MELBOURNE - Australian telecommunications and media company Telstra has had to apologise for the second time in the last two months because of a sexually explicit photo that ended up on a Sydney teenager’s rental phone.

The lewd image was found on 13-year-old girl Monique’s second hand Telstra ZTE handset last week.

The girl’s parents Jenny and Paul Knight revealed that Telstra had lent the phone to their teen daughter because her own handset was being repaired.

The grainy image found on the phone depicts a couple engaging in a sex act.

When the photo was taken, and who are the two people involved, is not known as yet.

It is believed that the company only deletes messages in the inboxes and outboxes of its rental phones, and that is why pictures clicked with the handset’s camera remain.

The teen girl’s mother said that she was disgusted her daughter had been subjected to such a vulgar image.

“I’m no prude, but that photo disgusted me,” News.com.au quoted her as telling the Sunday Telegraph.

“It was total pornography at its worst,” she added.

The Cecil Hills family were also unhappy about the way the matter was treated by Telstra staff.

Monique’s father revealed that staff at the Telstra store at Westfield in Liverpool simply laughed when he went there.

“They said there was nothing they could do and just ran out to the back of the shop and started laughing. They didn’t even want to address it,” he said.

About two months ago, Telstra was embroiled in a similar fiasco involving rugby league bad boy Todd Carney.

A series of full-frontal images showing the scantily-clad footballer appeared on one of the telco’s Canberra rental phones after a young woman booked her own handset in for servicing.

Monique’s mother, however, thinks that this case is worse.

“Todd Carney looks like an angelic altar boy compared to the photo that my daughter has seen,” she said.

A Telstra spokesman said that they would investigate why the image had not been deleted. (ANI)