Australia pay phones to have ‘Net access

Coming to Australia: New pay phones with color touch screens and high-speed Internet connections for sending text, photo and video messages.

Australia’s telecommunications giant Telstra, facing increased competition from mobile phones, is outfitting 10 interactive public telephones, at nearly $8,000 each, for a 10-week trial in Sydney’s central business district.

E-mail and other Internet access will cost about $1.60 for 20 minutes. Text messages are 23 cents each and video messages cost $1.20. Local calls are 32 cents, the same as those at conventional pay phones.

Pay-phone use has declined during the past decade as more people carry mobile phones. About 88 percent of Australians have mobile phones, Telstra said.

The company currently owns about half of Australia’s 65,000 pay phones, from which about 1 million calls are made each day.

More than half of Telstra’s public phones currently allow customers to send text messages.

State

Nonprofit seeking notable older worker

Experience Works is searching for an outstanding older worker in Kansas.

The nonprofit organization is in its eighth year of honoring outstanding older workers from every state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico; America’s Oldest Worker; and outstanding employers of older workers. Winners will be honored in Washington, D.C., and in their home states, for their contributions to the work force and communities.

Experience Works is seeking nominations from businesses and individuals. Each applicant must be 65 or older, a Kansas resident, currently employed, and working at least 20 hours each week for pay. The honoree must be willing and able to travel Sept. 26-29 to Washington, D.C., to accept the honor.

Nomination forms may be obtained from and mailed to Prime Time Awards, Experience Works, 2200 Clarendon Blvd., Suite 1000, Arlington, VA 22201 or call (866) 397-9757. Forms are available online at www.experienceworks.org.

The deadline for nominations is May 31.

Motley Fool

Name that company

I delivered my first submarine more than a century ago and changed my name from Electric Boat Corp. in 1952. Some of the names that have been in my hangar over the years include Canadair, Cessna, Convair, Fort Worth, Gulfstream, Pomona, Stinson and Vultee. I’ve manufactured products such as tanks (6,653 Sherman tanks in 1944), missiles, guns, rockets, warheads, motors and more. My slogan is “Strength on Your Side,” and I specialize in business aviation, information systems, shipbuilding and marine systems, and combat systems. I employ more than 70,000 people and rake in $16 billion per year. Who am I?