Telephone Card Collecting Guide (UK) - BT Phonecards, Values & History

Launched in February 2013 by a private collector of telephone cards - also known as a fusilatelist - this website covers all aspects of the collectible Phonecard with a focus on UK issues: BT (British Telecom), Mercurycard, New World Payphones, and more.

Rewind 30 years to 1996 and collecting telephone cards was at the time the fastest growing hobby in Great Britain. Telecoms such as British Telecom (BT) had tens of thousands of special Phonecard-only payphones, alongside their coin-operated phones in towns and cities across the UK.

Similar in principle to today's Pay As You Go (PAYG) mobile phones, these cardphone payphones (pictured right) required special credit-card-sized pieces of plastic with preloaded credit to be inserted into the payphone to make a call.

When BT first launched their Phonecards in the early 1980s they were all green in appearance. Over the years that changed, and it became possible for businesses and individuals alike to commission their own branded Phonecard. This change heralded the start of many people - myself included - to start collecting them. During their popularity as a collectors item, prices kept seemingly going up and up.

Today the story is very different. With the rise of the mobile phone in the late nineties and early noughties, BT pulled the plug on its BT Phonecard more than 25 years ago in 2002. With no new cards being issued, most collectors have simply drifted away from the hobby and prices once commanded have now become a distant memory.

If you're new to the hobby of collecting or returning after years away, the following page is very insightful and will bring you up to date: What are BT Phonecards worth today in 2026?