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British councils allowed to adopt red phone boxes

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-08-28 09:48

LONDON  - British towns and villages that want to keep the country's famous red phone boxes will be able to do so, even if the phones are removed because they are no longer used enough, BT announced Wednesday.

Phone booths in London in 2005. British towns and villages that want to keep the country's famous red phone boxes will be able to do so, even if the phones are removed because they are no longer used enough, BT announced Wednesday. [Agencies]

Telecoms operator British Telecom (BT) said it had reviewed an earlier decision to remove the public pay phones -- known the world over as icons of Britain -- because increased use of mobile phones had made them increasingly obsolete.

Local councils that want to maintain the phone boxes, with or without a working telephone, "for aesthetic or heritage reasons will be able to do so," the company said.

They will have to pay BT 250 pounds (310 euros, 460 dollars) for a red phone box without a functioning phone, or 500 pounds for one with a working connection.

Councils have until October 1 to decide whether they want to maintain kiosks.

In 2002, BT maintained around 95,000 pay phones across Britain, but 31,000 have since been removed as mobile phone usage has become commonplace.