As of: 09/14/2022 5:08 p.m
The days of the Swiss telephone book are numbered – after around 142 years. The “White Pages” are hardly ever in demand. From next year, private telephone numbers can only be searched for online.
Switzerland separates from its “White Pages”. Due to a lack of demand, the country’s telephone book will be closed after around 142 years. This was announced by the manufacturer Localsearch.
The private number directory on paper therefore simply lacks relevance. According to Localsearch, fewer and fewer Swiss people are still publishing their private telephone numbers. In addition, the number of landline connections in households is also decreasing. Many people only own a mobile phone.
Starting in the coming year, anyone who wants to find out a private phone number will have to look for it online. The Swiss business directory, the “Yellow Pages”, will continue to be published in printed form.
Around 4.2 million entries in weddings
The “White Pages” have existed in Switzerland since 1880. The first directory was published with the establishment of the first telephone network in the country. However, it only contained a few dozen numbers. By the 1990s, the number of phone numbers included had grown to around 4.2 million. But since 1997, private numbers in Switzerland no longer have to be published – and since then the “White Pages” have become ever narrower with fewer entries.
Switzerland is not the first country in Europe to say goodbye to the printed telephone book. The Netherlands already abolished it in 2018.
Germany is sticking to the phone book
In Germany, “Deutsche Tele Medien GmbH” publishes “Das Telefonbuch” as well as the “Gelben Seiten” and “Das Örtliche” together with almost 100 partner publishers.
The information about the printed edition of the telephone book varies. While the IDAG phone book publisher in Essen speaks of 26 million copies that are still printed every year, the Heise Group comes up with 155 regional editions of the phone book that are published every year with a total circulation of around 28 million copies. The Association of German information and directory media even reports a circulation of around 60 million printed telephone directories, which are mainly used by older people in rural areas.