Telstra payphone calls within Australian to landlines and mobiles now free.

I must admit I was quite surprised to read today Telstra has made calls within Australian from their payphones free, nada, zip.

Why we're making payphones free for calls around Australia (telstra.com.au)

I often wonder, what is really happening behind such moves. I honestly would love to know but suspect that may never happen.

It is interesting Telstra have said they number of payphones present has halved since the introduction of mobile phones. To me that's interesting because payphones often occupy prime position and are good reminders of Telstra services and in some cases advertising may be a good money spinner so losing half of that presence is something to think about. What if all the payphones went?

Then we have to keep in mind Universal Service Obligations, which Telstra appears to be responsible for and there's a large contract for providing such services.

Universal Service Obligation | Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications

Telecommunications contract and grant registers | Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications

From these documents we can see the Universal Service Obligations for payphones is $44 million per year over 20 years which is $880 million. 

There's 15,000 payphones across Australia so each payphone we could say is worth $2,933 per annum.

There's around 11 million calls a year so each call is effectively costing tax payers around $4 plus up until now, the cost the person paid for the call.

The payphones, if I recall correctly, now help Telstra provide Wi-Fi access (Telstra Air)  to their many users and those users pay for their Telstra services.

Whatever Telstra's reasons for making payphones free to use, I for one think it is a good thing. At least we know if you're stuck and need to call someone (you've lost your mobile, battery is flat, etc.) you now have an option. Of course still have to remember the number you want to call and that may not be as easy as you think!

One aspect that I also felt was interesting is SMS is free. Now there's something I didn't know. I never knew it was possible to send SMS messages from a payphone. I must check out a payphone next time I'm passing one.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au