pay phone story

Payphone Story – Global History of Payphones and Phone Booths

British Interphone Phone Box

The British Interphone Phone Box was a rare British adaptation of the Italian Rotor payphone system developed by IPM. Installed by private operators during the 1990s, it featured modular electronic construction, card and coin payment options, and remote monitoring. Although durable and innovative, it achieved only limited success before mobile phones reduced demand.

Name	Interphone Phone Box
Date	c. 2000
Manufacturer	The British Interphone Phone Box was an unusual chapter in British public telephony. Developed by the Italian company IPM (Industria Politecnica Meridionale) and based on the successful Italian Rotor payphone platform. The payphones used are Italian Rotor payphones (straight after being pulled from service in Italy)

Development of the Interphone phone box

Interphone was a small private payphone operator in the UK during the early–mid 1990s, emerging after telecom liberalisation challenged British Telecom’s monopoly. It operated coin- and card-based payphones in high-footfall locations such as railway stations, shopping centres, and forecourts.

Interphone is most closely associated with the Mercury Communications network, acting as an installer/operator of alternative kiosks like the Machin-built Mercury booths (e.g. KPR06 types). These kiosks were visually distinct from traditional red K6 telephone kiosk boxes, often using bright colours and modern materials to signal competition.

Technically, Interphone units connected via the Mercury network rather than BT lines, sometimes using smart cards or alternative billing systems instead of standard coin-only operation. However, coverage and reliability were inconsistent compared to BT’s entrenched infrastructure.

The company was short-lived. By the mid-to-late 1990s, most Interphone installations were removed or absorbed as the UK market consolidated and Mercury’s public payphone ambitions declined. Today, Interphone kiosks are rare survivals, representing a brief but important phase in the privatisation and diversification of British public telephony.

The British Interphone Phone Box was an unusual chapter in British public telephony. Developed by the Italian company IPM (Industria Politecnica Meridionale) and based on the successful Italian Rotor payphone platform, it was introduced into parts of the United Kingdom during the 1990s through private operators rather than the national British Telecom network. Unlike Britain’s traditional red kiosks and BT payphones, the Interphone offered a modern electronic design with modular construction, allowing operators to add features such as coin handling, phone-card readers and remote monitoring systems as technology evolved.

The payphone inherited the Rotor’s reputation for durability, vandal resistance and sophisticated electronic controls. However, it achieved only limited success in Britain, where BT’s own payphone systems dominated the market and public familiarity remained tied to traditional British telephone kiosks. As a result, only relatively small numbers were installed before mobile phones rapidly reduced demand for public telephones. Today, surviving examples are rare and represent an interesting link between Italian and British payphone history, demonstrating how the influential Rotor design briefly found a foothold beyond Italy.

Below- the Proside UK96 MK 2 Kiosk