MOBILE phones are pushing public telephone boxes off Slovakia’s streets. Telecom operator Slovak Telekom (ST), which operates the network of public phones, is gradually decreasing the number of public telephones, with plans to keep only those that are used the most and in places with limited access to mobile operators’ services, ST announced in early April.
The Slovak telecom market regulator, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, cancelled Slovak Telekom’s duty to operate public telephone boxes as of last August, largely due to an increase in the usage of mobile services across Slovakia.
At the end of 2012 there were 3,129 public phones in operation, many of which sat unused throughout the whole year. The average monthly revenue per telephone box is about €2, which far from covers the costs of maintenance and repairing damage inflicted on them.
ST plans to keep about 200 public phones located in hospitals, prisons, refugee camps and other places. The removal of unused public phones started in March.
