The standard cost of a three minute call to the United States from Australia is one of the lowest in the Asia Pacific. International call costs for businesses from Australia to the United States are between two and a half to five times cheaper than from Japan, Thailand, China and Indonesia, and about half the cost of calls made from Hong Kong SAR and New Zealand.

Australia's deregulated telecommunications market has delivered significant price reductions for local calls, national long distance calls, fixed-to-mobile calls and international calls since the introduction of full competition in 1997. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's Telecommunications Reports 2005-06, released in May 2007, found that the average cost of international calls for residential and business customers fell by 8.8% in real terms in 2005-06, and by 68.5% between 1997-98 and 2005-06. Larger firms were able to negotiate real telecommunications price reductions of 7.7% in 2005-06 and of 50.6% over the past seven years. Small businesses have also enjoyed substantial cost savings for international and domestic calls, saving 9.6% in 2005-06. The lower cost of international calls for business customers has added to the competitiveness of Australian-based companies with global and regional operations.