News

BT wins deal on Internet kiosks in UK airports

February 22, 2004

LONDON -- Telecom group BT has won a £18 million (US $34 million) deal to add up to 180 of its new Internet kiosks at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports.

According to an article on IC Newcastle.co.uk, BT is to replace about one-third of the existing payphones at the airports with the Web-enabled payphones.

The company will also continue to manage the airports' remaining 350 basic payphones as part of the five-year deal with airport operator BAA. BT said the contract is the largest of its kind won by its payphones division.

The group has been replacing standard payphones around the UK with the new Internet kiosks. These allow people to surf the Internet and to send e-mails and text messages, as well as to make calls.

It currently has about 1,500 of the kiosks and expects to have 20,000 within the next five years, the article said.

The company plans to cut the number of basic payphones around the UK by about 30,000 to 100,000 in the next two years.