| Name | Telia GPT-Plessey |
| Date | 1990s. Interesting that this is usually a coin phone (used extensively in the UK and elsewhere) and that it has been modified here for only bank card use. |
| Manufacturer | GPT (GEC-Plessey Telecommunications). UK |
| Payphone 600 used in the UK Payphone 600 used in Mexico Used in New Zealand |
Telia GPT-Plessey
This Swedish Telia payphone is a card-operated member of the British Plessey/GPT public-telephone family, recognisable by its moulded case, display, metal keypad and secure compartment. The notice, “Här ringer du med kontokort” (“Here you call with an account card”), shows that it accepted bank or charge cards rather than coins. Arrows guided the caller through inserting the card, dialling and completing the call, while the display supplied charging information. It was probably installed during the transition from the state Televerket network to the Telia system in the early 1990s.
Plessey was a British electronics, defence and telecommunications company whose roots dated to 1917. Its telecommunications operations expanded after absorbing Ericsson Telephones Ltd and Liverpool’s Automatic Telephone & Electric Company in 1961. The latter’s Strowger Works at Edge Lane, Liverpool, became a Plessey telephone-equipment factory. Plessey developed several payphones for British Telecom, including the CT24/CT25 Payphone 600 and 500 family introduced in the 1980s, and exported related designs internationally. In 1988 Plessey and the General Electric Company combined their telecommunications divisions as GEC Plessey Telecommunications—GPT. After Plessey’s 1989 takeover by GEC and Siemens, GPT continued as a British telecom manufacturer before its businesses were divided between Siemens and Marconi.
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