Coonan to force Telstra to keep CDMA operating

Stuart Corner
Monday, 06 August 2007 11:44

IT Policy - Regulation

In what is beginning to took like a tit-for-tat response to Telstra's legal challenge to her, communications minister Helen Coonan says she will impose a licence condition on Telstra requiring it to keep its CDMA network operational beyond the planned 28 January close down date.

"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," she said.

She claimed that "The Government's hand has been forced by Telstra's inaction on consumers' concerns," and said that in order to address the rising level of concern [over Next G coverage], the Government had established the Next G Customer Support Unit on 1800 883 488 which will be effective from 07 August.

She said she had written to Telstra in mid-June suggesting that it move back the CDMA switch-off date to allow more time for the transition from the current CDMA network to Next G. "Telstra refused to reconsider the switch-off date and would proceed with their previously announced switch-off date of 28 January 2008."

In August 2006 Coonan announced that two audits would be conducted by ACMA to ensure that Next G coverage matched that of CDMA: an initial audit of CDMA coverage to be followed by one of Next G once Telstra announced that it was ready for testing. The results of the two will be compared to determine equivalence.

Announcing the license condition, Coonan claimed that the time between when Telstra expects to announce that the Next G network will be ready for testing and the planned closure date is insufficient.