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Payphones Still Make Millions of Dollars (vice.com)

Posted by msmash on from the where-we-are-at dept.

From a report on Motherboard: Disruption-y tech companies like Uber and Twitter are a big part of "the discourse" and our daily lives, but neither of them make any profit. You know what once-groundbreaking technology doesn't have any problems making bank year after year? That's right, it's payphones. Most people now have a cell phone, so you may have wondered who still uses those rusted, quarter-eating boxes. As it turns out, a lot of people do. According to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission's 2017 monitoring report, payphones in Canada made $22 million CAD in 2016 (this figure may not account for the cost of upkeep, but the CRTC has stated in the past that payphones are "financially viable at current rates.") That's spread out among nearly 60,000 payphones in the country, which made roughly $300 per phone over the course of the year. That's at least a few calls per day, each. The US numbers are similar: The FCC reports that in 2015 payphones made $286 million, which is comparable for a population ten times the size of Canada's.

3 of 142 comments (clear)

  1. They're still useful... by bill.pev · · Score: 4, Insightful

    To avoid certain roaming charges [abroad]
    And, for contact with my clients wanting a dime bag or two.
    feel me?

  2. Does this include prisons? by javakah · · Score: 5, Insightful

    My understanding is that there is some really questionable pricing/gouging for phone calls from prisons.

    I'm really wondering if calls from prisons are included as part of their numbers here.

  3. Re:I can see this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    and if our current administration has their way, those programs will fizzle away into nothingness. they've already capped the low-income internet program; at a level far too low to meet demand.