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| Asunder down under |
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| Monday, 06 August 2007 | |
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Relations between Telstra and Australian Communications Minister stretched to breaking point. Both wrap themselves in ‘concern for bush’ flag…
Never convivial at the best of times, relations between Australian incumbent Telstra and the Howard Government have reached a new low with, on the one hand, the telco taking legal action against the award of a major rural broadband contract to a rival and, on the other, the Communications Minister acting to delay the switch-off of Telstra’s CDMA cell phone network, claiming to be acting in the interests of subscribers in the bush. Last week Telstra commenced proceedings in the Federal Court against the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Helen Coonan, in relation to the Broadband Connect Program. The telco says that the Broadband Connect Program guidelines offered ‘up to A$600mn’ of taxpayers' money to provide broadband to ‘underserved’ rural and regional areas. Telstra submitted its proposal on that basis. Instead, almost A$1bn was ultimately awarded to the SingTel Optus and Elders consortium (OPEL), according to Telstra, ‘…to largely duplicate existing services with little net benefit to rural Australians.’ Telstra Country Wide Group managing director Geoff Booth, said Telstra could not stand by and quietly watch A$1bn of taxpayers’ money being wasted under a process that has lacked transparency and fell short of its stated purpose. “Let's shed some light on this behind-closed-doors process and see how the Minister arrived at this decision,” Mr Booth said. “Somewhere along the line the term ‘under served’ seems to have been redefined so that the programme was no longer about providing a service to people who don't have one to giving people in some areas access to a second or even a third network.” Telstra has asked the Minister to explain why it was not given an opportunity to submit a revised proposal for almost A$1bn, and has asked the Minister to provide it with the documents underlying her decision. Apparently the Minister has refused to provide those documents, and Telstra says it has been left with no alternative but to seek orders from the Federal Court compelling Minister Coonan, to provide documents relating to how the decision was made. Also claiming to be acting in the interests of under-served rural users Minister Coonan said today that the Howard Government will ensure that country mobile phone users are not left high and dry by the closure of the CDMA network. “I have issued a draft licence condition to Telstra that would require them to keep the CDMA network open until the Next G network provides equivalent or better coverage and services, reflecting the public commitments Telstra has already made itself. The Government makes no apologies for putting consumers first when considering the regulation of Senator Coonan wrote to Telstra in mid-June suggesting that they move back the CDMA switch-off date to allow more time for the transition from the current CDMA network to the Next G HSDPA system. Telstra refused to reconsider the switch-off date and said it would proceed with its previously announced switch-off date of 28 January, 2008. As part of verifying Telstra’s public commitments, Senator Coonan directed the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to undertake independent coverage audits of both the CDMA and Next G networks. “Telstra has advised that it will not be able to say whether it has delivered equivalent or better coverage until 15 October this year before their planned shut down of the network on 28 January 2008. This is simply not enough time to ensure that their public commitments have been met,” Senator Coonan said. “ACMA needs 12 weeks to complete the audits and the Government needs time to consider the findings. The Government must act now to protect regional and rural Australians.” Senator Coonan said that she had heard first hand about the rising level of consumer concern regarding mobile phone coverage. “I have just spent the last six weeks on the road across Phew! John Williamson |
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