Telstra drops fee for battered women

AUSTRALIA'S largest telephone carrier has bowed to pressure to drop unlisted phone number fees for domestic violence victims, but consumer groups and the Federal Government have questioned whether its exemptions go far enough.

The issue is now the subject of a Senate review, with the Telecommunications Committee asked to investigate outlawing the fee for everyone.

Telstra announced its policy change today following pressure from social media group Destroy the Joint.

One of the Facebook group's 25,000 members, a victim of domestic violence, was asked to pay $35 per year to maintain a silent phone number, despite having an apprehended violence order against her partner.

Telstra spokesman Tim O'Leary said the company was in the process of reviewing its "policy on charging silent line fees for victims of domestic violence" and would waive the $2.93 monthly fee in some circumstances.

"We're just finalising how this will work, but we'll include anyone who has a valid protection order recognising a security threat or (who) is a client of a community organisation providing services to people who are facing a security threat," Mr O'Leary said.

Telstra currently charges the monthly fee to anyone seeking to keep their phone number out of its White Pages directories, with the fee covering the cost of "managing and maintaining" the database.

But while Federal Communications Minister Stephen Conroy welcomed Telstra's decision as an "important step in protecting the privacy of some of Australia's most vulnerable people," he noted there was "still significant community interest” about the fees.

As such, Senator Conroy has asked the Senate Committee on Telecommunications to examine scrapping the unlisted number fee for all users, as recommended by the Australian Law Reform Commission.

The ALRC, in its review of the Telecommunications Act, called the fee "a financial impediment to accessing a service that will help to protect privacy".

Australian Communications Consumer Action Network communications manager Elise Davidson said Telstra's move to axe the fee in some circumstances was "a good first step" but it needed to be extended to low-income earners, pensioners and other violence victims.

"There may well be (victims of violence) who fall outside these parameters," she said. "We're also worried about the resellers because obviously Telstra charge their resellers a fee if their customers want to have a silent line. These providers should be able to offer this exemption".

Optus currently offers unlisted phone numbers without a fee, but resellers including Internode ($4), iPrimus ($3.50), iiNet ($2.93), Spintel ($2.95) and ACN ($2.93) charge monthly fees for silent numbers.

 

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