Eircom removed about 250 payphones over the past 12 months in a bid to further cut the cost of maintaining its call box division.

The company now has a network of 6,050 payphones across the Republic, down from the 7,796 payphones it maintained in March 2001, new figures show.

Eircom made the cuts to its payphone division despite regulations from the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) that are designed to ensure the firm does not remove any payphones from rural areas.

Details of Eircom's payphone rationalisation strategy are contained in a new filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It shows that on March 31st, 2005, Eircom operated a network of 6,050 payphones across the Republic. This compared to 6,300 in March 2004.

Further cuts to Eircom's payphone unit could also be in the pipeline, according to the document: "While we have a regulatory obligation to provide public payphones within Ireland, we are focusing on reducing our costs in this area."

Fewer people use payphones since the advent of the mobile phone, making them less profitable for firms that operate them.

Eircom's payphone rationalisation programme, which began in 2001, has saved the company millions of euros in operating costs by reducing the number of staff required to maintain the boxes and collect coins.

But it has in the past proved controversial among rural communities, some of which have complained about plans to remove payphones in their areas.

Eircom must provide payphones throughout the Republic under the terms of its universal service obligation, a key regulation mandated by ComReg.

An Eircom spokeswoman said last night that just 16 of the 250 payphones removed had been undertaken in discussion with ComReg with relation to its universal service obligations.

A spokesperson for ComReg said the regulator "has had no complaints regarding the removal of any such payphones in the past number of months".