Telstra coverage claims not worth the paper they are written on Bridget McKenzie says

Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie says Telstra’s coverage maps ‘aren’t worth the paper they’re written on’ and shows why the country needs guaranteed universal access to mobile phones.

Senator Bridget McKenzie says Telstra’s coverage claims underscores the need for a universal mobile service obligation. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Nationals Senate leader Bridget McKenzie says “Telstra is being too cute by half” as it tries to bat off allegations that it overstated its mobile coverage by about one million square kilometres “tricking” Australians.

“You don’t have to drive very far out of capital cities to know those (coverage) maps are not worth the paper they are drawn on,” Senator McKenzie told this masthead.

Telstra has denied it duped Australians but has been forced to change its marketing to say that its three million square kilometres of coverage is based on using external antennas, which cost thousands of dollars.

Rival Vodafone operator TPG says these extra costs were never disclosed and the competition watchdog is assessing whether the nation’s biggest telco misled Australians. One of Telstra’s wholesale customers, Aldi, has also ditched Telstra’s coverage claims entirely from its website.

“How many times does an action need to be raised by the ACCC before a company actually does the right thing by consumers,” Senator McKenzie said.

Telstra has already been fined $75m in the past seven years for misleading, deceptive and unconscionable conduct.

“The fact that the ACCC has been successful in prosecuting Telstra for breaches to the competition law, shows me there, the ACCC is doing their job and Telstra is having to pay a lot of money. It seems they’re a little bit of a slow learner.”

Ms McKenzie said Telstra’s behaviour underscores the need for a Universal Service Obligation “to ensure that 21st century mobile coverage is guaranteed for Australians”.

The Liberals’ failure to support such an obligation was one of the reasons why The Nationals tore up the coalition agreement (although the two parties have resumed negotiations). Telstra has also pushed back on extra regulation.

“The nine million of us that live in rural and regional Australia don’t just need to keep in contact with family and friends,” Senator McKenzie said.

This is now a fundamental platform on how businesses are run, accessing assistance in emergencies, getting high quality healthcare and making sure you can access education opportunities.

“We need it reformed”.

Optus competition and results

Senator McKenzie has an ally in Optus chief executive Stephen Rue, who joined the telco last year after helming the government-owned NBN Co.

NBN Co CEO Stephen Rue has backed a universal service obligation for mobile phones. Britta Campion / The Australian

Mr Rue said Optus was planning to spend $1.4bn upgrading its network this year, with regional areas a key focus, and supported an universal outdoor mobile obligation.

“It is something I’m keen to engage in a really positive way with government about because there is a way for low orbit satellites to be able to do this cost effectively and work with mobile operators to expand coverage to all of the land mass,” Mr Rue said.

“A lot of our capex (capital expenditure) will be continuing to build out in regional areas. We will have 1500 regional sites by 2028 in 5G and 2444 by 2030.

“So there is choice in regional Australia.”

Optus’s network covers 98.5 per cent of Australia’s population, which is based on people using a regular mobile phone - not external antennas. Telstra has refused to say how much of its network can be accessed without expensive additional equipment.

Mr Rue was speaking as Australians began flocking back to Optus after 2023’s nationwide outage and earlier cyber attack. It signed almost a quarter of million mobile customers in the past 12 months, while earnings before interest and tax surged 55 per cent to $223m.

“While we still have work to do to rebuild trust with customers as we transform our business, these results demonstrate we are on the right path and making solid progress.”

Optus’s revenue firmed 1.4 per cent to $4.16bn, with Mr Rue citing declines in the satellite and enterprise fixed market. Average revenue per user firmed 2.4 per cent.

He said Optus $1.6bn network sharing agreement with TPG was accelerating its roll out of 5G across Australia.

“That deal has been to enable us to bring forward the by a couple of years.”

Originally published as Telstra coverage claims not worth the paper they are written on Bridget McKenzie says