“Something had to be done about the city’s payphone booths that were often missing the phones,” said City Councilmember Ben Kallos, an East Side Democrat who has been advocating for payphone reform since 2013. “Fast forward to today in 2016. We now have access to free Wi-Fi… at no cost to taxpayers.”

Kallos added that LinkNYC’s free services would provide the city with an annual $20 million in advertising revenue, through the franchising agreement established with CityBridge, which manages the program.