Liberal Party Senator blames Labor Gov’t for losing Telstra CDMA leverage

by Alex Zaharov-Reutt

Sunday, 27 April 2008

Page 1 of 2 ! How quickly will Australia’s dominant telco, Telstra, act to fix remaining CDMA blackspots now that CDMA network has been given the green light to shut down on Monday April 28? A Liberal Party Senator says the Federal Labor Government has lost its powerful leverage – but is this true? A news story in News.com.au’s Adelaide Now newspaper is quoting Liberal Party Senator, Simon Birmingham, saying that: "The Federal Government has lost any leverage it had with Telstra to fix the problems with the next network by allowing them to shut down the CDMA service.” The Adelaide News article quotes farmers in South Australia experiencing black spot problems in areas that Telstra had promised to fix, with SA Farmers Federation president, Wayne Cornish quoted as saying: “They had fixed some of the problems in the last six months but by no means all." Part of the problem seems to be early Next G handsets which didn’t have the ‘Blue Tick’ designation, a marking that means a particular Next G handset is suited for rural and regional use. But in what is becoming an oft-heard refrain, black spots are still experienced with the latest handsets – even if paired with expensive car kit antennas that can cost around AUD $350, although this is not always the case, with some Blue Tick handsets solving previous coverage problems for some. New Next G customers experiencing problems are advised to call Telstra on the CDMA/Next G coverage hotline on 1800 888 888, and if their issue remains ‘unresolved’, to call the Federal Department of Communications on 1800 883 448 for further assistance. In a previous iTWire article, we looked at media reports that “Anger remains over Telstra’s impending CDMA closure”, with claims from rural and regional customers that Next G’s coverage still doesn’t extend to all areas previously covered by CDMA. That said, Telstra has advised that the Next G network covers a much larger area than CDMA does today, and that the $60 million dollars per year spent on maintaining the Next G network can now be diverted into improving Next G coverage across Australia. Telstra has also claimed that it has improved Next G coverage in many locations since the initial Next G network was rolled out, and no doubt has worked hard, especially in the last three months since the first close down date was rejected by the Australian Federal Government, to improve coverage as quickly as possible. So, is a spike in complaints an inevitability following the CDMA network’s closure? And has the Federal Labor Government really lost all its leverage? Please read onto page 2. << First page <   1 2 Next page > Last page - Post your comment >>

 

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