New York City is looking for a partner to bring its thousands of pay phones into the internet age. The New York Times reports that yesterday, the city put out a call for bids on its public pay phone system, which currently includes around 10,000 phones across the five boroughs. Mayor Bill de Blasio hopes to see kiosks revamped with Wi-Fi hotspots and a new design — no longer just pay phones but public communications structures. Whoever wins the franchise will pay the larger of either 50 percent of gross revenues or $17.5 million, the amount New York received from operators in 2013; The new phone kiosks will need to carry less advertising, but they can be taller than existing structures, if thats necessary for the hotspot equipment.
Comments are closed.
