Pay phones on New York City streets would become a thing of the past under a plan that would replace them with stand-alone devices offering free Wi-Fi and nationwide phone calls as well as mobile phone charging capability.

New York City Bill de Blasio announced the LinkNYC plan on Monday. The plan was proposed by a group of companies working together under the name CityBridge. It would create a city-wide public Wi-Fi network.

The plan calls for up to 10,000 of the devices to be placed around the city, starting next year. The city said costs would be covered by advertising revenue from digital ads running on the devices.

The plan has to be approved by the city’s Franchise and Concession Review Committee.

(AP)