Australia's giant public telecom operator Telstra announced on Tuesday to waive off charges for local and national calling.
Telstra's Chief Executive Officer Andrew Penn said in a statement that all local and national calls to standard fixed line numbers and calls to standard Australian mobiles on Telstra's public payphones are "free now."
"This means any Australian can now use all of our 15,000 payphones on street corners and in the tiny towns, truck stops and airports in every corner of the country to make calls for free," he said in a blog.
Telstra is a leading telecommunications and technology company that provides 18.8 million retail mobile services, 3.8 million retail fixed bundles and standalone data services and 960,000 retail fixed standalone voice services in the country.
"Even in the age of the smartphone, they (payphones) play such a critical role in our community, particularly in times of need, and particularly for those in need," said the CEO, reflecting on the role of payphones in Australia since the 1880s.
"I know payphones are also a lifeline for thousands of vulnerable Australians-the homeless, the isolated, those escaping domestic violence-and often provide their only link to critical support services and those that care about them," said Penn.
He said Australians made 11 million calls on payphones last year, including more than 230,000 calls to vital services like Triple Zero-Australia's main emergency service number, "so there's no doubt payphones are already often the lifeline that's there when it's needed most."
