Sydney, 23 August 2007 – Tell the Truth Telstra today announced has been inundated with complaints about lack of coverage on the Next G network from consumers across Australia, particularly in regional and rural areas.

“Once the CDMA network is turned off, people in many parts of regional and rural Australia will be forced onto Next G. We’re getting daily complaints from people around the country about the inferior level of service on Next G compared to the old CDMA network,” said a T4 spokesperson.

“Competitors won’t have access to the Next G network for mobile services like they currently do on CDMA. This means Telstra will have a monopoly on mobile services in many regional areas.”

“Telstra treats its customers with disdain. While spending millions on promoting Next G its customers are forced onto an expensive, unreliable and inaccessible service. T4 called on the Government to strengthen regulation to protect competition in the wake of Telstra’s Next G rollout.”

What regional and rural Australians say about Next G:

“Is Telstra reducing CDMA coverage or turning down the reception? Our in-house reception has dropped, and I drop calls at work now. Is this to suck us into Next G? Next G still does not work at the Nerriga Pub but my good old CDMA still does." Daniel Brkic

"Telstra is the only one that offers wireless broadband. I live in WA and travel a lot yet the old CDMA network is a lot better than the new Next G that Telstra offers for wireless and mobile yet they tell me it is my equipment or the soft ware I have is old. I only got it 1 month ago through the wrong info from aZ Telstra shop." J Bendtsen

“Next G's prices are a joke. I planned as much as I could to have a smooth transition from one house to my brand new one, the area is ADSL2+ ready - I thought every thing was fine.  I connected the land line at a $300 expense that only started recently only to find out that ADSL2 isn’t in fact available because I’m on a rim, the area has no cable run, Next G's prices are a joke. Bigger companies who want to expand the infrastructure can’t get access to the hardware because Telstra doesn't want to lose control of their almost-monopoly on ADSL. Four and a half months of applying to several different companies and still no network." Ryan Langhan

"My comment is that Telstra has a lot to answer for the distinct lack of services to rural and remote Australian communities. Last October I was investigating whether it was possible for my local telephone exchange was going to be enabled with ADSL. Mind you I had submitted a partition with enough signatures that would have satisfied Telstra's expressions of interest requirements. I rang my local Telstra country wide office and they had told me that this was the case. I then rang them again a week before Christmas to see what the status of my town's exchange was for getting ADSL enabled (mind you the exchange already has the infastructure ready to support adsl), and they told me that there was no record of any signatures submitted for my town!!!! Instead of explaining why, they tried to sell me their NEW next G internet services to me. I have to be content with the crappy next G broadband that took over seven weeks to get working properly (yes seven weeks). If you ask me Telstra needs to be fined for the actions and use their funds to upgrade their services or stop preventing other telcos from doing what Telstra should have done ages ago." Sam Thompson

“Strange that on Saturday 11 August 2007 an E65 could be bought from Telstra online shop in a bundle with a NextG contract and then from midnight of that day the same phone is "not certified" for the same NextG service. Interesting that all of those deleted share the Symbian OS and are the only VoIP capable phones on the market. I have not checked all of them but I do know that at least the E65 supports 850MHz and thus should be capable of operating on the NextG service even though Telstra denies it.” Art Clarke

Tell the Truth Telstra: The Facts about Next G

Telstra’s Next G network does not currently cover 98 per cent of the population: Telstra has not yet duplicated its CDMA network, which provides 98 per cent coverage. Telstra has used misleading theoretical maps to claim 98 per cent coverage, when in reality the Government-led audit has not been undertaken to prove this.

The Next G Handsets don’t perform: Tests of seven Telstra Next G handsets found inferior performance compared to CDMA products. Rural advocacy outfit Kondinin Group (http://www.kondinin.com.au/) has directly advised over 10,000 farmers not to migrate to the Next G network. The group deals with a constant stream of complaints about the handsets, and in particuar the aggressive Telstra marketing that has caused many to take Next G handsets not suited to their requirements.

Telstra’s Next G network is expensive:To use Telstra’s Next G network in the same way broadband is commonly used, you would have to be prepared to pay a very hefty premium of AU$185 per month.

Complaints are significant: Telstra is being investigated by the consumer watchdog the ACCC for potentially misleading customers about the coverage of the digital Next G phone network and the performance of its handsets. Media reports indicate Federal MPs have been receiving regular complaints from rural voters about the network. [1]

Customers don’t buy the spin[2]
Tell the Truth Telstra receives ongoing complaints from consumers about Next G – here’s just few.

Media contacts:

Matt Healy

National Executive - Regulatory & Government

Macquarie Telecom

P: 03 9206 6847

M: 0402 259 140

E: mhealy@macquarietelecom.com

About “Tell the Truth Telstra” (T4) - www.tellthetruthtelstra.com.au

The Tell the Truth Telstra (T4) campaign was launched in April 2007, to counter Telstra’s campaign of misinformation on telecommunications and broadband competition and regulation in Australia.

Tell the Truth Telstrais an initiative of Australia’s leading telecommunications carriers and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) including AAPT, Adam Internet, Austar, iiNet, Internode, Macquarie Telecom, Powertel, Primus Telecom, Telarus, TransACT, WestNet and Unwired.

The Tell the Truth Telstra (T4)initiative commenced with a united complaint to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) asking it to investigate whether Telstra’s conduct amounts to misleading and deceptive conduct.

The Tell the Truth Telstra (T4)initiative documents a list of Telstra’s myths and highlights their misleading nature.  An accompanying education program includes an information kit for MPs, a public Web site (www.tellthetruthtelstra.com.au), and a series of information sessions for MPs, exposing the truth behind Telstra’s attempt to gain relief from regulation.

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