JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Alaska telephone companies will not have to produce annual phone books starting in 2016.

A regulation signed by Lt. Gov. Byron Mallot on Wednesday removes the requirement, the Juneau Empire reported (http://bit.ly/1Iw9CvG).

Phone books are getting thinner as people increasingly replace landlines with cell phones. The state’s larger phone companies have been pushing for the change since at least 2012.

“Our customers have told us they have less and less need for printed phone books,’’ said Hannah Blankenship, a spokeswoman for Alaska Communications.

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