Australia's biggest telecom operator, Telstra, is under fire over its mobile and internet prices, with consumer advocacy group Choice saying its customers are paying too much.
Choice looked at 53 Telstra contracts and found consumers are paying hefty premiums to access the telco's network, which has been hit by seven outages since February.
On one of the 53 plans, customers were paying up to a 92 per cent price premium for Telstra's ADSL 'Large Broadband' plan compared to a no-frills TPG Telecom plan.
Telstra's $115 'Large Broadband' plan includes a 1000 gigabyte data limit, plus double monthly data for three months a year. Calls are charged separately with $203 upfront costs on a 24 month contract.
TPG's $59.99 'Basic Bundle' plan has no data limit, calls are charged separately, with $99.95 upfront costs on a 24 month contact.
"There's only so much free data Telstra can offer before they have to admit their network is failing on a fairly regular basis and its promised premium network is a thing of the past," Choice spokesman Tom Godfrey said on Monday.
"With outages affecting pre-and post-paid mobile voice and data services, as well as broadband internet connections, it has become clear the 'Telstra tax' being charged to access its network is not deserved," Mr Godfrey said in a statement.
Choice said it analysed 280 telco products to see how much more Telstra customers are being charged when compared to equivalent or better offerings by other companies.
Of these, 53 like-for-like comparisons could be made with Telstra products with premiums on the majority of these ranging from six per cent to 92 per cent.
Telstra rejected Choice's analysis, calling it flawed and saying it takes into consideration just a handful of plans the company provides while ignoring the rest.
"In its analysis, Choice misses many of our most comparable plans and fails to consider things customers tell us are most important, such as the breadth, speeds and availability of our network," a Telstra spokesperson said.
The spokesperson also said Choice's comparison did not include extras such as free access to Australia's largest Wi-Fi network, free home broadband and mobile security, Telstra TV and free Apple Music on many plans.
"Our customers clearly recognise the value and competitiveness of our plans and this is reflected in the fact we're the most popular provider for mobile and fixed services," the spokesperson said.
Telstra recently committed a further $200 million to improving its network, in response to a string of outages that have damaged its reputation.
The latest investment is on top of the $50 million Telstra pledged in May and two free data days the telco has offered customers as compensation for the outages.
