Conroy keeps local Telstra calls at 22c

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Communications Minister Stephen Conroy today announced an extension of price control arrangements on Telstra that will see the telco be forced to continue charging 22c for untimed local calls from home phones and 50c from payphones.

The price controls had been slated to expire by 30 June this year, but in a statement released this afternoon, Conroy said a draft amendment would extend them by two years to 30 June 2012.

The controls also cap the price of long-distance and international calls and the cost of monthly line rental for a basic phone line.

“Telstra has always strongly supported continuity of consumer protections such as untimed local calls available to all Australians and all Australians should have access to a uniformly priced standard telephony service,” said Telstra spokesperson Craig Middleton in response to Conroy’s statement.

“The fact is many Telstra customers are paying less than 22 cents for local calls and several plans include all local calls. These prices are the result of a highly competitive market.”

Conroy said the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission had reviewed the controls earlier in the year and recommended they be extended by two years and that their overall scope and composition not be changed.

“The ACCC also made a number of suggestions for streamlining the current arrangements, which the Government has considered but decided against implementing,” said Conroy. “Extending the controls to 2012 will ensure that consumers continue to benefit from these protections.”

Conroy argued that consumer interests were best served by continuing to keep the controls in place — despite the fact that Telstra and some other parts of the industry had argued for their removal.

The minister said while Telstra and some parts of the industry had argued that price controls should cease, the Government considered that consumer interests were best served by continuing to keep them in place. A more comprehensive review of pricing policy would be conducted in 2011 to assess how the National Broadband Network deployment will affect the industry.

Image credit: Office of Stephen Conroy

4 COMMENTS

  1. Years ago our evil overload Telstra argued it was all of those selfish people on dial-up that tied up telephone exchange circuits for days on end which brought about the need for an end to untimed local calls.

    What’s Telstra’s current excuse for needing local call pricing restrictions removed?

    • I don’t think Telstra is that concerned about the restrictions … as the company pointed out today, many of its local calls actually cost less than 22c.

    • “A lot” is likely people who can readily afford timed local calls anyway (high speed net, VOIP device/s and so on).

      The balance: average people, not technically savvy, elderly, pensioners, unemployed etc. We’ve had untimed calls for this long, they can stay around that little bit longer.

      This can be reviewed post-NBN.

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