Teens Ring Up Costs On Cellular Phones
THE SUNDAY AGE
Saturday June 15, 1996
TEENAGE romance seems to be ending Australia's love affair with the mobile phone.
Having given their sons and daughters phones so they won't be stranded or in danger when out at night, some parents are so alarmed at the cost that they are turning to telephone companies to have the devices disconnected or restricted.
Mr Efim Boguslavsky, the manager of Comdec Communications, said that, since the start of the year, many parents had asked for measures to curtail the use of telephones given to children.
``They don't give me details of their accounts, but they say `My kid used my phone for a couple of months and the charges are coming out of my ears'," he said. Mr Boguslavsky said that although the number of such requests was ``not in the hundreds", it was increasing.
The general manager of business development for the Australian Telecommunications Users Group, Mr Richard Allen, said parents who bought mobile phones for their children should make clear their purpose.
Mr Allen said they were communication and business tools, and not ``yuppie toys". Parents should consider installing bars to prevent STD, international and 0055 calls.
Mr Alan Blancoe, the advertising and marketing manager for mobile telephone firm Digicall Direct, said people under 18 were not a lucrative market because the costs of using and maintaining a cellular phone would be beyond most.
``They usually get access because now there are a lot of homes which have a second phone, to be used by a wife or the children, and connected on a low-access plan," he said.
Optus residential director Mr Dick Simpson said 55 per cent of subscribers to his company's personal call package were under 30. ``The personal market is the fastest growing area for mobile phone use," he said.
A Telstra spokesman, Mr John Gilman, said there were about 3.5 million mobile phones in Australia, making it one of the most saturated mobile phone markets in the world.
Vodafone spokesman Mr Jim Macnamara said families were increasingly relying on mobile phones for convenience and safety.
``They are still mainly a business tool, but they are also a convenience thing and a safety thing," he said.
© 1996 THE SUNDAY AGE
