Cisco Systems and Time Warner Cable (TWC) were among a number of companies discussing the possibility of turning New York’s disused phone booths into communication hubs at a recent industry meeting.
A host of big names from the telecommunications and technology industries joined Cisco and TWC, including IBM, Cablevision, Samsung and Google. Representatives from each world-leading company talked about ways of utilising 10,000 pay phones across the city to house Wi-Fi hotspots, techworld.com reports.
Acccording to pcworld.com, these hubs would also provide power points, allowing users to charge smartphones, tablet computers and other devices.
The project has considerable potential in the way of revenue, with around 4,000 of the booths currently displaying advertising collateral. Given the fact that most are situated in high-traffic areas, the space is likely to command high fees from marketers.
It is thought that the upgrade project’s winning bidder would share this revenue with the city, with the government saying it will pay a minimum of $17.5 million in compensation.
Until recently, many of New York’s booths were owned and operated by Verizon Communications, which is also said to be interested in working on the new scheme. While phone booths have largely fallen out of favour due to the rise of smartphones, they returned to the spotlight once more when Hurricane Sandy damaged most of the city’s cellular networks in 2012.
