Touchy Telstra bullied into ADSL startup - News - Communications

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This story was printed from ZDNet Australia.
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Touchy Telstra bullied into ADSL startup

By Jeanne-Vida Douglas, ZDNet Australia
November 18, 2002
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/Touchy-Telstra-bullied-into-ADSL-startup/0,130061791,120270007,00.htm

Sparked by threats from a council of local businesses, Telstra has moved quickly to boost ADSL capacity to Wollongong and the surrounding Illawarra region in southern NSW.

Telstra told the council chairman on Friday it planned to introduce 200 new ADSL ports to Wollongong and the Illawarra region, boosting broadband connectivity to the area, after initially telling business customers they would have to wait until 22 November before hearing about any changes to services to the region.

The information, confirmed subsequently by a Telstra spokeswoman, followed complaints from Illawarra Business Councils' Southern IT Network that wait times for ADSL connectivity were excessive, and Telstra staff unhelpful when approached regarding connection delays.

Telstra is particularly sensitive at present to criticism of mobile and Internet services to non-metropolitan areas, with delivery of adequate service levels in regional and rural Australia named by the federal government as a prerequisite for the sale of the remainder of the nation's dominant telecommunications company.

"How do you pour millions into advertising, and then not be able provide the service, and it is not just Wollongong, there are 46 exchanges around NSW that don't have any ADSL capability," said IT Network Chair, Tim Lewis. "Despite all the advertising don't believe you can make a phone call and get ADSL connected, in Wollongong there is a month-long wait."

In an attempt to bring attention to the plight of the Wollongong business community, Lewis informed regional Telstra staff of his intention to invite senior Telstra executives to spend a day in his offices so they could experience the sluggish connectivity first hand.

"I informed them of my intentions on Thursday, and on Friday they came back to me to say another 200 ports would be available from today," Lewis said. "So for now it is a game of wait-and-see, I'm hoping to get a call today saying my port is ready."

ZDNet Australia asked Telstra for an indication of whether 200 ports would be sufficient to clear the customer backlog in the Illawarra - however the company was unable to provide any information in the area by press time.