Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 12 September 2007 05:48
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 2
It would be laughable were not the underlying issues so serious: Telstra is taking legal action against communications minister, Helen Coonan on the basis that she has been fairly casual with the truth in her public utterances.
And this at a time when Telstra's own regulatory chief, Phil Burgess, acknowledges that "The scent of election politics...permeates all of the minister's recent policy decisions." Of course it does! What else would you expect from a government fighting for survival?
What has happened is this: Coonan has threatened to impose a licence condition on Telstra requiring it to delay its planned 28 January closure date of the CDMA network until she is satisfied that Next G coverage is equivalent.
By law she is required to follow due process. She must issue a draft licence condition and allow Telstra, and any other interested party, 30 days in which to respond before finalising and imposing that licence condition.
Telstra is claiming, on the strength of recent comments form Coonan and her colleagues, that she has already determined to go ahead regardless of what Telstra might submit.
Specifically, Telstra points out that:
- On 6 August, the minister told the media that "Today I announced that I have decided to impose a licence condition on Telstra, to ensure that it does not switch off the current CDMA network."
- In the Senate on 7 August 2007, the day after issuing the draft, the minister said "I have therefore decided to impose a licence condition on Telstra that will require it to maintain the CDMA network in operation until Telstra makes good its promise that the Next G services will provide the same or better coverage and services as the CDMA network".
