Canadians shifting away from land-line phone service: Stats Can

THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO - A survey shows the number of households still using only traditional land line phone service fell to 24 per cent last December, down almost six percentage points over the same time a year earlier.

Statistics Canada says it's a sign Canadians continue to shift to cellphones, or phone service through cable or the Internet.

The highest rates of land line only service are in New Brunswick as well as Newfoundland and Labrador, while the lowest are in Alberta and British Columbia.

Stats Can says the proportion of Canadian households relying on cellphones as their only telephone service stands at 6.4 per cent - up from 5.1 per cent in the past year.

The agency says 72 per cent of households have at least one cellphone, up five percentage points in the past year.

The province with the highest ratio of cellphone customers is Alberta, where 83 per cent of households have at least one cellphone.

© The Canadian Press, 2008