Northwestel will decommission the last payphones in the NWT communities of Nahanni Butte, Kakisa and Enterprise by the end of this year, the company says.
Notices placed in the territory’s newspapers this month state the remaining payphones in those communities will be unavailable from December 29, 2025.
Payphone use has decreased drastically with the widespread adoption of cellphones since the year 2000. In 2013, Canada had 84,870 payphones nationwide according to data from telecoms regulator the CRTC, while Bell alone operated 105,000 of them in 1995 at payphones’ Canadian peak.
By 2022, the nationwide figure had fallen to 18,994.
In each of its notices, Northwestel provided directions to the nearest other payphones once these ones are removed.
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For example, Nahanni Butte residents are told: “When the winter road is open, drive south down Highway 7 for 92.7 km, turn right on Valley Main Street and continue for 6.2 km” to reach the next payphone in Fort Liard.
Northwestel told Cabin Radio the payphones are being removed after “lack of use.”
“Based on our available records, the payphones in Nahanni Butte, Kakisa and Enterprise have not been used in more than a year,” a spokesperson stated by email.
There are already no payphones in Colville Lake, Dettah and Wekweètì, Northwestel said, meaning at least six of the NWT’s 33 communities will be without payphones by the end of the year.
“Northwestel doesn’t currently have specific payphones flagged for removal in 2026, but we continue to monitor payphone usage and work with specific customers as the case arises,” the company added.
