Telephone booths with coin-operated telephones for use by the public were introduced to New Zealand in 1910. By the 2020s they were not used as much, and the copper wiring system they used was being phased out. Telecommunications company Spark proposed to replace the remaining telephone booths with new ones equipped with wi-fi, cellphone charging and free phone calls.
Early developments Various experiments with the newly-invented telephone were held in New Zealand in 1878: for example, communication was established between Waipukurau and Napier, and between Dunedin and another location. In the early 1880s, the Post and Telegraph Department began introducing telephones for public use (called 'bureau stations') at shops and telephone exchanges around the country. On payment of a fee, a person could call anyone on the local exchange. By 1912, many post offices had a public telephone cabinet "covered with green baize and lighted by one little window". The Postmaster General at the time ordered that a new type of cabinet be introduced, with improved soundproofing and much better lighting and ventilation from glass walls.
Public call stations Street-side telephone boxes with coin-operated telephones were introduced from 1910, with the first coin-in-the-slot 'public call station' installed at Wellington. Frederick Palmer, an engineer with the Post and Telegraph Department, invented an "ingenious" automatic coin-in-the slot telephone which gained world-wide attention. Two pennies were put into the machine so that the telephone exchange could be called up. If the number was engaged, a mechanism returned the coins to the customer. By March 1926 there were 409 ‘public call offices’ or 'slot telephones' in operation. These were housed in wooden or concrete booths. The wooden booths were often octagonal, but hexagonal examples also existed. The concrete telephone booths introduced in the 1920s were made by the Hume Pipe Company. They were circular with a conical roof, similar to phone booths made by Hume in Australia and South Africa at that time.
K2 telephone boxes In 1927 the Government announced that it would begin importing British-made cast-iron kiosks designed by architect Sir Giles Scott. The kiosk was made in sections that were bolted together, with perforations at the top and bottom of the iron panels to provide ventilation. There was a light inside which illuminated glass panels under the domed top with the word 'Telephone' in blue letters. The kiosk had a glazed wooden door. K2 (for "kiosk 2") telephone booths were expensive to produce, and manufacture ceased around 1936. As of 2012 there was a K2 telephone box in Wellington's Post Office Square, and another in Christchurch's Victoria Square.
Mid-20th century The first multi-coin slot telephone was installed at Christchurch in October 1938. These were useful for making toll calls. After K2 telephone boxes stopped being imported, new wooden telephone booths were built locally, usually in a square shape. The Post Office also had a policy of designing special telephone boxes, such as double units, for particular sites such as tourist destinations and national parks. The number of public call stations reached 5381 in 1977 and then began to decline as more people installed telephones in their homes. In 1973, the Post Office installed new phone boxes at Cathedral Square in Christchurch. These were aluminium with "armour-plated windows" to minimise vandalism.
1980s–2000 In 1988 Telecom took over management of the phone network from the New Zealand Post Office. They made the decision to repaint all existing telephone boxes in a pale blue to align with their new branding. Their ultimate goal was to replace all phone boxes with a more modern steel and glass design. The Wizard of New Zealand took exception to these plans and began "The Telephone Box War" — he and his supporters, including Alf's Imperial Army, began a guerrilla campaign to repaint the boxes back to red. The K2 box in Victoria Square was the second to be repainted to red in the "war". Ultimately Telecom reversed its decision after a survey showed majority support for keeping the boxes red, and the city council provided the Wizard with free red paint to restore the phone boxes that had been altered. In April 1989, Telecom announced that it intended to replace 8000 phone boxes with a new model. The fifty-year old AB style payphones were replaced with phones that used phonecards as payment. In July 1989, Telecom announced that it had awarded a contract to provide the new telephone boxes to a British firm. The decision was controversial, but Telecom stated that local designs were not satisfactory. In 1992 it was revealed that the new British stainless steel and glass phone boxes (the KX model) had a rust problem and Telecom was negotiating with the British manufacturers to solve the issue.
The old red wooden phone boxes removed from service were auctioned off for charity and repurposed in various ways by those who bought them.
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