This happens in most countries - I think it's Vodafone in the UK which reads out the recipient's phone number very slowly before letting you leave a voicemail.
It goes something like "Welcome to the Vodafone voicemail messaging service for 0... 7... 7... 4... 5... 9... [the rest of the number]... the person you have called is unable to answer the phone right now. Please leave a message after the tone."
Call me presumptuous, but I know the number of the person I've just called, and don't really need to know how to use an answerphone.
I think it was David Pogue who wrote something up on this: press "1 * #" in that order, slowly, listening after each press. Depending on the carrier, you'll skip the message eventually.
When you hear the message saying 'blah blah, leave a message after the tone'. Those seconds are charged to the caller.
Add up all those millions of seconds and the networks are rolling.
We all know what to do when the person is not there. I don't need to hear a 15 second message telling me yet again what to do.