Telstra issues CDMA shutdown Q&A

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Saturday, 19 April 2008 13:11

IT Industry - Strategy

With only a few days to go before Telstra shuts down the CDMA network permanently, it has issued a brief Q&A outlining what it believes are important final questions, while urging any remaining CDMA holdouts to move to Next G quickly.

Now that Telstra has won its battle to shut down the CDMA network, it is redoubling its efforts to get any remaining CDMA customers to move to Next G before the network is closed on April 28.

Of course, there are still some complaints out there that Next G is not giving coverage to all areas where CDMA is still accessible.

According to an Australian ABC news report, "Bogan Shire Mayor Ray Donald has called on the telco to detail its commitment to improving reception in areas where Next G is not up to scratch".

But hopefully, now that CDMA will close, Telstra can instead re-double its efforts in expanding Next G coverage in those still-affected fringe areas.

Telstra Country Wide Director, Brett Riley, said: "The count down clock is well and truly ticking down for the old CDMA mobile network with Telstra making final preparations for the closure on 28 April 2008."

"This means that CDMA customers should now start making arrangements to switch to another network, such as the Next G network, as the decision to close CDMA has been made and won't be reversed.”

Riley continued: "It's very important that customers understand that Telstra operates the only CDMA network in Australia. So once the CDMA network closes, CDMA customers won't be able to make or receive calls from anywhere across the country - including calls to emergency services.”

Telstra says it has “already recorded a sharp rise of interest in its Next G network in the days since confirmation was received that the CDMA network would close later this month”.

So, what are Telstra’s ‘most commonly asked questions about the CDMA network closure’? Please read onto page 2.