Denver Airport offers flyers free phone calls to anywhere in the world

A new ad-based service will allow flyers passing through Denver International Airport to make free domestic and global calls, the airport announced today.

Each RMT Free Phone will have a 17-inch LCD screen that runs 15-second advertisements or coupons. There will be over 200 landline phones set up around the airport.

Unlimited free calls are permitted for domestic numbers, but passengers will be charged 25 cents a minute and a 15 percent tax after their first ten minutes on international calls.

It may seem bizarre for an airport to introduce landline phones as mobile phones and smartphones become more common than ever. The Denver Post quotes the Chief Commercial Officer explaining the decision as follows:

While mobile phone usage has increased over the years, there is still a significant population who may not have access to a mobile phone because they do not own one, are traveling abroad, or their phone needs to be recharged.

This is just one phase of DIA and its advertising agent Clear Channel’s efforts to introduce more digital advertising around the airport.