Hutchison has received a lashing from members of the Australian Computer Society in a survey released on Friday, but the telco claims the survey was rigged.

The survey -- which canvassed 6,500 members of the ACS in NSW and Victoria and received 396 responses in 24 hours -- revealed that "only 11 per cent of its members believe the 3 network offers a reasonable level of service", according to the ACS.

Edward Mandla, ACS president-elect, told ZDNet Australia   he thought the survey was "quite accurate". "It reflects how a business user or professional sees this network," he said.

Hutchison spokesperson Liz Rex told ZDNet Australia   the telecommunications company believed the survey to be defamatory. "It was designed to achieve nothing but a critical response," she said. "Late yesterday our lawyers Freehill sent a letter to the ACS demanding the survey and all related material [be] withdrawn."

Mandla said that the leader of a company had to be thick-skinned, and defended the survey.

"Our members are experiencing problems [with their '3' phones, and] communicating with people who have 3 phones and are experiencing problems communicating with them," said Mandla. "I don't think it's good enough on the eve of 2004 to vigorously deny criticism and formally reject problems when they occur."

The controversial questions were:

• 1. Do you own a 3 phone or do you know someone (friend or colleague) that owns a 3 phone?
  
  • Yes
  • No
• 2. From your observations, are the 3-related activities provided by Hutchison Telecommunications of a standard that a reasonable person would consider acceptable?
  
  • Yes
  • No
  • Don't know
• 3. The ACS is committed to raising the standing of ICT in the community. In this relatively mature market, should Hutchison be required to be more open about its sub-standard service issues rather than issue blanket denials?
  
  • Yes
  • No
  • Don't know
• 4. If Hutchison is having problems with its 3 network, should it acknowledge this and let its customers out of their contracts without penalty?
  
  • Yes
  • No
  Don't know

Mandla said more polls of its members would be forthcoming, and stated the polls would be a major part of the ACS's strategy in 2004.

"The most important thing for the ACS to do at the moment is to raise the standing of the IT professional," said Mandla, indicating he wanted people to regard IT professionals in the same way they regard doctors and lawyers. He said IT professionals were forward-thinking people, and the polls would present their views to the public.

Hutchison's problems
Users of Hutchison's 3G mobile network '3' have been complaining of poor call quality and dropouts since the service began in April this year.

Hutchison invested AU$3 billion in its 3G network and is the first company to have a commercial 3G network operating. Vodafone has indicated it would have a 3G network operating by mid-2005, while Telstra and Optus have not given any timeframe for launching a 3G network.

At the end of last year Hutchison signed an outsourcing agreement with Ericsson, under which Ericsson would handle the day-to-day network operations for Hutchison's paging, CDMA and WCDMA (3G) networks, including customer support. Hutchison chief technology officer Michael Young praised the results of the unique arrangement between the two companies, and claimed that despite the elimination of jobs, anyone who was not required under the new model was employed by Ericsson in other areas.

However, ZDNet Australia   has been contacted by ex-employees of Hutchison, claiming that redundancies had occurred.

"An interesting outcome was with the Network and Systems Assurance team, (providing technical support/escalating for the customer service) the whole team was made redundant with the exception of the team leader, then a couple days after, management realised what they had done and started calling some back," wrote one reader of ZDNet Australia  .

Rex confirmed that 38 Hutchison employees were made redundant when the outsourcing agreement was signed, and restated that "some secured new contracts with Ericsson". Since these were separate contracts with Ericsson, Rex said she was unable to comment on them.

However, those employees who secured a position with the Hutchison Practice at Ericsson were far from secure. A second reader of ZDNet Australia   wrote that "six months after accepting (an accept or walk) position within the Hutch Practice I was made redundant as my job was outsourced to HP from Ericsson".

A spokesperson for Ericsson confirmed there had been a "reforming" of the Hutchison Practice, with some areas being "skilled up" and other areas reduced as the needs of Hutchison changed from setting up a 3G network to maintaining a 3G network.

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