The massive use of mobile cellular telephony slowly he left them in oblivion. Public telephones, which for a long time were the only alternative to make calls from the street, today barely exceed 1,600 devices throughout the country.
The latest official numbers show that as of December 31, 2022 andhe public telephone park in the department of Montevideo consisted of 467 devices, according to data from the Communications Services Regulatory Unit (Ursec). Thus, the capital of the country today concentrates 29% of public telephones.
The rest, about 1,200, are distributed in the other 18 departments of the country. For example, there are 205 in Canelones, 133 in San José, 101 in Maldonado, 86 in Durazno, 72 in Colonia, and 62 in Florida.
Rivera, Tacuarembó and Paysandú still have around 50 devices each. Cerro Largo, Artigas and Salto are in the 40 range, and then come Rocha, Lavalleja, Treinta y Tres, Río Negro and Soriano with around 30 aircraft each. In Flores there are 15 public telephones.
Although the cell phone is common currency these days, The public telephone it can still be presented as a saving option in case of an emergency or when there are no minutes left in the mobile account.
Most of the telephones that still work are found in public schools and high schools, airports, bus terminals, ports, hospitals and mutual insurance companies, police departments, prisons, Inau homes and state telephone company premises, among others.
There were times of coin-operated phones (tokens), and chip card devices that were easily available at any kiosk. Then came those that worked with a magnetic stripe card, known as Telecard.
With Virtual PIN
Are phone cards still sold? Since 2016, Antel does not market physical cards for public telephones. At the moment, The company has 1,417 public telephone services throughout the country, where calls can be made using a virtual PIN.
The company offers the possibility to the clients, to acquire a virtual PIN, which fulfills the function of the telephone ex-card called Telecardwas explained from Antel to The Observer.
Likewise, customers can call any national landline telephone for free, up to a maximum of 3 minutes, while communication with the Emergency numbers 911 and 105 SAME – ASSE is without time limit and without the need to use a virtual PIN or perform any other prior action.
The current numbers are very far from those that existed prior to the year 2000. The series available from Ursec shows that in 1999 there were some 9,800 public telephones throughout the national territory. The number grew to a peak of 15,500 in 2005. From then on the amount has not stopped falling every year. The reduction is related to its lower use, maintenance costs and its low collection.
