Editing Landline (section)

===2000s===
[[file:Fixed telephone lines per 100 inhabitants 1997-2007 ITU.png|thumb|Global fixed telephone lines per 100 inhabitants (1997–2007)]]
[[file:How mobile phones are overtaking landlines in Africa.jpg|thumb|Total landline vs. mobile phones in Africa (1998–2008)]]
In many countries, landline service has not been readily available to most people. In some countries in Africa, the rise in cell phones has outpaced growth in landline service. Between 1998 and 2008, Africa added only 2.4 million landlines.<ref name="ref 9">{{cite journal |last1=Aker |first1=Jenny C |last2=Mbiti |first2=Isaac M |title=Mobile Phones and Economic Development in Africa |journal=Journal of Economic Perspectives |date=August 2010 |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=207–209 |doi=10.1257/jep.24.3.207 |url=http://sites.tufts.edu/jennyaker/files/2010/09/aker_mobileafrica.pdf |access-date=11 November 2018 |language=en }}</ref> In contrast, between 2000 and 2008, cell phone use rose from fewer than 2 in 100 people to 33 out of 100.<ref name="ref 9"/> There has also been a substantial decline of landline phones in the Indian [[subcontinent]], in urban and even more in rural areas.

In the early 21st century, installations of landline telephones has declined due to the advancement of mobile network technology and the obsolescence of copper wire networking. It is more difficult to install landline [[copper wire]]s to every user than it is to install transmission towers for mobile service that many people can connect to. Some predict that these metallic networks will be deemed completely out of date and replaced by more efficient broadband and fiber optic landline connections extending to [[rural area]]s and places where telecommunication was much more sparse. In 2009, ''[[The Economist]]'' wrote "At current rates the last landline in America will be disconnected sometime in 2025."<ref name="ref 1">{{cite news|url=http://www.economist.com/node/14213965|title=The decline of the landline: Unwired |newspaper=The Economist|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131108091900/http://www.economist.com/node/14213965|archive-date=2013-11-08}}</ref>

In 2004, only about 45% of people in the United States between the ages of 12 and 17 owned cell phones. At that time, most had to rely on landline telephones. Just 4 years later, that percentage climbed to about 71%. That same year, 2008, about 77% of adults owned a mobile phone.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Amanda |first1=Lenhart |title=Teens and Mobile Phones Over the Past Five Years: Pew Internet Looks Back |url=http://www.pewinternet.org/files/old-media/Files/Reports/2009/PIP%20Teens%20and%20Mobile%20Phones%20Data%20Memo.pdf |website=pewinternet.org |access-date=2018-09-02 |archive-date=2017-08-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170829002611/http://www.pewinternet.org/files/old-media/Files/Reports/2009/PIP%20Teens%20and%20Mobile%20Phones%20Data%20Memo.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>