Around one in five of Scotland’s public payphones will be removed as part of new money saving measures by BT.
The phone company has agreed to get rid of more than 900 phone boxes across the country over the next three years.
The move comes after consultations which revealed that their usage has dropped by up to 90% over the last 10 years due to the increasing use of mobile phones.
In Aberdeen, 29 payphones have been identified for removal, and in Aberdeenshire 85 are facing the axe.
Initially, BT had earmarked around 1,500 payphones for removal, however after speaking to local authorities, the company agreed to retain 428 – meaning a total of 947 kiosks will now be scrapped.
Concerns were raised that a great deal of boxes that were due to be put out of use were vital for more remote communities and regions of Scotland, such as the Highlands and west coast, because of the lack of mobile phone signal.
Although many phones are capable of contacting the emergency services no matter how poor their reception or little credit is available, fears were raised that without payphones, emergency operators could have trouble calling people back in areas with little signal.
As a result of these concerns, BT has agreed to retain a great deal of its boxes in such regions.
The highest phone box in the UK, which lies at the base of a ski slope in the Cairngorms, is one of the 98 payphone in the Highlands which will be saved.
Other kiosks have been “adopted” by local groups across Scotland, who have transformed them into miniature art galleries or community libraries.
A spokesman for BT said: “We’re committed to providing a public payphone service but demand just isn’t there anymore.
“With usage declining by more than 90% in the last decade, we’ve continued to review and, where necessary, rationalise our payphone estate to continue to meet remaining customer demand and manage our costs.
“As an alternative to removal, we continue to actively promote the adopt a kiosk scheme to all councils whilst being committed to maintaining the payphones that remain.”
