Cell phone spells end to phone boxes

BT believe that the phone box will need to be modernised to meet future demand

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- The phone box, once a worldwide symbol of Britain like Big Ben and guardsmen's bearskin caps, has become a casualty of the country's increasing love affair with the mobile phone.

British Telecom is to wind down production of phone boxes after revenue from the company's network of 141,000 boxes slumped by 37 percent over the past two years, British newspapers reported on Monday.

"There has been a reduction in recent years in both the revenue and the number of calls made and most of this is down to mobiles and in particular, the growth of prepaid mobiles," a BT spokesman was quoted as saying.

Two thirds of the UK population, or 40 million people, are believed to own a mobile phone, the Times newspaper said.

BT's decision in the 1980s to replace the traditional red phone box with a more modern glass and steel version met with widespread public disapproval.

Many of the original red boxes, designed in 1936 by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, were sold and are now attractions in bars, restaurants and private homes across the world.

The company said it would halt expansion of its network of pay phones and would instead concentrate on maintaining and improving the existing boxes.

A BT spokesman said the nature of payphones would have to change in the face of increasing competition.

"We want to offer multimedia terminals that offer phone, Internet and text messaging all in one in the future."

Multimedia Assistant Miguel Castro contributed to this report.
Copyright 2001 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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