Telstra defends pay phone removals in NT

Telstra says Aboriginal communities will not be affected by plans to remove 147 pay phones from across the Northern Territory.

The company says it is withdrawing the phones that are not making money.

Spokeswoman Libby Beath says it needs to make good economic decisions on behalf of its shareholders but it is continuing to meet its universal service obligations (USO).

"We provide about eight times more than what the USO prescribes," she said.

"So we're not touching any of our USO phones and we're not touching any of our phones in remote Indigenous communities."