Changing uses

12:43pm Thursday 25th September 2008

I WRITE concerning your recent article ‘Council Rejects BT’s Call’. In view of the criticisms, it might be helpful if I explained the background and rationale for our payphone proposals.

Use of payphones has declined dramatically in recent years and we believe some kiosks are no longer needed. In the case of Herefordshire, we are consulting with local authorities over the proposed removal of 110 payphones, of which more than 30 make less than one call a month and some haven’t made a single call in the past year.

During the consultations, a number of suggestions were put forward by local people and local authorities across the UK on ways of retaining some little used kiosks.

We listened to those suggestions and put forward two proposals. Adopt a Kiosk offers the opportunity for local authorities to take over ownership of a red phone box, minus the telephone equipment, for aesthetic or heritage reasons. The Sponsored Kiosk scheme allows local authorities to contribute to the maintenance costs of a working payphone. To be quite clear, BT fully accepts its service obligations and recognises the need to keep many unprofitable payphones where they clearly meet a customer need. The contribution towards running costs from our Sponsored Kiosk scheme is where councils wish to retain payphones where there is little if any use of the service.

These schemes are not examples of BT “shirking” its responsibilities but rather of it listening to local communities and offering them an alternative. There is no obligation on any community to adopt or sponsor a kiosk. Further details can be found at www.bt.com/payphones JOHN LUMB, General Manager, BT Payphones.

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