A review committee yesterday approved New York city mayor Bill de Blasio‘s plan to convert the city’s grimy telephones into free Wi-Fi hotspots.
The city’s Franchise and Concession Review Committee approved the plan unanimously, clearing the way for the installation of thousands of Wi-Fi sites across New York City over the next ten years.
In November, the city chose a consortium of companies including Qualcomm and Titan called CityBridge to execute the project.
The phone booths will offer Internet access, free domestic calling and a charging station for mobile devices. CityBridge will spend over $200 million to build the network, which will be paid for via advertising revenue from digital displays on the new kiosks.
This May, de Blasio announced a request for proposal to create internet hot spots out of the old phone booths in its five Burroughs Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Staten Island He was hoping the booths would also have free cell phone charging stations and interactive touch screens with info on nearby attractions, restaurants and other sights.
“For years, the question was, ‘What to do with pay phones?’ and now we have an answer,” de Blasio said in a statement issued this Spring. “By using a historic part of New York’s street fabric, we can significantly enhance public availability of increasingly vital broadband access, invite new and innovative digital services, and increase revenue to the city — all at absolutely no cost to taxpayers.”
Before the contracts expired, only 3 companies controlled about 84% of the phone kiosks in the city. The kiosks will be installed, operated and maintained at up to 10,000 points across all five boroughs.
The city is looking to pull in $17.5 million in annual revenue thru June 2026 if this initiative succeeds this round, as this is the second time the city has attempted to convert the old germy phone booths into something productive and useful.
Michael Bloomberg launched a pilot program for a similar initiative while he was mayor but that effort failed to get off the ground.
Maybe second time is the charm. Here’s hoping. It would be great project, especially the charging station function because Lord knows we’re always out of smart phone battery life around here.
h/t The Week
