Pay Phones Go Wireless

Last week, OTI announced its participation in LinkNYC, a plan to replace aging payphones in New York City with wi-fi hubs or “Links.” The implementation team behind LinkNYC is a public-private partnership including NYC's payphone franchisee Titan, smart-city technology leader Qualcomm, hardware designers Comark, and user experience and design experts Control Group. Along with NYC-based technology workforce development group Per Scholas, OTI will be a partner working on job creation and community engagement, building on its work with Brooklyn’s Red Hook Initiative and other community groups conducting and facilitating "Digital Stewards" training programs.

The project is already getting attention from a wide variety of media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, The Washington Post, Business Insider, and Ars Technica.

“We are thrilled to be part of this plan, which is cutting-edge not only in its application of new, smart technologies, but because it prioritizes community engagement and support along with tools for universal broadband access,” says Greta Byrum, Senior Field Analyst with OTI. The first Link structures will be operational by the end of 2015.