Currently, more than two hundred payphones are still operating in Lithuania, but there will be no more of them next year at the latest. The country's telecommunications leader Telia, which is obliged by law to service and maintain payphones, calculates that most of these devices are used only a few to a dozen times throughout the year.
"In a country where there are more active mobile SIM cards than the population, payphones have long since become an unnecessary pastime. Most of them are just collecting dust, and the technology itself is morally outdated, so we have been asking the Communications Regulatory Authority (RRT) for several years for permission to refuse the provision of this unprofitable service," says Birutė Eimontaitė, Head of Communications at Telia.
Last year, there were 392 payphones in Lithuania, but this year in May, RRT allowed to reduce their number to 213. That's exactly how Telia has them today.
A population survey conducted by RRT itself last year showed that only about 1 percent used payphones. respondents.
However, the situation will change fundamentally this year. Amendments to the Electronic Communications Law, which transpose the European Electronic Communications Code into Lithuanian law, have already been prepared - Lithuania has until the end of this year to do so.
In the new version of the law, payphones are no longer designated as a universal service. This means that Telia will no longer have the obligation to provide communication services via payphones.
"At least 12 countries of the European Union have abandoned payphones as universal services. And the long-term statistics of "Telia" unequivocally say that Lithuania has matured for this a long time ago. Most payphones make from a few to a dozen calls throughout the year, and the average duration of all payphone calls is less than a minute," says B. Eimontaitė.
She notes that payphones have been unprofitable for more than a decade. There is no rush to abandon them completely, arguing that these devices can be used to call the General Assistance Center (BPC). However, Telia's statistics show that calls from payphones to the emergency number 112 are only isolated per year. In addition, calls from payphones cannot be identified, so there are often false reports that disrupt the work of the BPC.
Another reason to abandon payphones is that there are simply no more payphone card manufacturers in the world. Telia still has enough cards in stock, but when they run out, the current payphones would have to be reworked or replaced, which would be an expensive and pointless investment.
Photo: Rytis Šeškaitis
