https://www.buildingbetterhealthcare.com/news/article_page/New_procurement_framework_helps_phase_out_archaic_pagers/168536/cn164706 |access-date=19 September 2020 |publisher=Building Better Healthcare |date=3 August 2020}}</ref>

In Japan, more than ten million pagers were active in 1996.<ref name = "Japan Today, 2019" /> On 1 October 2019, Japan's last paging service provider shut down radio signals and terminated its service.<ref name = "Japan Today, 2019" >{{cite web | url = https://japantoday.com/category/tech/Pager-services-to-end-Tuesday-in-Japan-after-50-years | title = Pager services to end Tuesday in Japan after 50 years | access-date = 1 October 2019 | date = 30 September 2019 | website = [[Japan Today]] | language = en | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191001193801/https://japantoday.com/category/tech/Pager-services-to-end-Tuesday-in-Japan-after-50-years | archive-date = 1 October 2019}}</ref>

In Russia, the last paging provider was closed in November 2021.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://4pda.to/2023/09/07/417896/v_rossii_prekraschaetsya_podderzhka_pejdzhingovoj_svyazi/ | title=В России прекращается поддержка пейджинговой связи }}</ref>