Phone users 'paying too much for text messaging'

Mobile phone users are being warned they are paying too much for text messages, with a consumer watchdog claiming prices are being inflated by as much as 180,000 per cent.

According to the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN), it costs telcos less than one cent to send 100 text messages to another network provider.

But consumers can be charged anywhere from 12 to 29 cents per text - a mark up of around 180,000 per cent.

Debbie Roberts knows all too well how a texting habit can be an expensive one.

“I always go over my plan, it's absolutely impossible not to - especially with the amount of SMSs I do,” she said.

Mark Callander from ACCAN said: “Telcos are gouging consumers because they're basically passing on inflated prices to consumers.”

“This level of profit margin is astronomical - we really want the ACCC to step in here and stop the SMS price gouge.”

A spokesperson for Optus said the only way to make progress was for the ACCC to step in, a move the company supports.

It is low income earners and older Australians who are most likely to suffer because they usually choose cheaper plans where free messages are not included

Many are turning to data messaging applications as an alternative to SMS, but there is a catch.

“You have to be really careful not to rack up charges in just the data usage,” Dr Christine Satchell from the University of Melbourne warned.

The ACCC is expected to make a decision on whether it will start regulating SMS by May or June.