Telstra Slapped Down Again: Truth on UK Far from Telstra’s Spin
7th July 2008 – Sydney, Australia – The hysterical attacks by Telstra chairman Donald McGauchie on consequences in the UK of the internal separation of BT, have been resoundingly debunked by the regulator and BT itself.
The chief executive of Ofcom, Ed Richards, and the CEO of BT, Ian Livingston, in separate rebuttals make clear that the comments from Mr McGauchie are without foundation in fact.
Mr Livingstone, in a recent interview[1] , said the UK now has “the most diverse, competitive and vibrant communications market in the world”.
“Six years ago broadband take-up was probably on a par with Albania. Today [the UK] has better take up than Spain, Germany, France and Italy,” he said.
“We’ve got some of the lowest prices in the world.”
This must make especially uncomfortable reading for Telstra executives who are demanding Government-guaranteed rates of return for any new broadband network. This is at the same time as Australian businesses pay the third highest prices for fixed line services in the OECD, behind only the Czech Republic and Poland.
Separately, Mr Richards from Ofcom confirmed that the functional separation of BT had led to the 99 percent broadband coverage in the UK.
“This is the country that Mr McGauchie described as a telecommunications basket case,” a T4 spokesman said.
The experience described by the regulator and the incumbent in the UK suggest that separation has indeed been a success, yet Telstra refers to its failure.
“Telstra seems to think that lower prices, more competition, more competing investment and faster broadband speeds are bad for Australia,” the spokesman said.
“On the other hand, having third world broadband prices, a protected monopolist with guaranteed rates of return and no effective regulation of its market power is what Telstra peddles as ‘best practice’.
“Telstra’s Chairman says we should follow the lead of Germany, but this is a country that Britain has ‘leap frogged’ in terms of investment, lower pricing and competitive broadband offerings,” he said.
“Either Telstra has a warped idea of success or it has not been telling the truth about what is happening in the UK.
“Mr McGauchie, like Mr Trujillo, Mr Burgess and Telstra’s army of spin doctors, seems to struggle to tell fact from fiction. As the evidence piles-up supporting the benefits of separation, Telstra reverts to its old tricks of fibbing and blowing hard,” he said.
[1] BT hangs up on Telstra's anti-seperation call, Michael Sainsbury, The Australian, 7 July 2008
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Media contact:
Matt Healy
National Executive - Regulatory & Government
Macquarie Telecom
0402 259 140
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 Telstra is an initiative of Australia’s leading telecommunications carriers and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) including AAPT, Adam Internet, Austar, iiNet, Internode, Macquarie Telecom, Optus, Primus Telecom, Telarus, TransACT, Unwired, WestNet and the Competitive Carriers’ Coalition.
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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