A TELECOMS giant is to extend its roll-out of new high-tech phone boxes into two Southampton’s suburbs.

BT has lodged plans to bring in new InLink boxes to the streets of Shirley and Portswood.

The firm has already spent around £800,000 replacing 32 older phoneboxes in Southampton city centre with 13 new InLink machines – which provide free superfast WiFi and phone calls.

Now BT has lodged plans with Southampton City Council to remove three older boxes in Shirley High Street and replace them with three new devices.

Plans also include three InLinks for Portswood Road, to replace three existing phoneboxes, while two more will be installed in the city centre, if the plans are given the green light.

The touch-screen devices offer free calls and beam superfast 1Gbps WiFi to devices within its 100 metre range.

 

They also include smart phone charging ports, a 999 button and maps and information about services in the area.

Since launching in July 2018, InLink UK say the devices have saved users in Southampton more than £24,000 in free phone calls.

A spokesperson for InLinkUK said: “Since our launch, we now have 13 InLinks live across Southampton with more on the way.

“The InLinks have so far saved the Southampton public thousands by providing free calls, and thousands have used the free ultrafast Wi-Fi.

“We hope to provide a total number of 20 InLinks for the city, and are continuing to work with Southampton City Council to determine the next steps for InLinks in Southampton.”

Southampton was the first city in the south, outside of London, to get the high-tech devices – which cost £50,000 each.

The InLink boxes were originally installed in the capital in 2017 and the firm plans to roll out a further 650 across the UK in the near future.

Neil Scoresby, BT’s general manager for Payphones and InLink, said: “We’re really excited by InLinkUK from BT and the popularity of its services, such as free ultrafast Wi-Fi and free calls, show that it’s proving a hit with customers.

 

“We’re in discussion with many local councils about installing more InLinks and we’re looking forward to rolling out InLinks to more London boroughs and major cities across the UK.”

The InLink project is part of BT’s plan to scrap 20,000 telephone boxes in the UK by 2022.

According to the company, phonebox usage has dropped by 90 per cent over the last decade.

The cost of maintaining the boxes is estimated at £6m per year. However, they are still used by some groups, including the elderly and people who can’t afford mobile phones.

Campaigners have also fought to keep the traditional red telephone boxes in place.

Many of the traditional booths have been transformed and preserved under the Adopt a Kiosk scheme.

The project allows councils and community groups to buy the phone boxes for just £1 from BT.

Under the scheme, more than 4,000 kiosks have been repurposed as mini-libraries and art galleries or to house defibrillation machines, information centres, shops and exhibitions.