The bar chart illustrates the total number of minutes spent on three types of telephone calls in the UK—local fixed lines, national and international fixed lines, and mobile calls—between 1995 and 2002.
Overall, local fixed-line calls remained the most commonly used throughout the period, although they eventually experienced a decline. In contrast, both national/international calls and mobile phone usage demonstrated consistent growth, with mobile calls showing the most dramatic rise.
From 1995 to 1999, calls via local fixed lines rose steadily from just over 70 billion minutes to a peak of 90 billion. However, after reaching this peak, the figure declined gradually, falling to approximately 72 billion minutes by 2002.
National and international fixed-line calls also followed an upward trajectory throughout the period. Beginning at around 38 billion minutes in 1995, they climbed steadily to reach approximately 61 billion minutes in 2002.
Mobile phone usage, although starting from a low base of about 3 billion minutes in 1995, witnessed the most significant increase. By 1999, usage had grown to nearly 15 billion minutes, and then surged to just under 45 billion minutes by 2002—an increase of almost threefold within just three years.