Australia’s Telstra payphones to double up as DOOH units

JCDecaux Australia has renewed, following a competitive tender, its partnership outdoor advertising agreement with Telstra which is the telecom market leader in Australia, for 15 years. This new contract includes 1,800 payphones in the 5 capital cities (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth) covering 64% of the Australian population and 77% of advertising spend.

A JCDecaux website post states that the company will install 1,800 new payphones with digital advertising screens over the next 2 years, representing the first major payphone redesign refresh since 1987. These state-of-the-art payphones will provide not just phone call facilities and Telstra Air Wi-Fi network access, but also real-time public transport information, community polling opportunities, photo booths, mobile phone charging ports, interactive digital art, multilingual and disability services and more.

Jean-François Decaux, Chairman of the Executive Board and Co-CEO of JCDecaux, said: “This new long-term contract with Telstra will see JCDecaux Australia install the largest national digital OOH offering in Australia with more than 1,800 digital payphone kiosks in the 5 capital cities. As part of our DNA to creating smart cities around the world, JCDecaux will design the payphone of the future to provide state-of-the art community services. This digital rollout combined with the recent announcement in Melbourne will pave the way for JCDecaux to organically more than double the size of its Australian operations and gain market share in Australia where OOH is only 5% of advertising spend and still fragmented.”