Telstra customers will soon see their long-distance and mobile calls charged in one-minute blocks.

Telstra has stated the reason for the change is to standardisation, and the purpose is to make it easier to compare calls rates on other plans.

“The reason behind this is about simplification [and] making [bills] clear, simple and easier for customers to understand,” a Telstra spokeswoman said.

While the move is unlikely to change the figure on many bills considerably, it does mean that if you talk for one minute and 10 seconds, you will be charged for the full two minutes. On a Telstra Next G Cap, this will mean the difference between $1.20 and $1.60. Yet many customers will be unaffected as they receive a cap allowance each month, and as long as they remain under the cap amount, the total on their bill remains unchanged. However, analysts estimate Telstra will gain millions in revenue from the move, which begins March 20.

Charging in per minute blocks on post-paid plans appears to be a trend which has been adopted by many other mobile carriers, including Optus, Virgin mobile, 3, Dodo and Vodafone. iPrimus bill per 30 seconds on their Android Social Plus caps, however the rates are a bit higher at 49.5c/30 secs. TPG charges 40 cents per 30 seconds on all their caps, apart from the “Pay as You Go” plan, which is 9.9c/30 secs for standard calls in Australia.