Telephone box, Belfast (5)

Image: © Albert Bridge Taken: 5 Mar 2012

A BT telephone box on the Bloomfield Road close to the roundabout Image The following is a quotation from the Ofcom website “1.6 Public Call Boxes (PCBs) provide a service that is valued and needed by many people without a phone or those away from home, who cannot, for whatever reason, use their mobile. Many disadvantaged and vulnerable consumers still rely on PCBs. 1.7 BT and Kingston are each required to ensure adequate coverage of PCBs. Ofcom considers that adequate coverage is best determined at a local level through consultation with local public bodies. The last PCB cannot be removed from a site if those bodies object - ‘the local veto’. As revenues from PCBs have fallen in recent years, BT argues that the local veto is unduly restrictive. Ofcom proposes that the local veto should remain but with new measures to make the process more transparent, accountable and consistent. Ofcom is proposing to issue guidance on requests for PCB removal, to improve the consultation process and to establish an appeal process.”

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