| Name | New World Payphones – Dublin |
| Date | C. 2021 |
| Manufacturer | New World Fitted with Schlumberger card phone (amazingly!) |
Development of New World Payphones – Dublin
In 2021, a new generation of public telephone kiosks appeared on the streets of Dublin, supplied by New World Payphones (NWP) as replacements for ageing Eir phone boxes. Twenty-two new kiosks were initially planned across Dublin City, including locations on Talbot Street, Mary Street, Dorset Street and Abbey Street.
The kiosks represented a very different approach to the traditional enclosed telephone box. New World’s modern design combines a conventional public telephone with a large digital display, wayfinding information and facilities intended to provide useful street-based communications. NWP’s standard kiosk design can also incorporate contactless, card and cash payment and public Wi-Fi.
Their introduction was somewhat controversial. By 2021, mobile-phone ownership had made public telephones increasingly redundant, and critics argued that the prominent digital advertising panel was the real commercial justification for installing the structures. Supporters, however, pointed out that public phones remained valuable for homeless people, vulnerable members of the community and anyone without access to a working mobile telephone.
The Dublin installations are particularly interesting because they represent one of the final stages in Ireland’s long public-payphone story: the telephone box evolving from a dedicated communications facility into a multi-purpose digital street kiosk, funded largely through advertising.
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