TOT fixing pay phones

       TOT Plc is spending 50 million baht to improve its pay telephones to accommodate new coins.
       The state enterprise expects to modify 40,000 telephones across the country by early next year and 200,000 by yearend next year.
       TOT president Varuth Suvakorn said the improvements became necessary after the Treasury Department minted new one-, two-, five- and 10-baht coins,changed the metal used in the one- and two-baht coins and changed the weight and density of the five-baht coin.
       The new coins were released in August,and some TOT pay phones were unable to accommodate them.
       The phone modifications are timeconsuming and cost 600 to 700 baht per phone, he said. Work is now under way and unmodified phones return new coins that are not recognised.
       Mr Varuth said that although revenues from coin-operated phones had declined steadily, TOT continued to maintain the quality of the service.
       TOT has about 200,000 public phones,with 30,000 of them card-operated.