In a statement to , the company said planning for the initiative -- which involves the abolition of call charges to a number of front-line national child safety, emergency services and suicide prevention hotlines -- started before the series of negative events for VHA partner, Vodafone.

"We started planning for this initiative in September last year," a VHA spokesperson said. "A large number of calls made to services like Kids Helpline and Lifeline are made from mobiles.

"We felt it was important to recognise this and support our customers in a time of need and remove the financial barrier. We hope that by making these calls free, we will help customers in a time of need.

"This is a proactive initiative that has been driven by VHA."

The last few months have been far from easy for the telco with market research firm, Roy Morgan, last month delivering another blow to Vodafone with findings that .