Tesla CEO Elon Musk: 'Government is wasting about $100 million per year on…'

Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently highlighted a cost-cutting measure that suggests that the US federal government may be wasting about $100 million annually on inactive phone lines. Musk quoted a post by DOGE aka the Department of Government Efficiency which revealed that nearly 20% of the phone lines at a federal agency were unused. DOGE shared a post on X that reads “Unused phone lines! Of the 1048 @USOPM phone lines, 198 (19%) were either unused or duplicated.”

It further added: “OPM (Office of Personnel Management) cancelled these lines (took 1 hour), resulting in ~$100k/yr in savings. Since OPM is ~0.1% of the federal government, this suggests that ~$100M/yr is wasted on unused lines”.

The tech billionaire responded to the post, stating “Government is wasting about $100 million per year on unused phone lines!”.

Government is wasting about $100 million per year on unused phone lines! https://t.co/UZQflu9jhl

— Kekius Maximus (@elonmusk) May 22, 2025

The revelation could have broader implications for telecom providers supplying services to federal agencies. According to a 2023 Washington Post report, only 2% of U.S. adults use landlines exclusively. As legacy landline usage continues to decline—the cost and necessity of maintaining unused infrastructure is under increasing scrutiny.


In 2019, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) repealed regulations that had previously required telecom providers to run copper landline connections to every home. The move marked a significant shift toward modernizing telecommunications infrastructure in favor of wireless and fiber-optic networks.

According to a report, Verizon Communications Inc. remains the dominant landline service provider in the Northeastern United States, maintaining a strong regional presence even as overall landline use continues to decline nationwide.