pay phone story

Payphone Story – Global History of Payphones and Phone Booths

Swedish Payphone- GN 203 Telematic

The GN Telematic GNT 203 was a Danish electronic three-coin payphone used by Sweden’s Televerket from the late 1980s. It accepted 50 öre, 1-krona and 5-krona coins. Its robust modular cabinet also influenced GN’s GNT 807 cardphone, reportedly manufactured under licence by Telkor in South Africa from around 1988.

Name	GNT 203 Telematic payphone
Date	c. late 1980s
Manufacturer	GNT Automatic
Link	Made under license by Telkor in South Africa (as card phone)

GNT 203 Telematic payphone — Denmark/Sweden, c. late 1980s

The GNT 203 was an electronic three-coin payphone manufactured by Denmark’s GN Telematic A/S during the late 1980s. Installed on the Swedish Televerket network, it accepted 50 öre, 1-krona and 5-krona coins. A small display showed the remaining credit, while illuminated indicators instructed the caller when to insert additional money. Users could recover unused coins or begin another call without replacing the handset.

Its heavy steel cabinet, stainless-steel fascia, armoured handset cord and substantial separate cash compartment were designed for unsupervised public locations. Despite its robust construction, the sloping push-button keypad, electronic display and pictorial instructions gave it a distinctly modern appearance compared with earlier mechanical Televerket coin telephones. The same machine was also configured for Finnish currency, demonstrating the adaptability of GN Telematic’s modular design.

GN Telematic developed related coin, magnetic-card and chip-card payphones for numerous export markets. The company’s GNT 807 cardphone appears to have formed the basis of the orange card telephone introduced in South Africa around 1988. That version was reportedly manufactured locally under licence by Telkor, part of Telephone Manufacturers of South Africa, with South African electronics and operating instructions fitted to the Danish-derived cabinet. However, the precise licensing arrangement requires further documentary confirmation.

The coin-operated machine was manufactured in the late 1980s by the Danish company GN Telematic. Behind the company name lies a long Nordic communication history. Store Nordiske Telegrafselskab was founded in 1869 to build telegraph lines from Denmark to China and thus become a competitor to the British telegraph network between Great Britain and the colonies in the Far East. The initials in the English name “Great Northern…” reappeared from 1985 in the company’s various companies, such as this one for the manufacture of telephones, GN Telematic