The Future Of The BT Phone Box
LIKE the few remaining genuine left-wing Labour MP’s, phone boxes have become little more than quaint reminders of a bygone era.
However, despite the ubiquity of the mobile phone, a tiny handful of people still make use of the 64,000 traditional phone boxes across the land. And not just to sleep or lose weight in.
Still, with the boxes struggling to make a decent profit, Ofcom have finally given BT the go-ahead to raise the price of a call from their retro booths.
The move comes after intense lobbying from BT, with the telecoms company arguing that unless it was able to charge some customers more, it would struggle to maintain the network of call boxes.
According to BT, 40,500 of its 63,795 boxes are unprofitable with the number of calls made from BT payphones more than halving in the last three years. In that period, the percentage of consumers using phone boxes has also dropped from three per cent to near zero per cent.
BT’s plans include lowering prices in some areas to try to attract more callers, such as introducing low cost calls to India in areas with high Asian populations.
Considering the hideous stench inside most of the boxes, maybe BT should introduce urinals into their booths as well. It’d make them more useful…
Posted: 5th, June 2007 | In: Money Comments (9) | TrackBack | Permalink
