Is it over for red phone booths? BT to remove a quarter of iconic newsstands from the streets of Britain
- BT has 21,000 working phone boxes in the UK with 3,600 the iconic red boxes
- About a quarter of BT’s payphones are likely to be removed in the next year
- Red telephone boxes were once the staple of British streets and remain an icon of the UK
Thousands of the country’s remaining red phone booths will disappear from our streets as demand continues to decline in the age of the cell phone.
About a quarter of BT’s payphones are likely to be removed in the next year, chairman Adam Crozier told the company’s annual general meeting yesterday.
It follows action by regulator Ofcom last month to change rules to protect kiosks in areas with poor cell phone signal, or where they are often used to report accidents or call helplines.
BT has 21,000 working payphones in the UK, 3,600 of which are the iconic red boxes.
It runs a scheme for communities to adopt payphones for as little as £1 and change their use, such as in miniature libraries and art galleries.
A BT spokesperson said the company was “looking at” its payphones and that it was “looking to dispose of unused phones”.
Thousands of the country’s remaining red phone booths will disappear from our streets as demand continues to fall in the age of the cell phone (file photo)
Other payphones in use include newer glass kiosk designs and telephones in shopping malls and train stations.
Red telephone boxes were once a staple of streets across Britain and remain an icon of the UK and serve as an important photo opportunity for tourists.
But their existence is threatened by the meteoric rise of cell phones, which has caused the demand for payphones to collapse in all but the most remote areas.