What is fixed telephone subscriptions in North America?

Fixed telephone subscriptions in North America was 89.00 million in 2025, according to World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database, International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

What is the highest fixed telephone subscriptions recorded in North America?

The highest recorded value was 213.41 million in 2000.

What is the lowest fixed telephone subscriptions recorded in North America?

The lowest recorded value was 54.27 million in 1961.

How does North America rank for fixed telephone subscriptions?

North America ranks 19th out of 48 groups with data for 2025.

Is fixed telephone subscriptions rising or falling in North America?

Over the last ten years it is down 36.7%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.

Where does this North America data come from?

The figures come from World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database, International Telecommunication Union (ITU), published as part of Fixed telephone subscriptions. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Fixed telephone subscriptions in North America

Name: Fixed telephone subscriptions in North America
Creator: World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database, International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
License: CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)

North America: Fixed telephone subscriptions was 89.00 million in 2025. ▲ Rising

Latest (2025)

89.00 million

Change on year

down 4.3%

Rank

19th

of 48 groups

All-time high

213.41 million

in 2000

All-time low

54.27 million

in 1961

Years of data

1960–2025

Fixed telephone subscriptions in North America, 1960–2025

Source: World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database, International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

Analysis

North America recorded 89.00 million for fixed telephone subscriptions in 2025.

Compared with earlier readings it is down 4.3% on the previous year and down 36.7% over ten years.

Over the whole period, fixed telephone subscriptions in North America peaked at 213.41 million in 2000 and was at its lowest, 54.27 million, in 1961.

That places North America 19th out of 48 groups with data for 2025, putting it in the middle of the range.

The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 66 years of available data.

Averages by decade

Decade	Average	Lowest	Highest	Years
1960s	58.92 million	54.27 million	63.57 million	10
1970s	85.11 million	75.57 million	100.88 million	10
1980s	126.69 million	104.28 million	146.19 million	10
1990s	176.54 million	151.45 million	209.94 million	10
2000s	194.66 million	171.64 million	213.41 million	10
2010s	143.33 million	120.10 million	168.10 million	10
2020s	100.67 million	89.00 million	115.00 million	6

Countries ranked near North America

16 Canada 10.97 million compare
17 Turkey 9.03 million compare
18 Malaysia 8.22 million compare
19 Algeria 6.93 million compare
20 Saudi Arabia 6.71 million compare
21 Argentina 6.42 million compare
22 Uzbekistan 6.32 million compare

See the full ranking of 260 places →

More infrastructure data for North America

Fixed telephone subscriptions 23 per 100 people (2025)
Mobile cellular subscriptions 112 per 100 people (2025)
Mobile cellular subscriptions 434.00 million (2025)
Air transport, passengers carried 1.03 billion (2023)
Air transport, freight 44,799 million ton-km (2023)
Air transport, registered carrier departures worldwide 10.35 million (2023)
Renewable internal freshwater resources, total 5,668 billion cubic meters (2022)
Renewable internal freshwater resources per capita 15,198 cubic meters (2022)
Individuals using the Internet 95.6% (2025)
Annual freshwater withdrawals, domestic 13.2% (2022)

All data for North America →

Frequently asked questions

What is fixed telephone subscriptions in North America?: Fixed telephone subscriptions in North America was 89.00 million in 2025, according to World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database, International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
What is the highest fixed telephone subscriptions recorded in North America?: The highest recorded value was 213.41 million in 2000.
What is the lowest fixed telephone subscriptions recorded in North America?: The lowest recorded value was 54.27 million in 1961.
How does North America rank for fixed telephone subscriptions?: North America ranks 19th out of 48 groups with data for 2025.
Is fixed telephone subscriptions rising or falling in North America?: Over the last ten years it is down 36.7%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this North America data come from?: The figures come from World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database, International Telecommunication Union (ITU), published as part of Fixed telephone subscriptions. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 66 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).

About this data

Indicator: Fixed telephone subscriptions
Source: World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database, International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage: 260 places, 14,482 data points, 1960–2025
Last refreshed: 06 August 2026

Fixed telephone subscriptions refers to the sum of active number of analogue fixed telephone lines, voice-over-IP (VoIP) subscriptions, fixed wireless local loop (WLL) subscriptions, ISDN voice-channel equivalents and fixed public payphones.