Save Our Phone Boxes

The red phone box is something of a national institution. However, the rise of mobile technology is now threatening this vital public service in towns and cities across the UK.

BT is responsible for providing public call boxes under a government agreement at the time of privatisation, the Universal Service Obligation. BT Payphones, an independent subsidiary of the BT Group, is run like an independent company and is responsible for keeping itself profitable. A number of factors, including the rise in mobile phone usage, have affected the payphone service, making it economically unsustainable in many areas of the country. Although usage levels have traditionally been low in rural areas due to its low density of population, mobile phones have begun to affect usage levels in cities which used to cross-subsidise the less profitable rural phones. Business is now so bad that if nothing is done to redress BT Payphones, the entire payphone network could collapse in the next 2 years.

Whilst mobile phones might have replaced call boxes in urban areas, payphones still represent a vital lifeline in regions with poor or no reception. Brecon and Radnorshire is such a huge and often isolated area that it is essential for people to have access to call boxes in the case of an emergency or for general day-to-day use (especially when it takes the BT engineer twice as long as it should to repair a faulty landline!).

When call boxes in my constituency were threatened with closure in the summer of 2004, I discovered that BT had not given community or county councils a full picture of the terms and conditions of the consultation process. Local councils have a legal right of veto on such closures if they object in writing within the 42 day consultation period. Despite being a public service company, BT made sure not to advertise this fact openly, no doubt because removing payphones was an easier and cheaper option than to look for sustainable solutions involving local communities. By the time councils found out, it was too late to object.

I have campaigned hard both in Brecon and Radnorshire and in Westminster to ensure that BT is made to honour its agreement to ensure that the British public has access to adequate telecommunications, wherever they live. I led a debate in Westminster Hall calling on the minister for telecommunications to ensure that BT did not push through closures before local councils had the chance to block such a move.

I have had numerous discussions with BT who have accepted many of the points that I raised along with my colleagues in Westminster. I have also called for positive measures to be taken, to ensure that these vital public services are safeguarded in the future.

In the recent review of BT’s universal service obligation OFCOM decided to maintain the veto for local councils and to extend the consultation period to 90 days for the closure of any phone boxes in the future. I am very pleased that BT has finally recognised the importance of phone boxes to rural areas. However, there is still a threat of closure of rural phone boxes if there are no objections to their removal. I’m urging all people in rural areas to keep a look out for strange notices in your local phone box, and if you want to save it get in touch with your county council or your local councillor.

Associated links

Read the Adjournment Debate on Saving Our Phone Boxes ».
 
Click here for contact details for Powys County Council ».
 

Publish date: 4th May 2006
Modified: 4th May 2006

May Campaigns.
Latest Campaigns.