Thousands of phone boxes will be protected in the UK under new rules, despite move to mobiles

Around 5,000 phone boxes across Britain will be protected from closure under new plans, Ofcom has announced.

The regulator is proposing stronger rules to safeguard the boxes if they meet certain criteria such as being located at an accident or suicide hotspot.

Some 96 per cent of adults now own a mobile phone with signal improving significantly in recent years and most adults now rely on mobiles as opposed to landlines.

As part of a move to digital phone lines, which will require investment to upgrade phone boxes, BT is currently assessing which ones are no longer needed and can be decommissioned.

Around 5,000 phone boxes across the UK will be protected from closure, Ofcom said today

However, under the current process for removing payphones, some that are needed by local communities risk being withdrawn.

Therefore, Ofcom is proposing stronger rules to safeguard a phone box against removal, if any of four criteria applies.

These are: if the location of the phone box is not already covered by all four mobile networks; if it is located at an accident or suicide hotspot; if more than 52 calls have been made from it over the past 12 months and whether there are exceptional circumstances which mean there is a need for a public call box.

Exceptional circumstances could include issues relevant to the location of the box, for example, a coastal location where mobile reception is less resilient, as well as the types of calls made from the phone, such as to helpline numbers.

Ofcom estimates that around 5,000 phone boxes would be protected from removal by the new rules.

BT and KCOM, which operates Hull’s unique white phone boxes, can propose to remove phone boxes that do not fall within this criteria but would need to formally consult with local communities before any action is taken.

Selina Chadha, Ofcom’s director of connectivity, said: ‘Some of the call boxes we plan to protect are used to make relatively low numbers of calls. 

‘But if one of those calls is from a distressed child, an accident victim or someone contemplating suicide, that public phone line can be a lifeline at a time of great need.

‘We also want to make sure that people without mobile coverage, often in rural areas, can still make calls. 

‘At the same time, we’re planning to support the rollout of new phone boxes with free Wi-Fi and charging.’

Under the plans, BT and KCOM must also install batteries in some payphones so they can still be used during a power cut.

Phoneboxes have developed many times over the years with around 21,000 currently in the UK

Who still uses payphones?

There are currently around 21,000 call boxes across the country. 

For people without a mobile, or for those in areas with poor mobile coverage, these can be a lifeline for making calls to friends and family, helpline services and accessing emergency services.

Almost 150,000 calls were made to emergency services from phone boxes in the year to May 2020, while 25,000 calls were made to Childline and 20,000 to Samaritans.

At the same time, the services people need from public call boxes are changing. 

Call volumes from payphones have fallen from around 800million minutes in 2002 to just 7million in 2020.

To update the boxes, a new generation of street hubs being rolled out by BT offer services such as free Wi-Fi and free charging.

Ofcom is also proposing to allow BT and KCOM greater flexibility in the range of services they can provide in their phone boxes, to keep pace with people’s needs.

Under BT’s ‘Adopt a Kiosk’ scheme – which allows local bodies to purchase a red phone box for £1 and use it for something else – more than 6,000 have been converted to things like community libraries, or are used to store public defibrillators. 

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk