The other network

This is not a new idea, I thought about around 4 years ago and I'm sure there were others ahead of me. The thing that puzzles me is why no-one does it!
How many phoneboxes are there in the UK? (there are apparently around 150,000) Where are they? - all over the country, in the kinds of places that people congregate.
With a bit of effort and foresight, they could have another use. Convert them into WiFi hotspots.
Nowadays, a big organisation like BT should be able to get ADSL and toughened WiFi routers for, I would guess, around 300 quid for each box. If 100,000 out of the boxes were converted, that would be around 30 million quid for a national WiFi network!

Then, the killer for BT; give away access! (they could bundle it with your ADSL package but the regulator might have something to say about that!) This just goes against the grain for telcos; "What about the usage! Every usage of 'our pipes' must be compensated!"

The thing is that, in combination with the new economic model, all kinds of new opportunities exist just from knowing that X number of people are logged in to your network in Y location.

So stop complaining about the cost of maintaining the phone boxes and turn them into an asset!
2006 will be the year of the WiFi device; Phones, iPods(?), PSPs, Nokia 770's are already there, and there will be dozens more next year.

Update: Originally written in November but after a few glasses of Christmas wine, I can't remember why I didn't publish (and be damned), so here goes!