Santa's got a little extra help on the line this Christmas

For six years, our free payphones have connected kids with the North Pole—and this year, we’ve helped Santa’s workshop get a festive tech upgrade.

Telstra Writer · 10 November 2026 · 3 minute read

It's the busiest time of year at the North Pole. There are toys to build, sleighs to polish and reindeer to train. But Santa never wants to miss a chance to hear from Aussie kids. So, we've teamed up with the elves again this year to help him reach more children than ever through our payphones. That leaves Santa free to focus on what he does best: making Christmas wishes come true.

Free Calls to Santa are back

From 10 November until Christmas Eve, we're connecting all of our 14,000+ payphones around Australia to the North Pole. 

Kids and their parents can drop by a Telstra payphone, pick up the handset and dial #HO HO HO (#46 46 46) to get put through to Santa's workshop.  

Santa will want to know who he's chatting to and whether they've been naughty or nice. He'll also ask who's joining them on the call and what's at the top of their Christmas list. If there's time, he might share how he's getting ready for a hot Aussie Christmas. 

What's new at the North Pole this year? 

Around two and a half million calls have been made to Santa's workshop from our payphones over the years. That’s a lot of conversations with kids and families across the country, and a lot of wish lists, even for Santa. 

This year, we've helped move Santa’s hotline to Google Cloud's newest conversational AI technology, Gemini Enterprise for Customer Experience, to make chats with Santa feel even more natural and personal, while keeping everything focused on the magic of Christmas.  

We built it together with fullstop.ai and OMD. The upgrade isn't about changing what Santa does. It's about helping him do it even better. 

Keeping Santa's hotline safe and merry 

The new technology also brings strong safety features, building on what we have done in previous years. These help make sure every call stays fun, friendly and suitable for kids. Our safety features include:

  • Santa sticks to Christmas. Conversations stay on festive topics and use child-appropriate language.  

  • Every answer is double-checked. A second AI model reviews Santa's replies before callers hear them. 

  • Every call is checked. Multi layers of AI safeguards review every single call 

  • Calls are short and sweet. Each chat lasts about two minutes. Santa only remembers the call he's on, so nothing carries over from one caller to the next. 

  • The elves keep watch around the clock. Our partners monitor the experience 24/7 throughout the campaign.  

Before the North Pole lines opened, the elves spent about four weeks testing the hotline, so the experience is ready for kids and adults alike. We've also built it in line with the AI Ethics Principles, which we played a key role in testing with the Australian Government to make sure AI is used responsibly. 

What about privacy? 

Santa takes privacy seriously, and so do we. Every call starts with a message letting callers know that calls to Santa's workshop are recorded. Call transcripts are stored securely in Australia and only kept for up to seven days. We use them to make sure conversations are running smoothly, and to monitor any trends in conversations. All conversations are anonymised, relevant data extracted, and then they're deleted. 

Free calls to Santa is a standalone experience. It isn't connected to any Telstra customer information, and nothing from your call is combined with other Telstra data.  

Give Santa a call

Search "Telstra Payphone" in Google Maps, drop by your nearest payphone from November 10, or into your nearest store from December 1, and give Santa a call on #HO HO HO (#46 46 46).  

Santa's elves have also given a special selection of payphones some festive cheer. Check out our festive payphone map on Google Maps to find your closest one.