One telephone booth in ten will be removed from Sussex streets in a cull announced by telecoms firm BT.

At the same time the company - which made a profit of £1.8 billion last year - is increasing the minimum call charge by 50 per cent.

Britain ranks among the world leaders for mobile phone use, with four out of five of us now carrying a handset, and BT has admitted it is making heavy losses on its public phone box business.

There are 1,860 booths in Sussex, of which BT plans to remove 219 by the end of next year.

Under its plans, to be put to public consultation, the biggest losses would be in Mid Sussex, where more than a quarter of kiosks would disappear.

Thirty-three of Brighton and Hove's 400 phone booths would also be consigned to history.

Paul Hendron, director of BT Payphones, said: "We recognise people have concerns about our plans but I would like to reassure them BT is still committed to the service, particularly for the communities who need us most.

"We will manage the changes sensitively through extensive consultation with local representatives."

The company plans to operate 65,000 phone boxes across the country after the latest round of cuts, down from 140,000 in 1999.

Payphone revenue has dropped 40 per cent and the number of calls from public boxes has halved in the last three years.

Customers of the busy Churchill Square kiosks in Brighton warned public phones remained a vital service to those without mobiles.

Finnish tourist Milli Nevala, 30, said: "Brighton is popular for tourists and most tourists don't have phones with them."

BT says it still has 21 million payphone customers, including seven million foreign visitors.

But with 99 per cent of homes now having access to a land line or mobile phone the market is disappearing.

Only 29,000 of BT's 75,000 phone booths are profitable while 19,000 break even and 27,000 lose money.

The cost of making a call from a BT payphone rose by 10p yesterday.

A new tariff increases the charge to a minimum of 30p for 15 minutes.