The phone book isn’t dead, but it’s clearly dying.
On Wednesday, Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott signed a regulation that repeals the requirement that Alaska telephone companies produce an annual directory. It’s a formal statement of a movement that’s been coming for years.
As early as 2012, Alaska’s largest telephone companies have been seeking an end to the regular distribution of phone books, at least in the state’s urban centers.
The annual white pages have been required by the Regulatory Commission of Alaska since 1979, according to regulatory histories.
“Our customers have told us they have less and less need for printed phone books,” said Hannah Blankenship, a spokeswoman for Alaska Communications, which supported dropping the requirement.
GCI also supported ending the phone book requirement, and so did the Alaska Legislature.
In 2014, then-Gov. Sean Parnell signed House Bill 169, which took phone book authority away from the RCA. Mallott’s action Thursday, which takes effect Jan. 1, is another step toward ending them.
Don’t expect phone books to go away just yet, however.
Christine O’Connor is director of the Alaska Telephone Association, a state trade group.
“I don’t think immediately, consumers will notice much of a change,” she said.
That’s particularly true in rural areas with small phone systems and unreliable cellphone service.
“What I’m hearing from them is their customers really want phone books,” she said.
While the requirement has gone away, nothing prevents phone companies or third parties from continuing to publish books typically distributed by mail.
O’Connor’s group does not represent those third parties, but she said she’s heard that at least some will continue to operate.
How long that will continue is an open question. The Communications Act of 1934 required phone companies to begin indexing telephone numbers. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 specifically excluded cellphones from that index because incoming calls are billed to the phone owner.
As more Americans switch to cellphones and drop landlines entirely — a 2014 national study found 44 percent of households have already done that — phone books are growing thinner.
Through the first three quarters of 2015, Alaska Communications saw 6,161 fewer landline phones. Between Sept. 30, 2014 and the same date this year, GCI saw the number of home landlines drop by 4,900. Both statistics were drawn from Securities and Exchange Commission reports.
“It’s a sign of the times and the technology changes,” O’Connor said.
