Albertans are abandoning landlines faster than anyone else in Canada

Albertanshave ditched landline telephones faster than the rest of Canada and are ramping up their spending on mobile and internet services.

Just 60.5 per cent of homes in the province still had a hardwired phone in 2016, according to data released Wednesday by Statistics Canada.

That's below the national average of 66.8 per cent and well below provinces like Quebec (72.5 per cent), New Brunswick (85.7 per cent) and Newfoundland and Labrador (86.6 per cent).

The data comes from Statistics Canada's annual survey of household spending, whichhas found a steady decline in landline use in Alberta.

The same survey found 71.8 per cent of homes in the province still had a traditional telephone in 2014, dropping to 65.2 per cent in 2015.

At the same time, the amount of money Albertans spend on cellular phones and internet access has grown.

The average household spent $1,530 on mobile phone services last year, up 35 per cent from 2010.

Spending on internetaccess services over the same period was up 68.4 per cent, while landline service spending declined by 47.3 per cent.

Albertans are also the most internet-connected Canadians, according to the survey, with 91.8 per cent of households having online access in the home.

That compares to 87.4 per cent nationwide.