Don’t have a cell? Payphone calls now four bits
Telus has quietly doubled the price of making a pay phone call. The increase from 25 cents to 50 cents took effect in early September at most payphones in B.C., although some in rural areas still have to be changed manually.
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Updated: October 23, 2009 2:41 PM
Telus has quietly doubled the price of making a pay phone call.
The increase from 25 cents to 50 cents took effect in early September at most payphones in B.C., although some in rural areas still have to be changed manually.
Telus spokesman Shawn Hall said notices have been put on payphones.
“It was a fairly routine thing,” he said. “We are the last major pay phone provider in Canada to make the increase.”
The change had been approved by the CRTC in 2007 and is the first increase in B.C. since 1984.
Hall said the cost to Telus of maintaining payphones has remained constant, but the revenue coming from them has fallen dramatically as more people use cellphones.
“We’ve had to remove some money-losing phones,” he said.
“Our choice was to pull more phones out of service or to raise the prices,” Hall added.
“This increase will allow us to keep more payphones in service.”
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