By Graham Hayday, 13 August 2001 08:44
NEWS BT is going to tear down hundreds of its unprofitable payphones. The latest move by new chairman Sir Christopher Bland - who seems to have done more in his first four months or so at the helm than happened under his predecessor's last four years - is designed to save more money for the telco which is still struggling under a mountain of debt. It has to be said though that that debt is shrinking rapidly: Bland has shaved at least £10bn off the £30bn deficit he inherited. The news co-incides with speculation that BT is to sever its involvement with Concert, the joint venture with AT&T. BT owns 141,000 payphones in all, and is now looking at terminating the future of several hundred of them. The Independent on Sunday reports that mobile phone usage has led to a slump in BT's payphone profits, with revenues from many of them falling by an average of 37 per cent. The first to go will be those that are "continually vandalised and therefore make no money", according to Angus Porter, managing director of BT's consumer division. Those in rural areas are likely to remain open for business, largely because they make money, but also because BT is required by the terms of its licence to maintain a prescribed level of service.
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