Telstra upgrades payphones to receive calls, Tom Elliott asks ‘who would use this?’

Telstra is modifying all 15,500 payphones across the country, so that they can receive calls as well as make them.

Tom Elliott questioned why the telecommunications company is upgrading the phones, and who would use the technology.

“It’s not a new piece of technology.

“I’m just struggling to work out why you’d want this.

“People used to use them because not everyone had a mobile phone, but now everybody does,” the 3AW Drive host said.

Steve Tinker, Victorian Regional General Manager at Telstra, said payphones are still in frequent use.

“We saw nearly 13 million phone calls made from payphones last year.

“I’m sure that people will use them,” Mr Tinker said.

Telstra is also replacing distance-based pricing for national calls with a flat call rate of 50 cents untimed to Australian landlines, and 50 cents per ten minutes to Australian mobiles.

Additionally, prices for calls to 11 international destinations will be reduced to 50 cents per ten minutes.

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