The last phone boxes (public telephones) have disappeared from the city streets of Granada, killed off by vandalism and a complete lack of use thanks to mobile phones.

The Head of the Department of Mobility at the City Hall, Raquel Ruz, said their removal has been carried out because of the state of abandonment of these phone fixtures. During the previous legislature the question had come up whether to repair and maintain them, or remove them completely. When the new City Council came in, 15 phone boxes were removed and now, the remaining 32 have disappeared, too.

The cost of their removal is financed by Telefónica, to whom the phones belong. It’s not only a case of simply dismantling them and carting them away, but also or repairing the pavement where they stood — you can’t just leave a hole for somebody to fall into.

Some of the last to be removed were the ones in front of the bus station, and tram stations, as well as the airport. Just about all of them were the relatively new design; i.e., a single support with a covered hood over the phone user. All the old phone cabins had long since disappeared.

(News: City & Metropolitan Area, Granada, Andalucia)