Telcos ‘need to step up support’

Telstra boss Andy Penn’s comments show his telco is out of touch, according to this Macquarie Telecom executive.

28/6/18: Macquarie Telecom CEO Luke Clifton and NBN Co chief commercial officer Paul Tyler at their Sydney offices. John Feder/The Australian.

The boss of ASX-listed telco Macquarie says the telco industry needs to step up and better support Australian businesses and consumers amid the COVID-19 pandemic, following comments from Telstra boss Andy Penn recommending its customers be smart about their internet use.

Speaking to The Australian, Macquarie Telecom group executive Luke Clifton said Telstra and other tier-one telcos were to be commended for opening up peering and improving the links between their networks to ease constraints and bottlenecks.

He said however that Mr Penn’s comments to The Australian urging Telstra’s users to be mindful about their usage showed the company had become out of touch from the new working normal facing Australia.

“People are isolated and really need that connectivity,” he said. “For Telstra to say curtail your internet use, it is an extraordinarily tin-eared response, given people need the industry to come together and support each other.”

According to Mr Clifton, Telstra’s claim that its internet performance is being impacted by congestion cause by people studying and working remotely doesn’t stack up.

“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 boss Andy Penn told The Australian this week.

Mr Clifton highlighted that the NBN is offering retail service providers a 40 per cent increase in CVC capacity at no charge, for at least three months.

“That immediately tells me that Telstra has not bought enough capacity or the NBN, or that their own network is not up to scratch,” he said.

“To put the blame on Netflix, or that students are jumping on the same time to do their homework, or their phone networks are congested because everyone is trying to, clearly cost cutting has gone too far and a lack of investment in certain areas has occurred.

“We all would have benefited more from a wider investment in fibre assets on the NBN that what we have today. The multi-technology mix is limiting the ability of some of our endpoints to get to the speeds or bandwidth we need.”

He added that Telstra and Optus are also looking to hire more than 1000 casual temporary employees to improve service standards, given their overseas call centres are shut due to COVID —19 lockdowns.

“I would have thought today would be the right time to make those roles permanent, and hire a lot more,” Mr Clifton said.

“We’ve had a quadrupling of our unemployment rate, and many of these that Telstra are hiring are the 8500 they let go in the first place. It is a bit disgraceful, they should cancel the whole job cuts program and start hiring again in Australia. They’re jobs we’ll desperately need.”

Telstra boss Andy Penn told The Australian in a statement that the telcos were working co-operatively to prepare for Australia to be in lockdown for an extended period.

“This includes the major RSPs, NBN Co and the Government. NBN Co came to the party with additional CVCs, Telstra and most RSPs have introduced unlimited data on broadband plans and extra data on mobile, infrastructure builders are looking at what can be done to optimise networks and build capacity and the streaming and gaming providers are looking at ways to reduce network load,” he said.

“Even with all of that there are little things that our customers can do to contribute to the solution and that’s worth talking about. Everyone with real skin in the game understands it will take a collaborative and collective effort to maintain a good customer experience when the peak hits. It’s disappointing some see it as a time to try and score cheap points from the sidelines.”