Vandal-proof phones coming

Press, 23 September 1987, Page 27

Vandal-proof phones coming

pa Auckland A vandal-proof public ' telephone is soon to ap- < pear in New Zealand. ■ ' The telecom product manager for payphones, . Paul Sinclair, said it / planned to lease or sell public telephones to service stations and other retailers. The company would try out 250 new British-made phones soon. Retailers may rent or buy the new phones ana l .' keep the profits. The pay-off lor Telecom is an ejected ; reduction in vandalism. The new strategy has r been forced on the cor-

poration by repair bills averaging $5OOO a phone each year in some parts of Auckland. The price of calls is expected to stay the same, but retailers will have the right to decide how long a caller can stay on the line. . The new system, which will not initially replace existing public phone boxes, is expected to start within six months. Telecom has already imported the first 250 special phones at a cost of $250,000. The marketing manager for Telecom in South Auckland, Mr Brian

Fawdray, says some phone boxes get a rough time. One specially built with armour plating, was attacked with axes by six youths. A man tied a rope around another phone box and then tried to pull it over with his car. Mr Fawdray says another problem is people using the phone boxes as toilets. In Dunedin the loss of phone books is so regular Telecom no longer supplies them in public boxes and users have to dial directory for numbers.