Telecoop press release April 30, 2024

After a peak of 300,000 reached in 1997, telephone booths disappeared from the French landscape, a phenomenon amplified in particular by the Macron law of 2015 abolishing the obligation of universal public telephony service in municipalities covered by 2G/3G networks.

In an increasingly connected world, the responsible telephone operator TeleCoop, in collaboration with Common, is promoting the return of telephone booths in France for highlight our dependence on screens and the importance of responsible digital consumption. These new booths will not only serve as free communication access points but will also play a role of cultural mediation on our relationship with digital technology.

The initiative, structured around three main axes, aims to:

1. Offer access to communications in public spaces, thus meeting the needs of people in digital precariousness to have access to the internet and stay connected with their loved ones.
2. Delaying the introduction of mobile phones into young people's lives, they could be installed at the request of groups of parents of students in front of schools and colleges.
3. Raise awareness of the omnipresent role of digital technology in our lives, the cabin would above all be an urban communication tool to raise awareness of the environmental and social challenges of digital technology and to guide local actors who offer solutions.

What will the cabin look like?

According to Marion Graeffly, co-founder and CEO of TeleCoop, these modernized booths will make it possible to “make digital technology truly emancipatory, rather than dependent. TeleCoop is an operator of general interest. We must support citizens to better experience digital technology, as we already do with our mobile package service as well as our customer service based in France, to create national jobs.. In this sense, the telephone booth is an object that makes it possible to put digital technology back at the service of all.”

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According to Adrien Montagut, co-founder of Commown, “these booths could be a good way to defend simple and sustainable access to digital technology.” Commown is already fighting against the various mechanisms of planned obsolescence through an offer to rent eco-designed devices such as the Fairphone. ”It is vital to question the current overproduction of electronic products. The telephone booth is precisely the symbol of a shared communication tool. ”

These booths will be equipped to allow phone calls, text messages, battery recharging and will offer tutorials to extend the life of the devices.

A first installation is planned in Strasbourg on the André Malraux esplanade from June 19 for the European Responsible Digital Week, with additional deployments planned for 2025. The cabins will not be aimed at profit but rather at the general interest.

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About TeleCoop

TeleCoop is a telecom operator, organized into a cooperative society of collective interest (SCIC), which advocates a transparent, reasoned and fair vision of digital technology, by offering its subscribers the opportunity to take control of their digital consumption. Created in 2020 by Marion Graefly and Pierre Paqot, the operator now has 8500 subscribers, 1500 members and 10 employees.

TeleCoop is the winner of the Impact 40 index created by BPI France and the Impact France Movement.

About Commown

Commown is an activist cooperative, with 1090 members and 30 employees, which provides eco-designed electronic devices and services to fight against premature obsolescence. The dominant economic model (production/sale) pushes to produce more and more, causing ecological and social damage. To get out of this spiral, Commown offers eco-designed devices such as the Fairphone for rent with all the services to make them last. Common now has 5000 aircraft in circulation.