Telstra accused of cover up

The Federal Opposition has forced Telstra into disclosing an embarassing cover up, revealing a backlog of 20,000 faults on its telephone network Australia-wide.

According to the Shadow Minister for Regional services, territories and local government, Senator Sue MacKay, Telstra has been forced to admit there is a backlog of more than 20,000 telephone faults waiting to be repaired across Australia.

-Eighty percent of those are probably minor, however, it's the serious ones we're after," Senator MacKay said.

The opposition party's investigation came about as a result of a leak to media, which revealed there is a build up of 3,500 faults in the Tasmanian region alone, Senator MacKay told ZDNet Australia.

Telstra initially refused to release information detailing the extent of the backlog nationwide, citing -commercial in-confidence". The audit office, however, produced a report which forced the telco to come clean.

Some of the faults outlined in the report date back as far as 1995.

Senator MacKay said major cuts in the telco's capital expenditure budget made in preparation for its public sale contributed heavily to the backlog.

The government's plan to also sell Telstra's Network Design and Construction (NDC) unit and its National Network Solution (NNS) arm--which builds and maintains the network--would further cripple the service to regional communities, according to Senator MacKay.

She said Telstra's neglect on regional Australia has caused the network to become increasingly rundown and it's full privatisation would make matters worse because it would "leave it up to the private company to determine its own priorities and go where the profits are, which is not regional Australia."

-It's a disaster waiting to happen. What if faults occur in the hospitals?" Senator MacKay said.

In response, the telco in preparing material for submission to the senate.

A Telstra spokesperson told ZDNet it was "inappropriate" to comment at this stage.

Advertisement

Talkback 4 comments

    Pull your finger out Telsra... ...ontheweb24/7 -- 10/08/01

    Pull your finger out Telsra...
    I could have told you all this ages ago, due to lack of quality service....in all areas...
    (ADSL good eg.)
    It is about time the communications infrastructure in AU was updated...
    I wish they would think into the future rather than patching up an already outdated network.

    I'm not terribly clued in abou ...Anonymous -- 13/08/01

    I'm not terribly clued in about these things...

    But wouldn't it make more sense for Telstra to become fully privatised in order to stimulate more competition? If Telstra neglect rural services, someone tell me again why someone else wouldn't come in and pick up where Telstra fall short?

    If the US can do it, then why can't we?

    This is typical of the way big ...Anonymous -- 13/08/01

    This is typical of the way big business operates when they have a monoply ( I know telstra has competitors, but not in infrastructre in regional areas). Telstra does'nt care about rural customers because they're such a small percentage of their customer base.
    Please don't bring the US in as an example because population distribution is so different in each country ( us has more than 10 times our population in a similar area).
    We shouldn't follow the US and repeat their mistakes. Australia is a unique country and we need telcos to suit. The only way to get telcos to provide similar levels of service to all areas is by government control or legislation.

    I think all these disaster is ...Anonymous -- 15/08/01

    I think all these disaster is expected because telstra's given too much power. I wonder why the government is standing aside in this matter. Telstra provide **** service in EVERY area and they charge you a fortune for it. I hope their shares hit rock bottom. If anyone is praising telstra for anything there is something wrong with you.

Add your opinion

Latest Videos

Sponsored content

Power Centre - Content from our premier sponsors

Blogs

  • Renai LeMay How reliable is IP telephony?
    Have you ever heard a weird kind of hissing, crackling or popping noise when calling someone on an IP telephony line? How rare is the phenomenon these days?
  • Array Forget the NBN, 100Mbps is already here
    Telstra and TransACT will shortly begin offering 100Mbps broadband to many customers. By moving early, the companies have not only raised the bar for Australia's broadband services, but thrown down a challenge to a government that now faces increased pressure to deliver the NBN as promised.
  • Array IT: Govt's cost-cutting bitch
    The government needs to stop looking at IT as a necessary evil or the place to remove costs when the Treasurer comes calling.
  • More blogs »

Tags

Back to top

Featured