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September 18, 2004
Crawford on saving BT call boxes
Bruce Crawford is objecting to BT ‘closing’ 1,000 of their 6,000 public telephone boxes in Scotland.
I wasn’t aware they were still being used. I thought attempts to save the old red boxes were purely archaeological. Even if the boxes are still occasionally used, wouldn’t it be better to concentrate on putting in modern communications systems?
BT is now a privatized telecom and like similar companies it is oriented towards making a profit rather than providing a service. Britain is still relatively backward as a result of the government allowing the interests of BT to overrule those of technological progress - a case of entrusting a highwayman with building the roads. Wouldn’t it be better to leave BT out of the picture now?
American communities, particularly in remote areas, have their own communications projects, whether based on wire, cable, fibre, wireless, satellite or power-line transmission. Scotland should do the same thing? No town or village should be left off the net. Whatever legal obstacles exist should be challenged and removed.
Compared to other infrastructure projects such as modernizing the railways and building roads, modern communications are cheap, quick and easy to implement. They are also arguably far more important.
www.snp.org/html/news/printerfriendly.php?newsID=2438
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3663636.stm
Posted by Simon Holledge at September 18, 2004 09:37 PM