Telstra claims the number of calls on payphones has doubled on the network since last August when the telco made them free but it comes at a price for the telco.
Murdered property developer Michael McGurk liked to make the most of the public phone 50 metres from his office. In November 2008, when McGurk wanted a man known as Stuart Rowan to provide a false valuation for a property, he used the phone box near the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney to fire off a threatening text.
Who exactly is using these phones is hard to figure out. There are more than 500 payphones located in areas without mobile coverage, but the majority of total calls come from metropolitan areas. A submission by the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network to a recent consultation by the Australian Communications and Media Authority said public payphones are often non-operational and are scarce in regional areas.
In an effort to improve accessibility, Telstra made the phones free to use last August. Outgoing Telstra chief executive Andy Penn said at the time it was important to make payphones free so that vulnerable people - facing natural disasters, homeless or fleeing domestic violence - had the ability to call someone.
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