City’s phone boxes of the future

TALL, black and silver objects have started appearing in streets across Swansea.

The futuristic-looking towers like the one pictured left, which measure only 27cm wide, have been put there by telecommunications company BT to nudge Swansea further into the 21st century.

Called “InLinks”, they will provide free wi-fi, telephone calls and phone-charging points across the city and are the first to be installed in Wales.

So far, they are only available in London, Leeds, Glasgow and Southampton.

BT is building 28 units which will replace 43 ageing phone boxes in Swansea as part of a “digital district” regeneration project.

Swansea council leader Rob Stewart said: “We want to increase the number of people working and living in Swansea – and InLink will be a big help. The installation of BT InLinks matches perfectly the council’s ongoing work to transform the city centre into a vibrant and bustling location for leisure, work, trade and visits.”

Using the latest digital innovation, the touch-screen telephones and kiosks will provide:

■ Free UK landline and mobile calls;

■ free super-fast 1Gbps wifi to devices within their 100m range;

■ free smartphone charging ports;

■ A 999 call button; and

■ free access to maps and information about services in the area.