A public call office (PCO) is a payphone facility located in a public place in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. It is also another name in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

for a public telephone box (postal addresses for these kiosks sometimes include "PCO").

India

, staffed and automated (coin-operated

payphone A payphone (alternative spelling: pay phone or pay telephone or public phone) is typically a coin-operated public telephone, often located in a telephone booth or in high-traffic public areas. Prepayment is required by inserting coins or tel ...

) versions of the service are in existence. BSNL, a

public sector The public sector, also called the state sector, is the part of the economy composed of both public services and public enterprises. Public sectors include the public goods and governmental services such as the military, law enforcement, pu ...

corporation, has the largest installation of PCOs in India. Mr. R. L. Dube, a Dept of Telecom officer, introduced concept of PCOs in India. As of 2006 there were about 4.2 million (42 lakh) PCOs operating in India, according to the

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is a regulatory body set up by the Government of India under section 3 of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997. It is the regulator of the telecommunications sector in India. ...

(TRAI).

Private sector The private sector is the part of the economy which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government. Employment The private sector employs most of the workfo ...

operators such as Reliance Infocomm, Tata Indicom,

Hutch Hutch may refer to: Places * Hutch, Kentucky, an unincorporated community located in Bell County, Kentucky, United States * Hutchinson, Kansas ("Hutch"), a city in Kansas, United States * Hutchinson, Minnesota ("Hutch"), a city in Minnesota, U ...

Idea In philosophy and in common usage, an idea (from the Greek word: ἰδέα (idea), meaning 'a form, or a pattern') is the results of thought. Also in philosophy, ideas can also be mental representational images of some object. Many philosophe ...

and

Airtel Bharti Airtel Limited is an Indian multinational telecommunications company based in New Delhi. It operates in 18 countries across South Asia and Africa, as well as the Channel Islands. Currently, Airtel provides 5G, 4G and LTE Advanced ...

predominantly are prepaid PCO providers and have a moderate number of PCOs in the public landscape. There are two types of PCOs: landline and wireless. The wireless PCOs use two technologies: CDMA and GSM. Reliance and Tata Indicom are CDMA-based prepaid PCO connection providers.

and

are GSM-based prepaid PCO connection providers. Initially, the Dept of Telecom, and later BSNL, MTNL and Airtel provided fixed landline postpaid PCO connections. BSNL and MTNL also provide prepaid PCOs.

PICoF (public Internet café on fiber)

In BSNL, which is the largest public sector telecom company of India, its Bhopal Unit has for the first time started an Internet café on optical fiber. On August 18, 2013, at Neelbadh locality of

Bhopal Bhopal (; ISO 15919, ISO: Bhōpāl, ) is the capital (political), capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes,'' due to ...

, the chief general manager of MP Unit of BSNL, Mr. N. K. Yadav, and senior general manager of Bhopal Unit, Mr. Mahesh Shukla, inaugurated PICoF (public Internet café on fiber) at the shop of Mr. Deepak Verma, who was previously running an internet café on a broadband connection provided through copper lines.

Pakistan

, PCOs are provided by Pakistan Telecommunication Company (PTCL), Dancom, Worldcall, and Telecard, amongst others. These companies usually provide calling-card-based domestic and international telecom services.

US

In the US, staffed and automated (coin-operated payphone) versions of the service are in existence, provided by operators like

Verizon Verizon Communications Inc. ( ), is an American telecommunications company headquartered in New York City. It is the world's second-largest telecommunications company by revenue and its mobile network is the largest wireless carrier in the ...

and SBC Telecom (credit card operated).

References

{{Refimprove, date=March 2007 Public phones Indian words and phrases Telecommunications in Pakistan Telecommunications in India

India

PICoF (public Internet café on fiber)

Pakistan

US

See also

References