BT is hoping to revive its troubled payphone division with 20,000 multimedia internet kiosks. The telco intends to replace its ageing public call boxes with the new kiosks over the next two years.

The company will use the kiosks for fast information access. US retailers K-mart and Bloomingdale's have recently launched similar initiatives in 200,000 stores worldwide.

In the last two years BT's payphone revenues have dropped by 37 per cent, driven down by rival operators and the increasing adoption of mobile phones. But the company is required by Oftel to maintain its 141,000 UK payphones.

The telco intends to position the kiosks in high-traffic locations such as railway stations and airports. "BT is right to look for specific locations where it will have a successful future," said Andrew Parker, a telecoms analyst with Forrester Research.

Current terminals have ISDN connections and touch screens, but future versions are likely to be fitted with keyboards. "US airports have terminals which use 802.11b wireless local area networks. We can expect European airports to have the same," said Ian Keenan, chief telecoms analyst with Gartner Group.

But the initiative could have a limited shelf life, as technologies such as GPRS and third-generation handsets will soon offer the same functionality as the internet kiosks.

First published in Computing