Staff at accountancy firm PwC are expected to only use mobile phones by the end of the summer as the firm looks to scrap office landlines.
Employing 18,000 staff across 24 offices in the UK, the company said the move will help make the firm ‘more efficient’.
Not all of the landlines are expected to be done away with, as they will remain in place for security to use, for client meetings and reception.
Employing 18,000 staff across 24 offices in the UK, the company said the move will help make the firm ‘more efficient’ (stock image)
Meeting rooms will be kitted out with new technology which will allow users to connect to mobiles.
Although other smaller firms have moved away from landlines in favour of mobile phones in recent years, the PwC’s move is one of the first examples of a large organisation to do so.
A spokesman for PwC said: ‘We already equip all of our people with a mobile phone, and many had already moved away from using their landlines.
‘With landline usage falling rapidly, we believe that a more mobile-focused policy is a more efficient way of working.’
Emma Thorogood, PwC’s London director of communications, said the shift had begun a few years ago.
She told the Guardian: ‘It is all about changing working practices – staff are a lot more agile and flexible. They may be working for clients or working from home.
‘And offices are now more open-plan, and with hotdesking the use of landlines is something we just don’t do any more.’
Meeting rooms will be kitted out with new technology which will allow users to connect to mobiles (stock image)
The move away from landlines is highlighted by the dramatic fall in the number of businesses which use them.
In 2010, there were more than 10 million businesses which used fixed-line phones. That has now dropped to just 6.4 million by the end of last year, Ofcom said.
The amount of time talking on the devices also dropped significantly, as the amount of minutes spoken on landlines was just 18.8 million last year. In 2010, that number was 38 million minutes worth of calls.
The decline in businesses using landlines was mirrored in residential use too. In 2010, more than 90 million minutes of phone calls was made, yet this was just 35 million last year.
Despite the dramatic fall in the number of minutes which landlines were used for, more homes now have landlines in 2010 due to the need for broadband.
Telecoms analyst for Enders Analysis, James Barford said: ‘Because of the pricing structure most people have to have a landline to get broadband – but younger people often don’t even plug in a handset.’