A CHORLEY firm has signed a major deal which enables it to tackle the Brazilian payphone market and other opportunities in South America. GPT Payphone Systems of Carr Lane, a division of Marconi Communications, announced today that it had signed a collaboration agreement with DARUMA, Brazil's leading payphone supplier. The Brazilian government is set to double the number of payphones from 500,000 to more than a million in three years.

The collaboration agreement is a major breakthrough for GPT Payphone Systems in the largest telecoms market in South America.

Mexico alone has nearly 70,000 GPT payphones and there are more than 50,000 spread across Argentina, Venezuela, Chile and Colombia.

Mr Paolo Villasco, Marketing Director at DARUMA, said they were keen to develop a new payphone to a specification not yet seen in Brazil.

"We believe GPT Payphone Systems and DARUMA have the expertise and capabilities to develop a payphone which will put DARUMA and GPT at the forefront of the Brazilian payphone market for many years to come," he said.

GPT supplies payphones, management systems, vending systems and cards to more than 100 customers in more than 80 countries.

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