pay phone story

Payphone Story – illustrated international encyclopaedia of payphones

Brazilian Payphone- Early Brazilian payphones

Brazil’s early payphones included sturdy metal instruments with separate receivers and transmitters, followed by rotary-dial models. Calls were paid for using coins or special telephone tokens, called fichas. Operators included Companhia Telefônica Brasileira and regional companies. Installed in public buildings, shops and booths, these preceded the familiar hooded street payphones.

Name	Early Brazilian payphones
Date	1920s – 1940s
Manufacturer	Western Electric USA
Credit	With thanks to- https://acervo.institutofuturos.org.br/ Images copyright Musehum, Museum of Communications and Humanities (Brazilian Telecommunications Museum)

Above- early Western Electric 55AC custom made for Brazil c.1940. Very interestingly stamped Compania Telephonica Brasiliera.

These photographs show a Western Electric 50G Coin Collector, a model identified in the Brazilian telecommunications museum catalogue with the same “Companhia Telephonica Brasileira” inscription. It was a prepayment payphone: money was deposited before the call. museusdoestado.rj.gov.br

The lettering identifies CTB, the telephone operator, while Western Electric was the equipment manufacturer. CTB adopted its name in 1923 and belonged to the Canadian Light group, operating major telephone networks in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

Development of the Brazilian Payphone

Brazil’s early public telephones were principally indoor installations in shops, cafés, pharmacies and telephone offices. Like elsewhere, the demand for phones outstripped supply, and supervised call stations were established where people paid over the counter to have timed use of phones. Equipment included ordinary wall telephones with separate payment boxes, alongside purpose-built metal payphones incorporating a coin mechanism and secure cash compartment. Surviving museum collections include Western Electric wall payphones, some tentatively dated to the 1920s. acervo.institutofuturos.org.br

The Companhia Telefônica Brasileira (CTB), controlled by Canadian interests, was the dominant operator across much of southeastern Brazil. Its public payphone service reached Santos in March 1934 and Rio de Janeiro in 1935. Installations subsequently spread through commercial premises, with telephone tokens supplementing or replacing coins. pt.wikipedia.org

The photographs show another arrangement: black rotary wall telephones grouped behind wooden partitions, with directory shelves and a separate collection box. CTB signs instructed customers to deposit 40 or 60 centavos before making a call lasting up to five minutes. These were modest public calling stations, providing access where household telephone ownership remained limited.

Elsewhere, regional concessionaires operated telephone services. Among the largest was Companhia Telefônica Nacional (CTN), associated with American ITT, serving areas of Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul. Public telephony therefore developed through separate regional networks. Indoor stations preceded the familiar outdoor orelhão shelters that later transformed Brazil’s streetscape.

Below- public call stations (note the Western Electric 155SP coin collectors on the left)