Stuart Corner
Thursday, 06 December 2007 17:45
Opinion and Analysis
Page 2 of 3
And the ACCC reported that "Telstra has responded promptly, indicating that it will no longer use the taglines 'Everywhere you need it' and Get the coverage you need with Telstra's Next G network' and has amended its television advertisements accordingly."
End of story, or so I thought. But not so. Three weeks later, on 17 September, the ACCC announced that it had instituted proceedings in the Federal Court against Telstra for alleged contraventions of the Trade Practices Act in relation to the promotion of its Next G network. Specifically, over the very slogans that it had earlier managed to get Telstra to withdraw. It offered not explanation as to why, despite this, it had chosen to pursue Telstra through the courts.
Those proceedings have now run their course, delivering victory to the ACCC. And it appears from the ACCC's press release that its concerns with Telstra's Next G advertising extended well beyond a couple of very general, and demonstrably untrue, slogans.
The ACCC now says it "also alleged that Telstra had engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct by claiming that Next G customers would get the same or better coverage as they did on the CDMA network." The reality, as revealed by Telstra technical experts in evidence, should come as no surprise: "Coverage on the Next G network was limited by a variety of factors including terrain, physical structures and handset selection."
Justice Gordon concluded that, in contrast to this reality, Telstra's advertising "[Conveyed] the representation that a person [could] use the Next G network regardless of where the person was, what handset that person was using and whether that handset had an external antenna attached."
Telstra is unrepentant and has vowed to appeal, but its rebuttal of the decision is not convincing. "Telstra gives its customers credit for understanding advertising. Do people really believe that Vegemite puts a rose in every cheek? By the same token, we never said the Next G network covered every square inch of Australia."
