Effective March 13, the national carrier will cut the throat of Easymail - a service with no start up costs or Internet access fees and which bills customers the cost of just a local call for e-mailing.
The service offers no other Internet functionality, is the carrier's cheapest e-mail deal and its demise comes hot on the heels of Telstra's recent Internet access and mobile phone price hikes.
"It's a product in decline to the extent that it's just not commercially viable," Telstra spokesperson Michael Herskope told ZDNet Australia. Herskope said it was costing the carrier more to provide the service than it could recoup in revenue, but refused to elaborate.
Shadow Minister for Communications, Lindsay Tanner, condemned the move by a company earning around AU$4 billion each year, defining it as -inconceivable".
-Around 250,000 Australians have used this service. Easymail has been invaluable for people who cannot afford Internet access, particularly low-income earners, job seekers and Australians living in rural and regional areas," Tanner said.
However, Telstra refutes it has up to 250,000 Easymail customers, claiming there to be less than 70,000 registered users - many of whom do not use the service. The customers are dwindling all the time, according to Herskope, as more and more users move to full Internet services.
Touting the telco's more expensive services, Herskope said Telstra's entry-level Internet plan at AU$5.95 a month would suit Easymail customers. Alternatively, customers could find another Internet Service Provider or if they want to continue to get a free service can take themselves off to a community venue such as library, he added.
Pulling no punches Tanner said that Telstra and the Howard Government continue to put profits before people.
-When Telstra introduced the service in 1998 it described the new service as a 'Christmas Gift to all Australians'. It said the service would 'break down the barriers of distance and isolation' and 'connect many Australians to the world for the cost of a local call'. Now the Christmas Gift is being taken back," he said.
