| Name | Telkor Easicoin |
| Date | c. 1998 |
| Manufacturer | Telkor Payphones (TMSA – Telephone Manufacturers of South Africa Ltd.) |
Information and images with special thanks to Mark Van Der Heever and Peter Van Almelo
Development of the Telkor Easicoin
Introduced during the late 1990s, the Easicoin was an electronically controlled indoor payphone designed for privately operated, supervised locations rather than the traditional public telephone network. Manufactured by Telkor for Telkom South Africa, it was intended for shops, service stations, hotels, transport terminals and other businesses wishing to provide telephone access while generating a modest income from call charges.
The Easicoin connected to a standard analogue telephone line and operated on the pre-payment principle. Business owners could program the charging rate within parameters established by Telkom, allowing them to recover line rental and operating costs while earning a small profit. The telephone accepted only the modern South African coinage introduced during the 1990s, simplifying operation and reducing maintenance compared with earlier multi-denomination payphones.
Designed with a compact tabletop housing and electronic call control, the Easicoin offered reliable operation with minimal servicing requirements. Many units were compatible with Telkor’s Calypso PABX systems, making them suitable for hotels, offices and other managed environments where internal telephone exchanges were already installed. The Easicoin formed part of Telkom’s strategy to expand public telephone availability through privately managed facilities during the final years of widespread payphone use, before mobile telephones rapidly reduced demand for coin-operated services.
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