DOOH Advertising

Sydney considers, demos smart phone booths

Provided by iStock.

January 9, 2023

Sydney, Australia is demonstrating and evaluating a proposed smart phone booth concept from JCDecaux, an Out of Home Advertising firm, according to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald.

The proposal is to replace 38 Telstra payphones, installed in 1983, with a line of what JCDecaux calls "Smart City Payphone assets," which feature a digital advertising screen, charging ports for mobile devices and (in some cases) WiFi.

""To be able to include the latest technology for the benefit of communities within a premium form, we have had to slightly increase the size of the new payphone cabinets by 25 centimeters," a spokesperson for JCDecaux said in the report.

The demo and review comes in the wake of a public backlash over a separate program that involved extra-large DOOH screens in pedestrian areas and bus stations, according to the report.

Because the proposed smart phone booths are designed to feature third-party advertising, city approval is required for the program. "As such, the community has the opportunity to comment on the proposed booths," a spokesperson for the City of Sydney said in the report.

Telstra made public payphones free to use in 2022 and stated that calls rose to over 19 million, including a quarter million emergency service calls. "Payphones serve a vital need in the community, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged," a spokesperson for Telstra said in a statement.