The Productivity Commission has called on those interested in the future direction of telecommunications in Australia to contribute to its new public inquiry on the Telecommunications Universal Service Obligation.

The Productivity Commission released today an issues paper to help people prepare their submissions or provide brief comments through the website. The deadline for submissions is 21 July 2016.

'Currently we have in place a Universal Service Obligation that means the government guarantees a minimum level of fixed line voice telephone services and pay phones across Australia,' said Commissioner Paul Lindwall.

'Our inquiry is looking at whether government intervention is still needed to support universal access to a minimum level of telecommunications services, given market, technological and policy developments over the past decade, not least of which is the widespread use of mobile phones and the rollout of the NBN' he said.