From necessity to eyesore,
word has it that some of these phones still actually work. But fewer and
fewer people are using them.
Vittaya Yoondorn
Pay telephones in Pattaya are quickly going the way of the telegraph.
Many of the booths are still standing, but if there are phones inside,
they likely are dead.
With mobile phone penetration in Thailand higher than 100% - there are
13 million more mobile phones than people in Thailand - the need for a
coin-operated fixed line has all but disappeared. The rise of the
smartphone, expected to double penetration this year, is eliminating the
need for voice calls altogether, as people text, e-mail and post to
social media.
While public utilities have given up on pay phones, a
few private companies are still trying to make a go of it. Most of these
are in shopping malls and supermarkets, but a few working phones can be
found on Pattaya’s streets.
Most, however, are ghost booths, filled with trash and advertisement,
not people and phones. Technically, pasting advertisements on phone
booths is illegal under a 1992 city law, but like so many Thai laws,
they’re not enforced.
Nonetheless, police occasionally find it a handy code to roll out during
larger arrests. A Russian arrested recently on loan-sharking charges was
also charged with advertising his illegal business on old phone booths.
