Telcos move to ease COVID-19 pain

Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and NBN Co are all teaming up in a rare move to fix congestion and provide urgent support for their customers.

Telstra CEO Andrew Penn is seen at Telstra headquarters in Melbourne, Thursday, August 15, 2019. Telstra has reported a 40 per cent fall in full-year profit to $2.15 billion and flagged another earnings squeeze next year as construction of the national broadband network nears completion.Picture: AAP

Australia's 'big five' telcos have banded together along with NBN Co to form a working group to help support customers through the COVID-19 pandemic, as the country's network infrastructure continues to be stretched.

Telstra, Optus, Vodafone Hutchinson, TPG and Vocus are all in the group, which formed at the request of the minister for communications Paul Fletcher. It will help manage congestion and provide urgent support for customers experiencing financial difficulties.

Customers of each of the telcos in recent days have reported of increased call dropouts and sharply slower internet speeds.

They telcos said in a statement that the ultimate aim was to ensure consumers are able to stay connected to communications services during the pandemic.

Australia's consumer watchdog the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission granted interim authorisation to allow the companies to work together, and will be an observer on the working group. More details are expected in coming days.

“Online services and connections are now more important than ever, as Australians seek to stay productive and engaged, undertake home schooling, telehealth and access other services. The ability to do all this will also assist people to comply with increasingly strict social distancing measures,” ACCC chair Rod Sims said in a statement.

“As it has with a number of industries already, the ACCC stands ready to assist telecommunications providers with approval of any co-ordinated measures that are urgent and necessary during this crisis.”

The move comes after Telstra chief executive Andy Penn called on Australians to be more mindful of how they use the internet as pressure mounts on the country's telecommunications infrastructure.

“This is an unprecedented situation that we’re all going through. and it’s going to require all of us to make some changes, adapt our behaviour and make a contribution to getting through this, as successfully as we possibly can,” he told The Australian.

“What would be helpful is as users, we can actually find ways to actually help.”

Likening Telstra’s telecommunications network to a road, Mr Penn said that the networks were built to be able to handle peak capacity, but not more than that.

“With the NBN home network, the peak capacity time is about 9pm in the evening, therefore spreading out the usage during the day is helpful. And be thoughtful about what you’re using the network for. If you’re streaming, maybe you can download the movie overnight rather than streaming it in a peak period.”

Telstra has suspended late payment fees and disconnections until the end of April, and has given consumer and small businesses free unlimited data until April 30.

Optus has also given its customers extra free data, while Vodafone said it would not charge any late payment fees until after April. It's also giving its customers extra mobile data and unlimited standard calls.

It also comes after Google said it would cut back YouTube streaming quality in Australia. The move is aimed at reducing congestion online with families at home turning to the internet for work, school and entertainment.

Netflix and Amazon Prime have also agreed to a temporary bitrate reduction, after a request from communications minister Paul Fletcher.