eastern United States in 1877. It had 600 subscribers. Service at that time consisted of 300 pairs of phone. Each phone was connected to just one other phone. There were no exchanges and no ability to dial up. On January 28, 1878, the first telephone exchange was established in New Haven, Connecticut. It had twenty-one subscribers and an operator placed calls manually. These were the early adapters of phone service. eXcellence in Telecommunications The Telco Churn Handbook After that, many, many companies sprung up all around the world and the great telecommunications race was underway. (Figure 2-2: During this expansion phase for telecommunications, one that lasted for several decades, many different telephone companies competed for preeminence. Eventually, the one-country-one-phone-company model emerged in most cases and small competitive telcos became rare. Telecommunications Maturity At some point, several decades ago, the meteoric increase in the use of telecommunications began to ebb. The technology, in and of itself, saw no real improvement for a very long time, and the market entered the maturity phase. While it is true that telephone wireline subscribership continued to increase, those increases were for the most part incremental in nature. (Figure 2-2: d) The Decline of the Wireline Telephone At this time, we are beginning to see something that would have been unimaginable just a few short years ago, the decline of the wireline telecommunications industry. (Figure 2-2: e) U.S. Wireline vs. Wireless Subscribers Wireline Wireless Figure 2-3: U.S. Wireline Decline (Source: Cellular Telecom.Ind.Assn.) We now find that the actual number of wireline phone numbers is decreasing around the world, that the number of wireline subscribers is decreasing, and that a large number of people are shifting to Chapter 2 wireless, Internet, and broadband alternatives to the traditional wireline service. Japan Wireline VS. Wireless Subscribers Wireline Wireless Figure 2-4Wireline decline in Japan (Source: Telecommunication 