DirectCash expects ATM fees to rise in Australia as the number of automatic teller machines rise and the profit per machine declines. Asked about the prospect of a rise in this fees on a conference call this morning, Jeffrey Smith, chief executive of DirectCash said: "Anybody can ... as more ATMs are deployed in the market. As more ATM are deployed and transaction is spread among more ATMs and the average transaction drops, the surcharge increases."That will occur in Australia."Smith said that as ATMs were installed in "more difficult" or less well patronised locations were ripe for higher surcharges."We believe there is opportunity in both those areas."Customers Limited (which has more than 5700 ATMs in Australia, the largest fleet in the market) and other ATM operators have lifted the direct charge at ATMs to $2.50 on most of their fleet, up from the usual charge of $2 at most bank-operated ATMs and $1.50 at a minority of the market.