Is BT set to axe 30,000 payphones?

Where would the tramps go to the toilet?

BT has denied rumours it is to close 30,000 payphones across the UK as people continue to shun the booths in favour of their mobile phones.

In many people's mind the rather sad and forgotten BT phone box now amounts to little more than a tramps' toilet and a receptacle for hookers' calling cards, but BT insists the business is still viable and says the 30,000 figure is being taken way out of context.

BT currently runs 72,000 phone boxes around the UK. Of these, 42,000 are making a loss and the telecoms giant has promised to maintain 12,000 of these loss-making boxes.

However, a BT spokesman has said that doesn't necessarily mean the remaining 30,000 boxes are set to be axed. Currently the incumbent only has definite plans to close between 9,000 and 10,000 of the boxes by the end of 2005 - the rest could yet be saved.

"We'd like to open up the debate on ways of funding these loss-making kiosks," said the spokesman.

Ofcom is currently looking into the provision of phone boxes, including those in loss-making locations, in order to establish whether they are covered by BT's universal service obligation. But BT believes the cost of maintaining them should be met by others and not just the incumbent, especially where the loss of a phone box could be depriving a small local community.

One idea put forward by BT's spokesman was that the mobile industry should be encouraged to foot the bill "especially as the use of mobile phones is the reason why so many kiosks are making a loss".