Coonan rails at Telstra “sour grapes”

IT IS hard to believe it were possible for relations between Communications Minister Helen Coonan and Telstra to deteriorate further.

But Telstra’s extraordinary decision to personally sue the Minister over her part in the Federal Government decision to award to $958 million contract to a Telstra competitor has proved yet again that things can always get worse in this relationship.

Telstra last week marched into the Federal Court to sue the Government – and Senator Coonan – over the process used to award the billion contract to OPEL, the rural-focused telco joint venture between Optus and Elders.

Specifically, Telstra said it had been disadvantaged by the government decision to raise the level funding from its original $600 million to $958 million.

Senator Coonan has been “unsurprised” and unimpressed, and reacted as you might expect – on the front foot, with a stinging attack on Telstra management, its corporate culture, and the quality of its services.

“(It) doesn’t surprise me to learn via media release today, that Telstra has taken sour grapes to a whole new level and has initiated Federal Court proceedings,” Senator Coonan said in a written statement.

“It’s always been the Australian way to respect the umpire’s decision, particularly if you have been beaten fair and square by a superior bid,” she said.

“Quite frankly, I would be much happier if Telstra put this sort of effort into rectifying the rising level of consumer concerns with the rollout of their new Next G network.

“I have just spent the last six weeks on the road across Australia and based on the level of frustration I heard from people regarding their mobile coverage, this is the issue that needs Telstra’s urgent and genuine attention.”

The OPEL joint-venture would deliver one of the world’s most comprehensive rural and regional broadband networks for a country of our size and population spread. Broadband speeds will be 20 to 40 times faster than those used today and delivered in the country at city comparable prices, she said.

“The fact that no-one can hide from is that Telstra put in a bid for funding; it was independently assessed and then soundly beaten by a superior bid from OPEL,” Senator Coonan said.

“According to Telstra’s own admission, its bid would have covered only 250,000 underserved premises, less than half that covered by OPEL,” she said.

“This is just a case of an ordinary bid being blown out of the water by an outstanding bid –and the loser not happy with the umpire’s decision.

“I completely reject the assertions made by Telstra. The process was fair and consistent with both the guidelines, assessment plan and probity requirements.”

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SA regional broadband now “guaranteed”: Coonan

FEDERAL Communications Minister Helen Coonan has rejected South Australian Labor claims that regional areas in the state would be left without access to broadband under a new Commonwealth scheme.

Newly appointed South Australian Minister for Science and Information Economy Paul Caica had told The Advertiser newspaper in Adelaide that federal policy changes meant that broadband projects set for the Barossa Valley, Adelaide Hills and Yorke Peninsula would not proceed.

He said the “cessation of the (Federal) Broadband Connect subsidy has had an immediate and unwelcome effect on several South Australian projects”.

But Senator Coonan dismissed the concerns, saying the issues had been dealt with by a series of national initiatives announced in the past two weeks, accusing Mr Caica of playing politics.

“The new South Australian Minister is obviously looking to boost his profile with a local scare campaign and I want to assure all South Australians that their access to broadband is now actually guaranteed under the new program, the $162.5 million Australian Broadband Guarantee announced by the Prime Minister two weeks ago,” Senator Coonan said.

“Australia is now one of only a handful of countries to guarantee broadband access to all citizens, regardless of where they live,” she said.

Senator Coonan said the Broadband Connect had been a successful program, but was never seen as a long term proposition, and that registered providers under the scheme were told of the finite nature of the funds.

Government announced its intention last September to end the scheme, and said in the event that money available under the scheme dried up before the end of the financial year, she said providers were assured “transitional arrangements” would be put in place.

“This is what I have done (announce transitional arrangements) with the release of draft guidelines last Friday for the Australian Broadband Guarantee,” Senator Coonan said.

“However, rather than provide broadband users with information about the new Australian Broadband Guarantee or indeed the transitional arrangements, the South Australian Labor Government is predictably playing politics,” she said.

The transitional arrangements will allow registered providers to recoup the costs of infrastructure that was recently installed under the Broadband Connect incentive program.

The Australian Broadband Guarantee will commence on 2 April and providers will be able to claim incentive payments for connecting customers to newly installed infrastructure as soon as they have signed a funding agreement with the Australian Government.

Senator Coonan also said today that if providers are able to demonstrate there has been no reasonable opportunity to connect their planned number of customers to recently installed infrastructure, then it will be considered for inclusion under the Australian Broadband Guarantee on a case by case basis.

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