Owners of iPhones in Australia will now have more freedom to use their phones with other networks. In its Exchange blog, telecommunications company Telstra said that it would no longer charge customers to unlock the devices from its network.

It will now be free for consumers to unlock iPhones from the network, which had previously charged a fee for allowing the handsets to be used on other networks.

Consumers who purchase an iPhone from Telstra will still initially be tied to the Telstra network. The phones that the mobile company sells will also initially come with a default Telstra SIM card.

The mobile phone company said that its motivation for allowing no-fee unlocking of iPhones was to provide better customer service to its clients. It acknowledged that "one way to do this is to no longer charge customers a fee for unlocking an Apple iPhone."

The telecom gave instructions to its clients on how to take advantage of this service. "If you have purchased an iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4 from Telstra and would like to remove the network lock restriction, all you need to do is contact Telstra," the company said.