The end of an era: Last telephone booth goes to the museum

Usually, telecommunications companies invite the media when they want to market a technical novelty. In the case of the telephone booth in Baden, it's just the other way around: it's the final point in the story of a public icon.

In front of running cameras, a crane lifted the last Publifon operated by Swisscom at Bruggerstrasse 164 in Baden into the air. The telephone booth, originally installed in 1962, will be reinstalled in the Museum of Communication in Bern - as a silent witness to a bygone era.

The end of the telephone booth has been a long time coming. The loss of importance began with the triumph of the cell phone at the end of the 1990s. Just under 25 years ago, more than 58,000 private and public payphones were in operation in Switzerland.

There was a telephone booth in practically every municipality - as prescribed by the Swiss Confederation to Swisscom or the former state-owned company "Swiss Post, Telegraphy and Telephony (PTT)". The booths, which often reeked of cold cigarette smoke, also always contained a number of telephone directories.

Phone cards as a collector's item

Those who made short or long phone calls paid for the calls with coins or a phone card. These colored cards with magnetic strips became objects of desire for collectors. Swisscom is taking back "taxcards" that are still valid until the end of February.

Between 2004 and 2016, the number of calls plummeted by 95 percent, according to Swisscom. For the public phones in the universal service, the number fell by a third in 2016. More than 1,000 devices remained unused for days. The costs for operation and maintenance could no longer be covered by call revenues.

Since last year, Swisscom is no longer obliged to operate "public payphones with prepayment (coins or phone cards)". Over the past two years, Swisscom has scaled back around 3,000 public telephones.

However, the company still keeps public telephones in operation on behalf of hospitals, restaurants, schools and private individuals. 150 round glass booths ("Telecabs 2000") remain: As operator of the booths, the advertising company APG|SGA finances free calls to Swiss fixed and mobile networks. The costs for maintenance, cleaning and calls are co-financed by posters, among other things.

Cabin as a greenhouse

The telephone booth from Bruggerstrasse in Baden is now going to the Museum of Communication in Bern. According to museum curator Juri Jaquemet, the last telephone booth represents a "kind of landline telephone guide fossil" for the museum. It is not only a technical artifact, but is also associated with cultural techniques and processes.

Around 650 other telephone booths have been repurposed or repurposed for other purposes. They now serve as vending machines for drinks or snacks, as locations for defibrillators, bookcases or bars. Swisscom even organized a competition last year with the ten best ideas for giving the booths a second life.

Ideas for a vertical garden house, for a tomato house, for a "do-it-yourself" gallery, for a mini-disco or for the smallest art stage won.(SDA)