Mobiles ring changes for payphones

And now, the end is near...

The success of mobile phones has spelled doom for many of Britain's phone boxes. Oftel plans to reduce the number of trademark red boxes around the country after usage has plunged by one-third in the last three years. The telecoms regulator has ordered BT, which owns 141,000 of the 155,000 phone boxes, to start reducing the number of payphones that appear in dense numbers, such as in shopping centres or train stations, the FT reports. However, the telco will need to maintain phones servicing remote areas.