Conroy postpones CDMA closure

TELSTRA will keep its CDMA mobile phone network operational for at least three months longer than its planned January 28 closure after the Rudd Government said it was unhappy with its replacement network.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said it was not yet possible to “declare equivalence” between the CDMA coverage and the Next G network that replaces it – a condition of allowing Telstra to shut down the ageing CDMA system.

“I have notified Telstra today that at this point in time I am not in a position to declare equivalence between the Next G network and the CDMA networks,” Senator Conroy said.

“Telstra will provide me with advice within two weeks on how they will address the issues that have been identified, and report to me on the rectification to enable me to reconsider this matter.

“Telstra have advised me that this can be done by 28 April. This seems reasonable.”

Senator Conroy said that a report from the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) had found that while the coverage footprint of the Next G network was the equivalent of the CDMA system, some Next G handsets did not provide equivalent coverage.

“I appreciate that Telstra has been very active in working with customers affected by this situation, including exchanging handsets in genuine cases where this is required to give them equivalent coverage,” Senator Conroy said.

“I have made it clear to Telstra that it should continue to do everything possible to ensure that customers are using the correct Next G equipment. This should include replacing handsets at no financial penalty in genuine cases.”

Telstra Country Wide Group Managing Director Geoff Booth accepted the decision to postpone the CDMA closure and welcomed Senator Conroy ruling that the Next G Network provided equivalent network coverage footprint to the outgoing CDMA network.

“We have been on a path to resolve customer issues by 28 January and we were confident we would meet our deadline,” Mr Booth said.

“The Minister has made a different assessment but we are very pleased that he has given us a clear goal for closure, a process to get there, and a clear message to CDMA customers that they need to move quickly.”

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Queensland lands $5 million Clever Network program

WITH the election looming, the stream of funding announcements pouring from Communications and IT Minister Helen Coonan’s office is turning to a flood.

Senator Coonan announced funding of $5 million to provide fat broadband services to support health care and emergency services in small communities in remote North Queensland.

Under the federal Clever Networks program, Queensland Health will be given funding for its Cooeenet@qld project, which is being developed in partnership with the Department of Emergency Services and the e-Health Research Centre.

The project targets 15 remote communities with an immediate need for improved intervention in the early treatment of emergency patients. The communities benefiting from the funding include Bowen, Charters Towers, Cloncurry, Cooktown, Ingham, Normanton, Thursday Island and Weipa.

“This project will help provide timely intervention in the care of patients unable to travel long distances easily and who are often in a distressed state,” said Senator Coonan.

“Cooeenet will assist patients in these communities by providing online access to specialist health services, such as paediatrics and ophthalmology, which may be hundreds of kilometres away.”

The new services will be based on state-of-the-art digital technology for vital sign monitoring and videoconferencing, as well as providing radiology image capture, storage and transmission, and breast screening.

Clever Networks is a $113 million program that aims to improve service delivery in regional, rural and remote Australia through innovative broadband projects.

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Coonan orders Telstra to extend CDMA

TELSTRA will be forced to keep its CDMA mobile phone network operational beyond its planned closure in January.

Communications Minister Helen Coonan plans to change Telstra’s licensing conditions to keep the CDMA network open, amid fears in the country that the Telstra Next G network will not have equal or better coverage than the network it replaces.

The CDMA network is a primary form of communication in the bush, often the only network that has coverage in remote parts of the country. Telstra set January 28 next year as the closure date for CDMA.

Telstra chief Sol Trujillo made a commitment to federal Nationals a year ago that the company would not switch off the CDMA network until it new Next G network provided comparable coverage.

Senator Coonan says serious questions have been raised in the bush about the Next G roll-out. And the Nationals last weekend called for the CDMA network to be maintained.

The Minister said she had written to Telstra six weeks ago asking that they delay the CDMA network closure beyond January. They declined.

Instead, Senator Coonan has issued a draft licensing condition that will ultimately force the company to keep CDMA operational.

Senator Coonan said that she had heard first hand about the rising level of consumer concern regarding mobile phone coverage.

“I have just spent the last six weeks on the road across Australia and based on the level of frustration in the community, it is clear that this issue needs Telstra’s urgent and genuine attention.

“The Government’s hand has been forced by Telstra’s inaction on consumers’ concerns.”

The fact that relations between government and Telstra are so poisonous are only complicated by the fact it is an election year, and communications in the bush remains a hot-button issue.

Senator Coonan also announced that Government has set up a hotline to let phone users in the bush report Next G problems, a move that can only antagonise a company already

“(The hotline) will ensure that consumers are able to report any problems they are experiencing with the switch to Next G,” Senator Coonan said.

“Consumers will be able to provide feedback on performance and service issues with the Next G network which will be invaluable in assessing whether and when Telstra has met its public commitments on coverage and service equivalence,” she said

The Next G Customer Support Group will also perform an independent audit of Telstra’s point-of-sale advice and product availability.

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The political mud flies over CDMA

THE possible closure early next year of the Telstra CDMA mobile phone network has become a lightening rod for political controversy in the heated election-eve environment.

Communications Minister Helen Coonan has accused Labor of abandoning rural and regional phone customers – who rely heavily on the CDMA network – because she says Labor does not support imposing a licensing condition on Telstra to keep the network open.

Telstra has said it wants to shut down the CDMA network early next year, with customers beings transferred to its new Next G phone network.

The sticking point is that government wants to hold Telstra to its promise that the CDMA would not be turned off until Next G provided “equivalent or better” coverage for Australia’s rural and regional users.

“Not only will Labor abolish the $2 billion regional Communications Fund to finance a commercial network in metropolitan areas, but now Labor will be prepared to sit back and potentially leave hundreds of thousands of thousands of regional mobile phone users stranded if Telstra’s Next G network does not provide adequate replication of CDMA coverage and services,” Senator Coonan said.

“Until now Labor has been silent on this important national network transition, but yesterday and today Labor’s communications spokesman Stephen Conroy declared that a licence condition will ‘impose costs on Telstra which provided no meaningful consumer benefit’ and that the initiative ‘actually doesn’t help consumers’,” she said.

Labor communications spokesman Stephen Conroy said Senator Coonan was misleading the public as part of a “desperate tactic” in the run up to the election.

“Labor has consistently stated Telstra would not be allowed to switch off its CDMA network unless it met its promise to the Australian public over coverage and service,” Senator Conroy said in a statement.

“Labor has continually argued for better regulation in the telecommunications sector given Telstra’s market power. However over the past 10 years the number of substantive pages of regulation has increased from 1,602 to 10,013,” he said.

“Examples of wasteful regulation that Labor opposed in parliament was the Government’s operational separation regime, which has increased costs to Telstra with no benefits to consumers.”

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Nationals dig in over CDMA closure

FEDERAL Nationals leader Mark Vaile has moved to reassure regional phone users that Telstra will not be allowed to switch off its CDMA mobile phone network until its coverage is matched by the new Next G service.

Mr Vaile told a meeting of Queensland Nationals in Brisbane that Telstra would not be allowed to access any Federal funding to upgrade its Next G network in regional areas.

Although Government has committed funding to regional communications, including $958 million in new money for the bush, and the $2 billion “future proofing” fund.

“I want to emphasise that we will not be using money from the Communications Fund to bring Telstra's Next G network up to scratch,” Mr Vaile said.

“We will simply not allow Telstra to switch off the existing CDMA network until you are satisfied with the coverage and reliability of its replacement,” he said.

“They don't just have to convince the Government: they have to convince you, the consumers.”

The Nationals appear fully intent on ensuring Telstra chief executive Sol Trujillo meets commitments made in the Nationals party room in Canberra that the next-generation Next G mobile phone coverage would be as good or better in regional Australia than the CDMA network it replaces.

The Nationals secured the commitment from Mr Trujillo prior to the party agreeing to the T3 sale of Telstra shares.

The CDMA network is scheduled to be switched off early next year. The Government has the power to force Telstra to maintain CDMA until its Next G service is comparable.

The CDMA is the only mobile network that covers much of regional, rural and remote Australia, and is relied on by many communities in heartland Nationals territories.

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