Russia’s Rostelecom offers to use payphones as notification means

MOSCOW, Sep 21 (PRIME) -- Public payphones in Russia could notify people in remote areas in emergency situations, and the country needs them in this state, Sergei Kalugin, president of state-controlled telecom operator Rostelecom, told reporters Wednesday.

“Probably, payphones are not the most advanced means of communications, but there are situations when it is the only means available, primarily, during critical situations, force majeure. Our country is immense, and people live in hard-to-reach areas; in case of emergency, a payphone can be the only left means of communications,” Kalugin said.

For example, payphones have properly functioned during heavy rains in the country’s Far East over the last two years. “Any country should have a system of emergency notification, not only in Russia, payphones are used for these purposes everywhere,” the executive said.

The Finance Ministry earlier proposed to stop allocating money from the budget for payphones and a part of points of collective access to the Internet. At present, the country has 148,000 public payphones in remote areas.

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