• The New York Times , Wednesday, July 23, 2008 10:45 AM

Consumers are dropping traditional landlines faster than expected at the same time as the American cell phone market gets saturated -- nearly 85% of American consumers already own a mobile phone. And with more options, mobile phone buyers are also becoming more selective about the calling plans and the type of phones they want, making the market even more competitive.

Analysts say that AT&T, which still gets 32% of its revenue from its landline business, will report a decline in the number of its traditional landline subscribers in an earnings call today. Currently the company has 60.4 million traditional landlines -- in contrast to 68.7 million subscribers in the second quarter of 2006 -- and 71.4 million wireless subscribers.

AT&T is not the only company facing a changing environment in the communications business. All are figuring out how to make more money from customers who spend more time sending text messages or browsing the Web on wireless phones, rather than talking.

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