In brief: French phone boxes under threat

NEWS France Telecom's decision to withdraw phone boxes that are no longer profitable has drawn swift criticsm from trade unions. The unions said what France Telecom refers to as 'relocation' is, in fact, an attack on public services. They said the now privatised company may only care about making a profit. France Telecom justified its decision by referring to the evolution of society and, in particular, the democratisation of mobile phones. However, it is unlikely that phone boxes will simply disappear from French streets. The telco is legally bound to feed a fund for the maintaining of public services, while no decision on the matter can be taken without local authority approval.