Australians, according to figures released last month by the Australian Communications and Media Authority, pay 8.6 cents on average for each text message, not 25 cents as claimed by Today Tonight.

AMTA Chief Executive Officer, Chris Althaus, was interviewed this week by Channel 7’s Today Tonight as a follow-up to a recent incorrect newspaper claim that Australians paid the highest price in the world for text messages.

He told Today Tonight that ACMA figures showed that the average revenue generated by text messages is 8.6 cents and not 25 cents as claimed.

Mr Althaus said: “That’s the average cost. Our industry offers even better deals to its customers who can take advantage of a range of packages available if they are big users of text messages.”

He gave three examples to Today Tonight of lower-than-average cost text message offers available to customers:

• On some capped plans if the customer used all the $49 cap on text messages (the plan provides $350 of credit a month) they would pay a price of less than 4 cents a text.
  
   
• Some carriage service providers have deals where customers can, for example, send 500 texts a month for $10. That’s a price of 2 cents a text not 28 or 25 cents.
  
    
• Customers can get a pre-paid which offers 1 cent text messages sent to customers on the same network. Pre-paid customers can also purchase packs, which allows them to send text messages (to anyone on any Australian mobile network and compatible fixed line services). The larger the pack purchased the lower the cost per message. For example the plus 50 pack allows customers to send 500 text messages for $50 within 30 days.

Mr Althaus said ACMA figures showed that the average cost of a text message fell by 4.7% in the year to June 2009 – that was from 9.1 cents to 8.6 cents.

“Australia has a very competitive mobile telecommunications industry that has delivered a 50% cut in prices for mobile services between 2001-09 compared to 12% for fixed lines,” he said.

Today Tonight claimed that Australia has the highest “maximum” text rate of 25 cents in the world, even though AMTA gave it figures showing that customers on average pay 65% lower than 25-cent rate.

Mr Althaus said: “With 24.2 million subscribers, it is not a case of a one-size-fits-all approach. Some people require more texting than calls. They can choose a plan which offers relatively cheaper text messages compared to calls because the more texts they use the cheaper the price.

“We tell customers in our consumer tips that going for a plan with the lowest basic text costs may not necessarily be the best or cheapest option for them because it depends on how much they use other services, such as calls and voicemail.

“If you use voice more than SMS, they might find, for example, that there is a plan which charges slightly more for SMS but less for voice, providing a cheaper service for the customer.”

AMTA tips on managing your mobile spend can be viewed here.