BellSouth to pull pay phones in 2003

In its corporate offices in Atlanta, Bell South Telephone Company, whose coverage area includes Louisiana, revised plans to continue to offer public communication (pay phone) until December 31, 2003.
Bell South who is the largest carrier of payphones in Louisiana has noticed a decline in the payphone arena, with more oblivious factors in 1998.
“Bell South is putting its focus back on home domestic & international service, and DSL (high speed Internet service)”, said Tom Boggs, Manager of the Bell South External Affairs division, “Market trends with cellular devices forced Bell South to look at the whole payphone operation at large.”
Although Bell South has 40 percent ownership of Cingular Wireless, it had nothing to do with the company’s decision to pull out of the payphone operation. Bell South decided to extend its operation until the end of 2003, because large customers such as the city of Baton Rouge, Baton Rouge Metro Airport, and local prisons had contracts until that date.
However, the trend has been set that it is more so of a decline versus competition among small companies. Although Bell South is the major payphone carrier in Louisiana, there are 200 additional certified providers, such as Adelphia Business Solutions, Baton Rouge payphone inc., and North American Phone Company, but the majority of these companies do not offer payphone service.</</p>