Free Calls to Santa is back — with kids across the country lining up at Telstra payphones to be first through to the big man in red, following almost 100,000 calls to Santa’s out-of-office since last Christmas.
Santa fanfare kicked off across Australia this morning, with kids up bright and early to be first in line as Telstra’s Free Calls to Santa hotline switched on for its fifth year. Queues formed at local public phones as eager callers waited to share their Christmas wish lists.
From 13 November right through to Christmas Eve, Aussies can once again dial #HOHOHO (#464646) for free from any of Telstra’s 14,000+ public phones nationwide to chat directly to the North Pole.
What began in 2021 as a simple idea to help kids learn the all-important skill of using a public phone has, five years on, grown into one of Australia’s favourite festive traditions – with over 1.5 million free payphone calls into Santa HQ (and counting).
Even when Santa’s main line is closed, the calls don’t stop. Since last Christmas, almost 100,000 public phone calls have come through to Santa’s out-of-office line – that’s around 300 calls a day while kids eagerly await the hotline’s return.
Last year, we made it even easier for Australia’s littlest callers to connect with Santa by introducing the first-ever kid-sized Telstra payphone. Specially designed for kids who might find regular handsets hard to reach, these mini payphones will again pop up in select Telstra Retail Stores in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane until Christmas Eve, giving smaller callers their own way to reach the North Pole.
From Mackay to Mildura, Aussies everywhere have kept Santa on the line. Over the past five years, call data from the 100 most called from payphones reveal some uniquely Aussie Christmas trends:
🌊 Coastal calls: around 60% are near beaches and waterfront locations.
🏙️ City chatter: about 25% are in busy shopping precincts and city centres.
🗺️ Country cheer: the rest mostly ring in from regional towns and tourist hot spots.
🎅 Santa’s busiest line: Melbourne’s Bourke Street Mall payphone has clocked nearly 10,000 calls to Santa - more than any other in the country.
📍 Outback wishlist: one of the most remote calls into Santa’s workshop has come from Anmatjere (Pmara Jutjunta), a small First Nations community in the heart of the NT.
The festive season can be busy, and our national network of payphones gives families from Broome to Bendigo a simple, cost-free and direct way to reach Santa. In one quick dial, kids can chat about everything from reindeer snacks to how things are tracking in the lead up to Christmas up at the North Pole.
Calling Santa isn’t just festive fun, it’s also a great way for kids to learn how to find and use a public phone in case of an emergency. Free Calls to Santa is a way to show kids what a payphone is and how it works. With all standard national calls and texts free year-round, it’s the perfect chance to help them memorise one important phone number.
To call Santa from any of our 14,000+ payphones between 13 November and Christmas Eve, use our Payphone Finder or Google Maps to locate your nearest one. Santa’s elves have also added some extra Christmas cheer to select festive payphones — check our Festive Payphone Map below to find one near you.
For little callers wanting a special chat with Santa on one of our special kid-sized payphones, these will be available exclusively at Telstra’s Discovery Store in Sydney starting 14 November, Melbourne from 13 November, and Brisbane’s Queen Street store from 14 November until Christmas Eve.
And starting from early December, all Telstra Retail Stores across the country will also feature a special Santa Phone so customers can call in while in store — spreading even more Christmas magic nationwide.
Back in August 2021, we made all standard national and mobile calls from our payphones free. It was our way of stepping-up our support, especially for those in need. Since then, payphone usage has more than tripled. In the past year alone, over 25 million free calls were made, including more than 300,000 to Triple Zero and other emergency services. Now, over 4,000 Telstra payphones also provide free Wi-Fi access, and we're working to bring this to even more locations soon.
*Calls to Santa’s Out of Office from Dec 25 2024 to Nov 12 2025
** All five year data is based on call insights from the launch of Free Calls to Santa in December 2021 through to the present
