Ofcom has said it will protect thousands of vital phone boxes from closure under new rules.

As part of the 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. Under the current process for removing payphones, some boxes that are needed by local communities risk being closed.

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.

The UK watchdog has announced what it describes as clearer, stronger rules to safeguard a phone box against removal if any of four criteria applies:

• its location is not already covered by all four mobile networks; or
• it is located at an accident or suicide hotspot; or
• more than 52 calls have been made from it over the past 12 months; or
• exceptional circumstances mean there is a need for a public call box.[1]

There are currently around 21,000 phone boxes around the country. The organisation predicts that roughly 5,000 phone boxes across the UK will be protected from removal.

Ofcom said that while BT and KCOM can propose to remove phone boxes that do not fall within this strict criteria, the companies would need to formally consult with local communities before any action is taken.

Because the services people need from public call boxes are changing, with call volumes from payphones falling from 800 million minutes in 2002 to just seven million last year, Ofcom is also proposing to allow the telecoms businesses greater flexibility in the range of services they can provide in their phone boxes. The organisation pointed to a new generation of street hubs which are currently being rolled out by BT, which include services such as free Wi-Fi and charging.

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

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