Telstra CEO Andy Penn has labelled Queensland government's suggestion that disaster warning texts be provided for free as "ridiculous" and "crazy".
Penn says the telco sent out over 1.2 million texts to Queensland residents during the recent bushfire crisis as part of a commercial contract signed by the state government.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the text were a community service, the technology was simple, and it shouldn’t have been expensive.
Penn has rejected the notion that the service be free.